Guide to Latin Gcse Grammar
Latin – Grammar
The Genitive Case
The genitive case is most often used to give possession, i.e. ‘of’. For example, ‘portus Alexandriae’ means ‘the port of Alexandria”. Portus = nominative singular, Alexandriae = genitive singular.
However, the genitive case is also used in two other ways: the partitive genitive and the genitive of description.
The Partitive Genitive
This is used to show a part of a whole, mostly used in relation to quantity. Nominative(but the case changes) | + Genitive | Meaning | plus | vini | more wine (lit. more of wine) | plus | pecuniae | more money | satis | cibi | enough food | nihil | periculi | no danger | multum | laboris | much work | aliquid | boni | something good | quid | novi? | what new? or what is new? |
The Genitive of Description
For example, where we might say ‘a man of the utmost courage’ instead we could say ‘a very courageous man’: vir summae virtutis (summae and virtutis agree) Noun | + Gen. of description | Meaning | fabula | huius modi | a story of this manner | puer | decem annorum | a boy of ten years | senator | ingenii optimi | a senator of hugest excellence |
The Ablative Case
Ablatives have a general meaning of ‘by’, ‘with’ or ‘from.’ They are often used with perfect passive participles e.g. having been killed by someone/with something. However, it has many other applications:
i) After certain prepositions (cum, in, sine etc.)
And without prepositions, to express: ii) points in time iii) method iv) description
i) After prepositions
These prepositions are followed by the ablative case Prep. | + Ablative example | Prep. meaning | + Ablative meaning | pro | temple | in front of/ in return for/on behalf of | the temple | cum | Clemente | with | Clemens | in | urbe | in/on | the city | e/ex | amphitheatre | from | the amphitheatre | de | morte | down from/about | death | sine | cibo | without | food | a/ab | servo | by/from | the slave | sub | leone | under
The Genitive Case
The genitive case is most often used to give possession, i.e. ‘of’. For example, ‘portus Alexandriae’ means ‘the port of Alexandria”. Portus = nominative singular, Alexandriae = genitive singular.
However, the genitive case is also used in two other ways: the partitive genitive and the genitive of description.
The Partitive Genitive
This is used to show a part of a whole, mostly used in relation to quantity. Nominative(but the case changes) | + Genitive | Meaning | plus | vini | more wine (lit. more of wine) | plus | pecuniae | more money | satis | cibi | enough food | nihil | periculi | no danger | multum | laboris | much work | aliquid | boni | something good | quid | novi? | what new? or what is new? |
The Genitive of Description
For example, where we might say ‘a man of the utmost courage’ instead we could say ‘a very courageous man’: vir summae virtutis (summae and virtutis agree) Noun | + Gen. of description | Meaning | fabula | huius modi | a story of this manner | puer | decem annorum | a boy of ten years | senator | ingenii optimi | a senator of hugest excellence |
The Ablative Case
Ablatives have a general meaning of ‘by’, ‘with’ or ‘from.’ They are often used with perfect passive participles e.g. having been killed by someone/with something. However, it has many other applications:
i) After certain prepositions (cum, in, sine etc.)
And without prepositions, to express: ii) points in time iii) method iv) description
i) After prepositions
These prepositions are followed by the ablative case Prep. | + Ablative example | Prep. meaning | + Ablative meaning | pro | temple | in front of/ in return for/on behalf of | the temple | cum | Clemente | with | Clemens | in | urbe | in/on | the city | e/ex | amphitheatre | from | the amphitheatre | de | morte | down from/about | death | sine | cibo | without | food | a/ab | servo | by/from | the slave | sub | leone | under