Latin Grammar
Word Order
- Word order is relatively free because cases have enough expressiveness.
Gender & Number
- 3 genders, 2 numbers
Pronouns, adjectives, participles, and the numbers 1 to 3 have to agree in gender and number with the noun they refer to:
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | hic est filius meus | hi sunt filii mei |
| feminine | haec est filia mea | hae sunt filiae meae |
| neuter | hoc est corpus meum | haec mea sunt |
Case
- 7 cases
Nouns, pronouns, and adjectives change their endings according to their function in the sentence.
Nominative: the subject. rex ’the king'.
Vocative: being addressed. rex ‘o king’.
Accusative: the direct object. regem ’the king'.
Genitive: attributive relationship. regis ‘of the king’.
Dative: the recipient or beneficiary of an action. Usually the indirect object. regi ’to the king'.
Ablative: motion away from something. rege ‘with the king’.
Locative: location. Usually used with the name of cities and a limited number of nouns. domi ‘at home’.
Tense
- 6 main tenses in indicative mood, 4 in subjunctive mood, 2 in imperative mood.
Participles have 3, while the infinitive has 2.
Present: facio ‘I do’, ‘I am doing’
Future: faciam ‘I will do’, ‘I will be doing’
Imperfect: faciebam ‘I was doing’
Perfect: feci ‘I did’, ‘I have done’
Future Perfect: fecero ‘I will have done’
Pluperfect: feceram ‘I had done’