Do Adjectives Agree with a Noun in the Dative Case?

JosephE

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United States - TX
Salve...I'm new here. I'm Joe, and I'm in Latin 101 at my university.

My homework says "Put the following phrases into the dative case." All of the phrases it lists are two words: a noun, and an adjective. We're just now learning about the dative case, which is straightforward enough...but what do I do with the adjectives?

So, I'm supposed to put "bona puella" into the dative case. Does the adjective stay the same? (i.e., "bona puellae"?)

Any help would be much appreciated <3
 

Pacifica

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Salve,

An adjective always agrees in gender, number and case with the noun it modifies, and the dative case is no exception.
 

JosephE

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Location:
United States - TX
Salve,

An adjective always agrees in gender, number and case with the noun it modifies, and the dative case is no exception.
Thanks for the quick reply. I know from my vocabulary that the adjective "bonus" possesses the forms "bonus, bona, bonum" but I'm still not sure which one to use with a noun...particularly in the dative case. Is there a hard and fast rule that I might have missed?
 

Pacifica

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Bonus is masculine, bona feminine, and bonum neuter. So you must choose the right one depending on the gender of the noun it has to agree with.

The masculine bonus declines like second declension masculine nouns in - us, the feminine bona declines like first declension nouns, and the neuter bonum declines like second declension neuter nouns.
 

JosephE

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Location:
United States - TX
Bonus is masculine, bona feminine, and bonum neuter. So you must choose the right one depending on the gender of the noun it has to agree with.

The masculine bonus declines like second declension masculine nouns in - us, the feminine bona declines like first declension nouns, and the neuter bonum declines like second declension neuter nouns.
Okay, it's starting to make a lot more sense.

So each of those three forms in my vocabulary words (bonus, -a, -um) is really just an indicator of what declensions the adjective can belong to?

That would make the right answer be "bonae puellae" for "to the good girl", then, am I correct?
 

JosephE

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Location:
United States - TX
Yes.
Yes.

Thank you for your help! :)

I just have one more question about the other kind of adjectives in my vocabulary.

In my text, some of the adjectives are given to me in only two forms:

e.g., "omnis, omne" or "fortis, forte"

What do their endings represent, exactly (-is, -e), and to which declension do they belong to? I'd like to know so I can decline them properly in the rest of my assignment.
 

Pacifica

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Those adjectives are identical in the masculine and feminine, so they have only two forms: the - is one is maculine/feminine and the - e one is neuter.

They decline mostly like third declension masculine/feminine and neuter nouns respectively, except that (most of the time) their ablative singular is - i and not - e (most nouns have it in - e; a few in - i and a few can have either). Their genitive plural also is generally in - ium (while some third declension nouns have them in - um and and others in - ium, with some degree of variations but you don't really need to bother about details yet).
 

JosephE

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Location:
United States - TX
Those adjectives are identical in the masculine and feminine, so they have only two forms: the - is one is maculine/feminine and the - e one is neuter.

They decline mostly like third declension nouns, except that (most of the time) their ablative singular is - i and not - e. Their genitive plural also is generally in - ium (while some third declension nouns have it in - um and others in - ium, with some degree of variations but you don't really need to bother about details yet).

Okay, I somewhat remember them talking about this in class. I need to update my declension table in my notes to include the third declension adjective endings you mentioned.

I'm told to put "omnia litora" into the dative case. I'm guessing it's already either plural nominative or plural accusative, so it would become "omni litori" (to/for all of the shores).
 

Pacifica

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Location:
Belgium
I'm told to put "omnia litora" into the dative case. I'm guessing it's already either plural nominative or plural accusative, so it would become "omni litori" (to/for all of the shores).
No because omni litori is singular, "to/for all the shore". You need the plural.

Btw, I edited my last post to add a few more clarifications in case.
 

JosephE

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Location:
United States - TX
No because omni litori is singular, "to/for all the shore". You need the plural.

Btw, I edited my last post to add a few more clarifications in case.
Okay, thank you :)

In light of that, "omnibus litoribus" seems right, then.
 

Pacifica

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We'll be glad to help if needed.
 

Callaina

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I'm sure you guys will be seeing a lot more of me, as I've declared Latin for my minor <3
Awesome! And no worries, great to have you here :)
 

Callaina

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I've declared Latin for my minor <3
I'm in my first/third (long story) year of a Classics major and am thoroughly enjoying it. I learned Latin more or less on my own (well, and from the awesome people here!) but it's fun to be studying it formally now, as well as Ancient Greek. What are you majoring in?
 

JosephE

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Location:
United States - TX
I'm in my first/third (long story) year of a Classics major and am thoroughly enjoying it. I learned Latin more or less on my own (well, and from the awesome people here!) but it's fun to be studying it formally now, as well as Ancient Greek. What are you majoring in?
That's amazing. I can't imagine learning Latin on my own...as much trouble as I'm having with it already XD

I'm a computer science major. Needless to say, I've been programming a spreadsheet that automatically declines nouns and conjugates verbs into all the various forms I've learned so far...haha.
 

Callaina

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That's amazing. I can't imagine learning Latin on my own...as much trouble as I'm having with it already XD

I'm a computer science major. Needless to say, I've been programming a spreadsheet that automatically declines nouns and conjugates verbs into all the various forms I've learned so far...haha.
Sounds like a great study tool! :) Some members here (I'm thinking of Godmy and Cinefactus, but there may be others) have designed some apps/searchable databases/etc. for Latin that you may find helpful and/or interesting. There are a number of threads here: FORUM: latin-language-resources.6

Also, don't worry: if you're a computer science major, you'll probably find Latin easy. It's an incredibly logical language (which is part of why I love it) :D
 

Imber Ranae

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Also, don't worry: if you're a computer science major, you'll probably find Latin easy. It's an incredibly logical language (which is part of why I love it) :D
Still, it has its quirks.
 
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