4.
Cases. Latin has seven cases. Here are the major uses of each:
NOMINATIVE: Subject (the actor/doer in a sentence or clause); predicate nominative (noun/adjective).
GENITIVE: Possession [translation = "of": "X's" (singular), "Xs'" (plural)].
DATIVE: Indirect Object [translation = "to/for", NOT the directional "to/toward"!].
ACCUSATIVE: Direct Object (of the main verb, infinitives and other verb forms); object of certain prepositions (ad, in, post, etc.), often showing "motion towards."
ABLATIVE: Many "adverbial" uses (delimiting or modifying action of a sentence): means/instrument (with the use of what), manner (how), accompaniment (with whom), agent (by whom), separation (from where), and time (when). The ablative has no simple form corresponding to any one thing in English. It is useful to remember the most frequent translations of the ablative: "by, with, from, in, on, at."
VOCATIVE: Direct address, most often identical in form to the nominative.
[
LOCATIVE: Place where; used only with specific forms (see
Chapter 37).]