Latin grammar
Latin is a heavily inflected language with largely free word order. Nouns are inflected for number and case; pronouns and adjectives are inflected for number, case, and gender; and verbs are inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, voice, and mood. The inflections are often changes in the ending of a word, but can be more complicated, especially with verbs.
Thus verbs can take any of over 100 different endings to express different meanings, for example regō "I rule", regor "I am ruled", regere "to rule", regī "to be ruled". Most verbal forms consist of a single word, but some tenses are formed from part of the verb sum "I am" added to a participle; for example, ductus sum "I was led" or ductūrus est "he is going to lead".
Nouns belong to one of three genders. The gender of a noun is shown by the adjectives and pronouns that refer to it: e.g., hic vir "this man", haec mulier "this woman", hoc nōmen "this name". There are also two numbers: singular and plural.
As well as having gender and number, nouns, adjectives, and pronouns have different endings according to their function in the sentence, for example, rēx "the king", but rēgem "the king". These different endings are called "cases". Most nouns have six cases: nominative, accusative,
genitive, dative and ablative, and vocative. Some nouns have a seventh case, the locative; this is mostly found with the names of towns and cities, e.g. Rōmae "in Rome".
There is no definite or indefinite article in Latin, so that rēx can mean "king", "a king", or "the king" according to context.
, or the Grammar, marble cameo panel dated 1437–1439 from the bell tower of Florence, Italy, by Luca della Robbia. The scene is an allegory of grammar and, by implication, all of education. Note the opening door in the background and the unshod feet of the first pupil.
Latin word order tends to be subject–object–verb; however, other word orders are common. Different word orders are used to express different shades of emphasis.
An adjective can come either before or after a noun, e.g. vir bonus or bonus vir "a good man", although some kinds of adjectives, such as adjectives of nationality usually follow the noun.
Latin usually omits pronouns as the subject except for emphasis; so for example amās by itself means "you love" without the need to add the pronoun tū "you". Latin also exhibits verb framing in which the path of motion is encoded into the verb rather than shown by a separate word or phrase. For example, the Latin verb exit means "he/she/it goes out".
In this article a line over a vowel indicates that it is long.
Nouns
Number
Most Latin nouns have two numbers, singular and plural: rēx "king", rēgēs "kings". A few nouns, called plūrālia tantum, although plural, have a singular meaning, e.g. castra "a camp", litterae "a letter", nūptiae "a wedding".Gender
Nouns are divided into three genders, known as masculine, feminine, and neuter. The difference is shown in the pronouns and adjectives that refer to them, for example:- ipse rēx "the king himself"
- ipsa puella "the girl herself"
- ipsum bellum "the war itself"
- Masculine nouns include all those referring to males, such as dominus "master", puer "boy", deus "god", but also some inanimate objects such as hortus "garden", exercitus "army", mōs "custom". Words in the second declension ending in -us or -er are usually masculine.
- Feminine nouns include all those referring to females, such as puella "girl", mulier "woman", dea "goddess", but also inanimate or abstract nouns such as arbor "tree", urbs "city", hūmānitās "kindness", nātiō "nation". Words in the 1st declension like puella ending in -a are usually feminine, with a few exceptions such as poēta "poet", and also feminine are 3rd declension nouns ending in -tās and -tiō.
- Neuter nouns all refer to things, such as nōmen "name", corpus "body", bellum "war", venēnum 'poison'.
Neuter nouns differ from masculine and feminine in two ways: the plural ends in -a, e.g. bella "wars", corpora "bodies"; the subject and object cases are identical.
Case
Nouns in Latin have a series of different forms, called cases of the noun, which have different functions or meanings. For example, the word for "king" is rēx when subject of a verb, but rēgem when it is the object:- rēx videt "the king sees"
- rēgem videt "he sees the king"
Some nouns, such as the names of cities and small islands, and the word domus "home", have a seventh case called the locative, for example Rōmae "in Rome" or domī "at home". But most nouns do not have this case.
All the cases except nominative and vocative are called the "oblique" cases.
The order in which the cases are given in grammar books differs in different countries. In Britain and countries influenced by Britain the order nominative, vocative, accusative is used as in the table below. In the United States in grammars such as Gildersleeve and Lodge the traditional order is used, with the genitive case in the second place and ablative last. In the popularly used Wheelock's Latin and Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar, however, the vocative is placed at the end.
The following table shows the endings of a typical noun of the 3rd declension. If Gildersleeve and Lodge's order is preferred, click on the symbol "GL" in the seventh column in the table below; for Wheelock's order click on "Wh":
| Name of case | Use | sing. | meaning | plur. | meaning | Br | GL | Wh |
| Nominative | Subject | rēx | a king, the king | rēgēs | kings, the kings | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Vocative | Addressing | rēx | o king! | rēgēs | o kings! | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| Accusative | Object, goal | rēgem | a king, the king | rēgēs | kings, the kings | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Genitive | of | rēgis | of the king, of a king | rēgum | of kings, of the kings | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Dative | to, for | rēgī | to the king | rēgibus | to kings, to the kings | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Ablative | with, by, from, in | rēge | with the king | rēgibus | with the kings | 6 | 6 | 5 |
Sometimes the same endings, e.g. -ēs and -ibus, are used for more than one case. Since the function of a word in Latin is shown by ending rather than word order, in theory rēgēs dūcunt could mean either "the kings lead" or "they lead the kings". In practice, however, such ambiguities are rare.
Declensions
1st and 2nd declensions
Latin nouns are divided into different groups according to the patterns of the their cases endings. These different groups are known as "declensions". Nouns with -a in the nominative singular and endings like puella "girl" are known as "1st declension nouns", and so on.The following table shows the declension of puella "girl", dominus "lord, master", and bellum "war" :
| Case | 1 sg. | 1 pl. | 2 sg. | 2 pl. | 2n sg. | 2n pl. | Br | GL | Wh | |||
| Nominative | puella | puellae | dominus | dominī | bellum | bella | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Vocative | puella | puellae | domine | dominī | bellum | bella | 2 | 5 | 6 | |||
| Accusative | puellam | puellās | dominum | dominōs | bellum | bella | 3 | 4 | 4 | |||
| Genitive | puellae | puellārum | dominī | dominōrum | bellī | bellōrum | 4 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Dative | puellae | puellīs | dominō | dominīs | bellō | bellīs | 5 | 3 | 3 | |||
| Ablative | puellā | puellīs | dominō | dominīs | bellō | bellīs | 6 | 6 | 5 |
1st declension nouns are usually feminine, except for a few referring to men, such as agricola "farmer" or poēta "poet". The nouns fīlia "daughter" and dea "goddess" have dative and ablative plural fīliābus, deābus. The locative case ends in -ae, pl. -īs, e.g. Rōmae "in Rome", Athēnīs "in Athens".
2nd declension nouns in -us are usually masculine, but those referring to trees and some place names are feminine. A few 2nd declension nouns, such as vir "man" and puer "boy", lack endings in the nominative and vocative singular. In the 2nd declension, the genitive plural in some words is optionally -um, especially in poetry: deum or deōrum "of the gods", virum or virōrum "of men".
Neuter nouns such as bellum "war" have -a in the nominative plural. In neuter nouns, the vocative and accusative are always the same as the nominative; the genitive, dative, and ablative are the same as the masculine. Most 2nd declension neuter nouns end in -um but vīrus "poison" and vulgus "crowd" end in -us.
3rd declension
Third declension nouns have various patterns of declension. Some decline like the following: mīles "soldier", urbs "city", corpus "body":| Case | 3 sg. | 3 pl. | 3 sg. | 3 pl. | 3n sg. | 3n pl. | Br | GL | Wh | |||
| Nominative | mīles | mīlitēs | urbs | urbēs | corpus | corpora | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Vocative | mīles | mīlitēs | urbs | urbēs | corpus | corpora | 2 | 5 | 6 | |||
| Accusative | mīlitem | mīlitēs | urbem | urbēs/-īs | corpus | corpora | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||
| Genitive | mīlitis | mīlitum | urbis | urbium | corporis | corporum | 4 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Dative | mīlitī | mīlitibus | urbī | urbibus | corporī | corporibus | 5 | 3 | 3 | |||
| Ablative | mīlite | mīlitibus | urbe | urbibus | corpore | corporibus | 6 | 6 | 5 |
There are some variations, however. A few, such as vīs, vim, vī "force", have accusative singular -im and ablative singular -ī; some, like ignis "fire", optionally have -ī instead of -e in the ablative singular. The genitive plural in some nouns is -um, in others -ium. 3rd declension nouns can be of any gender.
It is not usually possible to guess the genitive of a noun from the nominative. dux "leader" has genitive ducis but rēx "king" has rēgis; pater "father" has genitive patris but iter "journey" has itineris. For this reason the genitive is always given in dictionaries, and can be used to discover the remaining cases.
4th and 5th declension
4th and 5th declension nouns are less common. They decline like the following :| Case | 4 sg. | 4 pl. | 4n sg. | 4n pl. | 5 sg. | 5 pl. | Br | GL | Wh | |||
| Nominative | manus | manūs | genū | genua | diēs | diēs | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Vocative | manus | manūs | genū | genua | diēs | diēs | 2 | 5 | 6 | |||
| Accusative | manum | manūs | genū | genua | diēm | diēs | 3 | 4 | 4 | |||
| Genitive | manūs | manuum | genūs | genuum | diēī | diērum | 4 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Dative | manuī | manibus | genuī, genū | genibus | diēī | diēbus | 5 | 3 | 3 | |||
| Ablative | manū | manibus | genū | genibus | diē | diēbus | 6 | 6 | 5 |
4th declension nouns are usually masculine, but a few, such as manus "hand" and anus "old lady", are feminine. There are only four 4th declension neuter nouns.
5th declension nouns are usually feminine. rēs "thing" is similar to diēs except for a short e in the genitive and dative singular reī.
Other nouns
In addition to the above there are some irregularly declined nouns, mostly borrowed from Greek, such as the name Aenēās "Aeneas".The vocative is nearly always the same as the nominative, except in 1st and 2nd declension masculine singular words, such as Aenēā! "Aeneas!" and domine! "master!/lord!". Some words, such as deus "god", have no separate vocative, however.
Use of cases
Nominative
The nominative case is used for the subject of an active or a passive verb:It is also used for the complement of a copula verb such as est "he is" or factus est "he became":
Vocative
The vocative case is used when addressing someone:Accusative
The accusative case is used for the object of a sentence:It is also used as the subject of an infinitival clause dependent on a verb of speaking or the like:
It can be the complement of another word which is itself accusative:
It can also be used with a place name to refer to the destination:
The accusative is also used after various prepositions :
Another use of the accusative is to give a length of time or distance:
Genitive
The genitive case means "of":If the head noun is derived from a verb, the genitive can be subjective or objective:
A frequent type of genitive is the partitive genitive, expressing the quantity of something:
Certain verbs take the genitive, such as misereor "I pity", interest "it is in the interest of", oblīvīscor "I forget" :
Dative
The dative case means "to" or "for". It is frequently used with verbs of saying or giving:It can also be used with certain adjectives:
It is also used with certain verbs such as pāreō "I obey" or persuādeō "I persuade":
There are also various idiomatic uses, such as the dative of possession:
Ablative
The ablative case can mean "with", especially when the noun it refers to is a thing rather than a person:Often a phrase consisting of a noun plus participle in the ablative can express time or circumstance. This is known as an "ablative absolute":
It is also frequently used with prepositions, especially those meaning "from", "with", "in", or "by":
Another use is in expressions of time and place :
The ablative can also mean "from", especially with place names:
Locative
The locative is a rare case used only with names of cities, small islands, and one or two other words such as domus "home". It means "at" or "in":Adjectives
Declension of adjectives
Adjectives, like nouns, have different endings for the different cases singular and plural. They also differ as to gender, having different forms for masculine, feminine, and neuter.Many adjectives belong to the 1st and 2nd declensions, declining in the same way as the nouns puella, dominus, bellum. An example is the adjective bonus "good" shown below:
| Case | m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | m. pl | f. pl. | n. pl. | Br | GL | Wh | ||
| Nominative | bonus | bona | bonum | bonī | bonae | bona | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Vocative | bone | bona | bonum | bonī | bonae | bona | 2 | 5 | 6 | ||
| Accusative | bonum | bonam | bonum | bonōs | bonās | bona | 3 | 4 | 4 | ||
| Genitive | bonī | bonae | bonī | bonōrum | bonārum | bonōrum | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Dative | bonō | bonae | bonō | bonīs | bonīs | bonīs | 5 | 3 | 3 | ||
| Ablative | bonō | bonā | bonō | bonīs | bonīs | bonīs | 6 | 6 | 5 |
Other adjectives belong to the 3rd declension, in which case the masculine and feminine are usually identical. Most 3rd declension adjectives are i-stems, and have ablative singular -ī and genitive plural -ium. An example is ingēns "huge" shown below:
| Case | m/f. sg. | n. sg. | m/f. pl | n. pl. | Br | GL | Wh | ||
| Nominative | ingēns | ingēns | ingentēs | ingentia | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Vocative | ingēns | ingēns | ingentēs | ingentia | 2 | 5 | 6 | ||
| Accusative | ingentem | ingēns | ingentēs/-īs | ingentia | 3 | 4 | 4 | ||
| Genitive | ingentis | ingentis | ingentium | ingentium | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Dative | ingentī | ingentī | ingentibus | ingentibus | 5 | 3 | 3 | ||
| Ablative | ingentī | ingentī | ingentibus | ingentibus | 6 | 6 | 5 |
In a very few 3rd declension adjectives such as ācer, ācris, ācre "sharp, keen", the feminine is different from the masculine, but only in the nominative and vocative singular.
A few adjectives decline as consonant stems, and have ablative singular -e and genitive plural -um. An example is melior "better":
| Case | m/f. sg. | n. sg. | m/f. pl | n. pl. | Br | GL | Wh | ||
| Nominative | melior | melius | meliōrem | meliōra | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Vocative | melior | melius | meliōrēs | meliōra | 2 | 5 | 6 | ||
| Accusative | meliōrem | melius | meliōrēs | meliōra | 3 | 4 | 4 | ||
| Genitive | meliōris | meliōris | meliōrum | meliōrum | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Dative | meliōrī | meliōrī | meliōribus | meliōribus | 5 | 3 | 3 | ||
| Ablative | meliōre | meliōre | meliōribus | meliōribus | 6 | 6 | 5 |
Participles such as dūcēns "leading" usually have -e in the ablative singular, but -ium in the genitive plural.
There are no adjectives in the 4th or 5th declensions.
The adjectives sōlus "only" and tōtus "the whole of" decline like pronouns, with genitive singular -īus and dative singular -ī:
Agreement of adjectives
Any adjective that describes or refers to a noun must be in the same case as the noun, as well as the same number and gender. Thus in the phrase below, where rēx is in the vocative singular case, bonus must be in the vocative singular also:Comparative and superlative adjectives
Adjectives have positive, comparative and superlative forms. Superlative adjectives are declined according to the first and second declension, but comparative adjectives are third declension.When used in sentences, a comparative adjective can be used in several ways:
- Absolutely
- With
- With an ablative meaning "than"
- With the genitive
- Cornēlia est fortis puella: Cornelia is a brave girl.
- Cornēlia est fortior puella: Cornelia is a rather brave girl.
- Cornēlia est fortior puella quam Flāvia: Cornelia is a braver girl than Flavia.
- Cornēlia est fortior Flāviā: Cornelia is braver than Flavia.
- Cornēlia est fortior puellārum: Cornelia is the braver of the girls
- Cornēlia est puella fortissima: Cornelia is a very brave girl
- Cornēlia est puella omnium fortissima: Cornelia is the bravest girl of all.
| POSITIVE | COMPARATIVE | SUPERLATIVE |
| longus, -a, -um long, tall | longior, -ius longer, taller | longissimus, -a, -um very long, longest |
| brevis, -e short | brevior, -ius shorter | brevissimus, -a, -um very short, shortest |
| pulcher, -chra, -chrum beautiful | pulchrior, -ius more beautiful | pulcherrimus, -a, -um very beautiful, most beautiful |
| bonus, -a, -um good | melior, -ius better | optimus, -a, -um very good, best |
| facilis, -is, -e easy | facilior, -ius easier | facillimus, -a, -um very easy, easiest |
| magnus, -a, -um great | maior, -ius greater | maximus, -a, -um very great, greatest |
| malus, -a, -um bad | peior, -ius worse | pessimus, -a, -um very bad, worst |
| multus, -a, -um much | plūs more | plūrimus, -a, -um very much, most |
| multī, -ae, -a many | plūres, plūra more | plūrimī, -ae, -a very many, most |
| parvus, -a, -um small | minor smaller | minimus, -a, -um very small, smallest |
| superus, -a, -um situated above | superior, -ius higher, previous | suprēmus, -a, -um / summus, -a, -um highest, last |
before | prior, prius earlier | prīmus, -a, -um first |
Detailed information and declension tables can be found at Latin declension.
Pronouns
Pronouns are of two kinds, personal pronouns and 3rd person pronouns. Personal pronouns decline as follows.| Case | I | you sg. | himself/ herself | we | you pl. | themselves | Br | Am | |
| Nominative | egō | tū | – | nōs | vōs | – | 1 | 1 | |
| Accusative | mē | tē | sē / sēsē | nōs | vōs | sē / sēsē | 3 | 4 | |
| Genitive | meī | tuī | suī | nostrum/-trī | vestrum/-trī | suī | 4 | 2 | |
| Dative | mihī | tibī | sibī | nōbīs | vōbīs | sibī | 5 | 3 | |
| Ablative | mē | tē | sē / sēsē | nōbīs | vōbīs | sē / sēsē | 6 | 6 |
mē, tē, nōs, vōs can also be used reflexively.
Nōs is frequently used in classical Latin for "I", but vōs is never used in a singular sense.
The genitive nostrum is used partitively, nostrī objectively.
3rd person pronouns are those such as hic "this" and ipse " himself". The 3rd person pronouns can also be used adjectivally. The declension of these pronouns tends to be irregular. They generally have -īus in the genitive singular, and -ī in the dative singular. In a few pronouns the neuter singular ends in -d.
The declension of ille "that" is as follows:
| Case | m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | m. pl | f. pl. | n. pl. | Br | Am | |
| Nominative | ille | illa | illud | illī | illae | illa | 1 | 1 | |
| Accusative | illum | illam | illud | illōs | illās | illa | 3 | 4 | |
| Genitive | illīus | illīus | illīus | illōrum | illārum | illōrum | 4 | 2 | |
| Dative | illī | illī | illī | illīs | illīs | illīs | 5 | 3 | |
| Ablative | illō | illā | illō | illīs | illīs | illīs | 6 | 6 |
Ipse "he himself" is very similar, except that the neuter singular ipsum ends in -m instead of -d.
Other very common 3rd person pronouns are hic, haec, hoc "this" and is, ea, id "he, she, it; that". Like other 3rd person pronouns, these can be used either independently or adjectivally :
| Case | m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | m. pl | f. pl. | n. pl. | Br | Am | |
| Nominative | hic | haec | hoc | hī | hae | haec | 1 | 1 | |
| Accusative | hunc | hanc | hoc | hōs | hās | haec | 3 | 4 | |
| Genitive | huius | huius | huius | hōrum | hārum | hōrum | 4 | 2 | |
| Dative | huic | huic | huic | hīs | hīs | hīs | 5 | 3 | |
| Ablative | hōc | hāc | hōc | hīs | hīs | hīs | 6 | 6 |
Before a vowel, hic and hoc are pronounced as if spelled hicc and hocc. Huius is pronounced as if spelled huiius with a long first syllable.
| Case | m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | m. pl | f. pl. | n. pl. | Br | Am | |
| Nominative | is | ea | id | iī | eae | ea | 1 | 1 | |
| Accusative | eum | eam | id | eōs | eās | ea | 3 | 4 | |
| Genitive | eius | eius | eius | eōrum | eārum | eōrum | 4 | 2 | |
| Dative | eī | eī | eī | eīs/iīs | eīs/iīs | eīs/iīs | 5 | 3 | |
| Ablative | eō | eā | eō | eīs/iīs | eīs/iīs | eīs/iīs | 6 | 6 |
Also very common is the relative pronoun quī, quae, quod "who, which". The interrogative quis? quid? "who? what?" and indefinite quis, qua, quid "anyone, anything" are similar apart from the nominative singular:
| Case | m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | m. pl | f. pl. | n. pl. | Br | Am | |
| Nominative | quī | quae | quod | quī | quae | quae | 1 | 1 | |
| Accusative | quem | quam | quod | quōs | quās | quae | 3 | 4 | |
| Genitive | cuius | cuius | cuius | quōrum | quārum | quōrum | 4 | 2 | |
| Dative | cui | cui | cui | quibus | quibus | quibus | 5 | 3 | |
| Ablative | quō | quā | quō | quibus | quibus | quibus | 6 | 6 |
Like adjectives, pronouns must agree in gender, case, and number with the nouns they refer to, as in the following, where hic is masculine agreeing with amor, but haec is feminine, agreeing with patria:
There is no indefinite article or definite article. Sometimes the weak determiner is, ea, id can serve for the definite article:
Adverbs
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs by indicating time, place or manner. Latin adverbs are indeclinable and invariable. Like adjectives, adverbs have positive, comparative and superlative forms.The positive form of an adverb can often be formed from an adjective by appending the suffix -ē or -er. Thus the adjective clārus, -a, -um, which means "bright", can be contrasted to the adverb clārē, which means "brightly". The adverbial ending -ter is used to form adverbs from 3rd declension adjectives, for example celer "quick", celeriter "quickly". Other endings such as -ō, -e, -tim are also found.
The comparative form of an adverb is the same as the neuter nominative singular form of a comparative adjective and usually ends in -ius. Instead of the adjective clārior, which means "brighter", the adverb is clārius, which means "more brightly".
The superlative adverb has the same base as the superlative adjective and always ends in a long -ē. Instead of the adjective clārissimus, which mean "very bright" or "brightest", the adverb is clārissimē, which means "very brightly" or "most brightly".
| POSITIVE | COMPARATIVE | SUPERLATIVE |
| dignē worthily | dignius more worthily | dignissimē very worthily, most worthily |
| fortiter bravely | fortius more bravely | fortissimē very bravely, most bravely |
| facile easily | facilius more easily | facillimē very easily, most easily |
| bene well | melius better | optimē very well, best |
| male badly | peius worse | pessimē very badly, worst |
| magnopere greatly | magis more | maximē very greatly, most, especially |
| paulum a little | minus less | minimē very little, least |
| multum much | plūs more | plūrimum very much, most |
| diū for a long time | diūtius for a longer time, any longer | diūtissimē for a very long time |
| saepe often | saepius more often | saepissimē very often, most often |
Prepositions
Prepositions
A prepositional phrase in Latin is made up of a preposition followed by a noun phrase in the accusative or ablative case. The preposition determines the case that is used, with some prepositions allowing different cases depending on the meaning. For example, Latin in takes the accusative case when it indicates motion and the ablative case when it indicates position :Most prepositions take one case only. For example, all those that mean "from", "by", or "with" take the ablative:
Other prepositions take only the accusative:
Postpositions
In addition, there are a few postpositions. tenus "as far as" usually follows an ablative, sometimes a genitive plural case:versus "towards" is usually combined with ad or in:
causā "for the sake of" follows a genitive:
The word cum "with" is usually a preposition, but with the personal pronouns mē, tē, sē, nōbīs, vōbīs "me, you sg., him/herself/themselves, us, you pl." it follows the pronoun and is joined to it in writing:
Both quōcum and cum quō "with whom" are found.
| Preposition | Grammar case | Comments |
| ,, | + abl | from; down from; at, in, on, after, since by, of |
| + abl | without | |
| + acc | towards, to, at | |
| , | + acc | towards, against |
| + acc | before | |
| +acc | at, by, near, among; ; before, in the presence of, in the writings of, in view of | |
| + gen | for the sake of | |
| + acc | about, around, near; | |
| + acc | around, near, about; regarding, concerning | |
| + acc | near, close, round about | |
| + acc | on, to this, the near side of, short of; before | |
| + acc | on this side of | |
| + acc & + abl | without the knowledge of, unknown to. Its use with the ablative is rare. Clanculum is a variant of this preposition. | |
| + acc | against, opposite to, contrary to, otherwise, in return to, back | |
| + abl | in person, face to face; publicly, openly | |
| + abl | with | |
| + abl | from, concerning, about; down from, out of | |
| + acc | against, opposite; towards, with regard to | |
| , | + abl | out of, from |
| + acc | outside of, beyond | |
| , fīnī | + gen | up to. Can also be a postposition. |
| + gen | for the sake of. Usually placed after the noun. | |
| + acc | into, onto, to; about, respecting; according to; against | |
| + abl | in, among, at, on ; during, at | |
| + acc | below | |
| + acc | between, among; during, while | |
| + acc | within, inside; during; in less than | |
| + acc | nearly; near, close to, just as. Can also follow the noun. | |
| + acc | in the direction of, to, towards; on account of, according to, because of, due to, for ; against; facing | |
| + abl | without concealment, openly, publicly, undisguisedly, plainly, unambiguously | |
| + acc | Under one's government or command; In one's disposal or custody; At, with, about, concerning | |
| + acc | through, by means of; during | |
| + acc | behind; in the rear of | |
| + acc | behind ; afterwards, after | |
| + abl | before, in front of, because of | |
| + acc | besides, except; beyond; more than | |
| + abl | for, on behalf of; before; in front, instead of; about; according to; as, like; as befitting | |
| + abl | far, at a distance | |
| + acc | near, nearby, towards, about | |
| + acc | near, close to, hard by; because of, on account of, for; through, by means of | |
| + acc | next, along, according to | |
| + abl | with | |
| + abl | without | |
| + acc | under, up to, up under, close to ; until, before, up to, about | |
| + abl | under, beneath; near to, up to, towards; about, around | |
| + acc | under, underneath; following ; in the reign of | |
| + abl | underneath, below inferior | |
| + acc | above, over, beyond; during | |
| + abl | concerning, regarding, about | |
| + acc | above, over, more than, before | |
| + gen & + abl | right up to, as far as, just as far as; up to ; to the maximum extent of, within. Used as a postposition. | |
| + acc | across, beyond | |
| , | + acc | towards |
| + acc | beyond |
Numerals and numbers
The first three numbers have masculine, feminine and neuter forms fully declined as follows:| Declension | 1 m | f | n | 2 m | f | n | 3 mf | n | Br | GL | Wh | |||
| Nominative | ūnus | ūna | ūnum | duo | duae | duo | trēs | tria | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Vocative | ūne | ūna | ūnum | duo | duae | duo | trēs | tria | 2 | 5 | 6 | |||
| Accusative | ūnum | ūnam | ūnum | duōs/duo | duās | duo | trēs/trīs | tria | 3 | 4 | 4 | |||
| Genitive | ūnīus/-ius | ūnīus | ūnīus | duōrum | duārum | duōrum | trium | trium | 4 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Dative | ūnī | ūnī | ūnī | duōbus | duābus | duōbus | tribus | tribus | 5 | 3 | 3 | |||
| Ablative | ūnō | ūnā | ūnō | duōbus | duābus | duōbus | tribus | tribus | 6 | 6 | 5 |
ūnus can also be used in the plural, with plural-only nouns, e.g. ūna castra "one camp", ūnae litterae "one letter". For larger numbers plural-only nouns use special numerals: bīna castra "two camps", trīna castra "three camps".
The numbers quattuor through decem are not declined:
The "tens" numbers are also not declined:
The numbers 11 to 17 are formed by affixation of the corresponding digit to the base -decim, hence ūndecim, duodecim, tredecim, quattuordecim, quīndecim, sēdecim, septendecim. The numbers 18 and 19 are formed by subtracting 2 and 1, respectively, from 20: duodēvīgintī and ūndēvīgintī. For the numbers 21 to 27, the digits either follow or are added to 20 by the conjunction et: vīgintī ūnus or ūnus et vīgintī, vīgintī duo or duo et vīgintī etc. The numbers 28 and 29 are again formed by subtraction: duodētrīgintā and ūndētrīgintā. Each group of ten numerals through 100 follows the patterns of the 20s but 98 is nōnāgintā octō and 99 is nōnāgintā novem rather than *duodēcentum and *ūndēcentum respectively.
Compounds ending in 1 2 and 3 are the only ones to decline:
The "hundreds" numbers are the following:
However, 1000 is mille, an indeclinable adjective, but multiples such as duo mīlia have mīlia as a neuter plural substantive followed by a partitive genitive:
Ordinal numbers are all adjectives with regular first- and second-declension endings. Most are built off of the stems of cardinal numbers from trīgintā, sēscentēsimus, -a, -um nōnus, -a, -um for sēscentī novem. However, "first" is prīmus, -a, -um, and "second" is secundus, -a, -um.
Verbs
Persons of the verb
Each tense has endings corresponding to three persons in the singular, known as 1st person singular, 2nd person singular, 3rd person singular, and three in the plural, known as 1st person plural, 2nd person plural , and 3rd person plural. Unlike Ancient Greek, there is no dual number in the Latin verb.| 1st sg. 2nd sg. 3rd sg. | I you sg. he, she, it | amō amās amat | I love you sg. love he, she, it loves |
| 1st pl. 2nd pl. 3rd pl. | we you pl. they | amāmus amātis amant | we love you pl. love they love |
Unlike in Spanish, French, and other Romance languages, there are no respectful 2nd person forms in Latin grammar: the 2nd person singular is used even when addressing a person of high status. However, the 1st person plural is often used to mean "I".
Gender
Most verbs do not show grammatical gender: the same ending is used whether the subject is "he", "she", or "it". However, when a verb is made periphrastically out of a participle and part of the verb sum "I am", the participle shows gender, for example:- missus est "he was sent"
- missa est "she was sent"
Voice
Latin verbs have two voices, active and passive.| Active | ' | dūcō | I lead, I am leading |
| Passive | ' | dūcor | I am led, I am being led |
In addition there are a few verbs which have the endings of passive verbs but with an active meaning. These verbs are known as deponent verbs.
Intransitive verbs such as sum "I am" usually have no passive voice. However, some intransitive verbs can be used in the passive voice, but only when impersonal, e.g. pugnātum est " was fought", ventum est "they came".
Mood
Latin verbs have three moods: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative:| Indicative | ' | dūcit | he leads, he is leading |
| Subjunctive | ' | dūcat | he may/would/should lead |
| Imperative | ' | dūc! | lead! |
Ordinary statements such as dūcō "I lead" or vēnit "he came" are said to be in the indicative mood. The subjunctive mood is used for potential or hypothetical statements, wishes, and also in reported speech and certain types of subordinate clause. The imperative''' mood is a command.
In addition Latin verbs have a number of non-finite forms, such as the infinitive and various participles.
Regular and irregular verbs
Most Latin verbs are regular and follow one of the five patterns below. These are referred to as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th conjugation, according to whether the infinitive ends in -āre, -ēre, -ere or -īre.Other verbs like sum "I am" are irregular and have their own pattern.
| REGULAR | I love | I see | I lead | I capture | I hear | |
| Present tense active | I you sg. he, she, it we you pl. they | amō amās amat amāmus amātis amant | videō vidēs videt vidēmus vidētis vident | dūcō dūcis dūcit dūcimus dūcitis ducunt | capiō capis capit capimus capitis capiunt | audiō audīs audit audīmus audītis audiunt |
| Infinitive | to | amāre | vidēre | dūcere | capere | audīre |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| I am loved | I am seen | I am led | I am captured | I am heard | ||
| Present tense passive | I you sg. he, she, it we you pl. they | amor amāris amātur amāmur amāminī amantur | videor vidēris vidētur vidēmur vidēminī videntur | dūcor dūceris dūcitur dūcimur dūciminī ducuntur | capior caperis capitur capimur capiminī capiuntur | audior audīris audītur audīmur audīminī audiuntur |
| Infinitive | to | amārī | vidērī | dūcī | capī | audīrī |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| IRREGULAR | I am | I am able | I bring | I want | I go | |
| Present tense | I you sg. he, she, it we you pl. they | sum es est sumus estis sunt | possum potes potest possumus potestis possunt | ferō fers fert ferimus fertis ferunt | volō vīs vult volumus vultis volunt | eō īs it īmus ītis eunt |
| Infinitive | to | esse | posse | ferre | velle | īre |
Compound verbs such as adsum "I am present", nōlō "I don't want", redeō "I go back", etc., usually have the same endings as the simple verbs from which they are made.
Tenses
A 3rd conjugation example
Latin verbs have six basic tenses in the indicative mood. Three of these are based on the present stem and three on the perfect stem.In addition, there are four tenses in the subjunctive mood, and two in the imperative.
Further tenses can be made periphrastically by combining participles with the verbs sum "I am" or habeō "I have", for example ductūrus eram "I was going to lead" or ductum habeō "I have led".
The following table gives the various forms of a 3rd conjugation verb dūcō. As with other verbs, three different stems are needed to make the various tenses: dūc- in the three non-perfect tenses, dūx- in the three perfect tenses, and duct- in the perfect participle and supine. The perfect and supine stems for any particular verb cannot always be predicted and usually have to be looked up in a dictionary.
| INDICATIVE | Active | Passive | ||
| Present | dūcō dūcis dūcit dūcimus dūcitis dūcunt | I lead, I am leading you lead he/she/it leads we lead you pl. lead they lead | dūcor dūceris dūcitur dūcimur dūciminī dūcuntur | I am led, I am being led you are led he/she/it is led we are led you pl. are led they are led |
| Future | dūcam dūcēs dūcet dūcēmus dūcētis dūcent | I will lead, I will be leading you will lead he/she/it will lead we will lead you pl. will lead they will lead | dūcar dūcēris/-e dūcētur dūcēmur dūcēminī dūcentur | I will be led, I will be being led you will be led he/she/it will be led we will be led you pl. will be led they will be led |
| Imperfect | dūcēbam dūcēbās dūcēbat dūcēbāmus dūcēbātis dūcēbant | I was leading, used to lead you were leading he/she/it was leading we were leading you pl. were leading they were leading | dūcēbar dūcēbāris/-re dūcēbātur dūcēbāmur dūcēbāminī dūcēbantur | I was being led, I used to be led you were being led he/she/it was being led we were being led you pl. were being led they were being led |
| Perfect | dūxī dūxistī dūxit dūximus dūxistis dūxērunt/-ēre | I led, I have led you led he/she/it led we led you pl. led they led | ductus sum ductus es ductus est ductī sumus ductī estis ductī sunt | I was led, I have been led you were led he was led we were led you pl. were led they were led |
| Future Perfect | dūxerō dūxerīs/-is dūxerit dūxerīmus dūxerītis dūxerint | I will have led you will have led he/she/it will have led we will have led you pl. will have led they will have led | ductus erō ductus eris ductus erit ductī erimus ductī eritis ductī erunt | I will have been led you will have been led he will have been led we will have been led you pl. will have been led they will have been led |
| Pluperfect | dūxeram dūxerās dūxerat dūxerāmus dūxerātis dūxerant | I had led you had led he/she/it had led we had led you pl. had led they had led | ductus eram ductus erās ductus erat ductī erāmus ductī erātis ductī erant | I had been led you had been led he had been led we had been led you pl. had been led they had been led |
| SUBJUNCTIVE | - | - | - | - |
| Present | dūcam dūcās dūcat dūcāmus dūcātis dūcant | I may lead, I would lead you would lead he/she/it would lead we would lead you pl. would lead they would lead | dūcar dūcāris dūcātur dūcāmur dūcāminī dūcantur | I may be led, I would be led you would be led he/she/it would be led we would be led you pl. would be led they would be led |
| Imperfect | dūcerem dūcerēs dūceret dūcerēmus dūcerētis dūcerent | I might lead, should lead you might lead he/she/it might lead we might lead you pl. might lead they might lead | dūcerer dūcerēris dūcerētur dūcerēmur dūcerēminī dūcerentur | I might be led you might be led he/she/it might be led we might be led you pl. might be led they might be led |
| Perfect | dūxerim dūxerīs dūxerit dūxerīmus dūxerītis dūxerint | I would have led, I led you would have led he/she/it would have led we would have led you pl. would lead they would have led | ductus sim ductus sīs ductus sit ductī sīmus ductī sītis ductī sint | I would have been led, I was led you were led he was led we were led you pl. were led they were led |
| Pluperfect | dūxissem dūxissēs dūxisset dūxissēmus dūxissētis dūxissent | I would have led, I had led you would have led he/she/it would have led we would have led you pl. would have led they would have led | ductus essem ductus essēs ductus esset ductī essēmus ductī essētis ductī essent | I would have been led you would have been led he would have been led we would have been led you pl. would have been led they would have been led |
| IMPERATIVE | - | - | - | - |
| Present | dūc! dūcite! | lead! lead! | ' ' | be led! be led! |
| Future | dūcitō! dūcitōte! | lead! lead! | ||
| 3rd person | dūcitō dūcuntō | he must lead they must lead | ||
| INFINITIVES | - | - | - | - |
| Present | dūcere | to lead | dūcī | to be led |
| Future | ductūrus esse | to be going to lead | ductum īrī | to be going to be led |
| Perfect | dūxisse | to have led | ductus esse | to have been led |
| Periphrastic perfect | ductūrus fuisse | to have been going to lead | - | - |
| PARTICIPLES | - | - | - | - |
| Present | dūcēns dūcentēs | leading leading | ||
| Future | ductūrus/a/um | going to lead | ||
| Perfect | ductus/a/um | having been led | ||
| GERUNDIVE | dūcendus/a/um | to be led | ||
| GERUND | ad dūcendum dūcendī dūcendō | with a view to leading of leading by leading | ||
| SUPINE | ductum ductū | in order to lead to lead |
A distinction between perfective aspect and imperfective aspect is found only in the past in Latin. In the present or future, the same tenses have both aspectual meanings.
Unlike in Ancient Greek or modern English, there is no distinction between perfect and simple past. The same tense, known in Latin grammar as the perfect tense, has both meanings.
The passive imperative is almost never used except in deponent verbs, e.g. sequere mē! "follow me!"
Variations
The different conjugations differ in some tenses. For example, in the future tense:- 1st and 2nd conjugation verbs and eō have the endings -bō, -bis, -bit, -bimus, -bitis, -bunt.
- 3rd and 4th conjugation verbs and volō and ferō have the endings -am, -ēs, -et, -ēmus, -ētis, -ent.
- Sum and possum have the endings erō, eris, erit, erimus, eritis, erunt
- Most verbs have the endings -bam, -bās, -bat, -bāmus, -bātis, -bant
- Sum and possum have eram, erās, erat, erāmus, erātis, erant
- 1st conjugation verbs have the endings -em, -ēs, -et, -ēmus, -ētis, -ent
- 2nd, 3rd, 4th conjugations have -am, -ās, -at, -āmus, -ātis, -ant
- Sum, possum, volō have -im, -īs, -it, -īmus, -ītis, -int
- Regular: amārem, vidērem, dūcerem, caperem, audīrem
- Irregular: essem, possem, ferrem, vellem, īrem
Word order
Latin allows a very flexible word order because of its inflectional syntax. Ordinary prose tended to follow the pattern of subject, direct object, indirect object, adverbial words or phrases, verb. Any extra but subordinate verb, such as an infinitive, is placed before the main verb. Adjectives and participles usually directly follow nouns unless they are adjectives of beauty, size, quantity, goodness, or truth, in which case they usually precede the noun being modified. However, departures from these rules are frequent.Relative clauses are commonly placed after the antecedent that the relative pronoun describes. Since grammatical function in a sentence is based not on word order but on inflection, the usual word order in Latin was often abandoned with no detriment to understanding but with various changes in emphasis.
While these patterns of word order were the most frequent in Classical Latin prose, they were frequently varied. The strongest surviving evidence suggests that the word order of colloquial Latin was mostly Subject-Object-Verb. That can be found in some very conservative Romance languages, such as Sardinian and Sicilian in which the verb is still often placed at the end of the sentence. On the other hand, subject-verb-object word order was probably also common in ancient Latin conversation, as it is prominent in the Romance languages, which evolved from Latin.
In poetry, however, word order was often changed for the sake of the meter for which vowel quantity and consonant clusters, not rhyme and word stress, governed the patterns. One must bear in mind that poets in the Roman world wrote primarily for the ear, not the eye; many premiered their work in recitation for an audience. Hence, variations in word order served a rhetorical as well as a metrical purpose; they certainly did not prevent understanding.
In Virgil's Eclogues, for example, he writes, Omnia vincit amor, et nōs cēdāmus amōrī!: "Love conquers all, let us too yield to love!". The words omnia, amor and amōrī are thrown into relief by their unusual position in their respective phrases.
The ending of the common Roman name Mārcus is different in each of the following pairs of examples because of its grammatical usage in each pair. The ordering in the second sentence of each pair would be correct in Latin and clearly understood, whereas in English it is awkward, at best, and meaningless, at worst: