Illustration of the Idea of Case in Latin
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Case, in the grammatical sense, refers to the particular forms
and uses of nouns and pronouns, and of the adjectives
that modify them.
In Latin, different endings indicate the different cases.
The case-endings tell you how the words might be used in the sentence.
For example:
Brutus is the nominative-case form.
Brute is the vocative case form.
Brutum is the accusative-case form.
Thus, since the nominative case is used to indicate subjects, you would
have to say:
Brutus venit. = Brutus is coming.
Since the vocative case form is used to indicate words of naming the addressee
in direct address, you must say:
Et tu, Brute! = You too, Brutus!
And since the direct object of the common verb for I see is put
into the accusative case, you would have to say
Brutum video. = I see Brutus.
"Brutus video" would have to mean "I, Brutus, am seeing."
Example of how Latin cases would correspond to English usage:
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1
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2
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3
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4
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6
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Marcus
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and
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Julia,
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the
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carpenter
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made
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us
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a
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new
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door
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in
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the
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house's
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back
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room.
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Latin Case:
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Vocative
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Vocative
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Nominative
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Dative
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Accusative
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Genitive
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Ablative
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Marcus and Julia are the people who are being directly addressed.
These names would be put into the VOCATIVE Case.
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Carpenter is the subject, the agent that performs the action
of the verb. It would be in the NOMINATIVE Case.
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Us is an indirect object here. Indirect objects tend to be
put into the DATIVE CASE.
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Door is the direct object, the DIRECT receiver of the action
of the verb. Latin tends to use the ACCUSATIVE CASE for direct objects,
although some verbs govern other cases.
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House's is a noun indicating possession. We are speaking
about the door that belongs to the house. Possession is frequently indicated
by the GENITIVE case.
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Room is a noun that is used as an object of the preposition
in (Ask "In where?" "In the back room."). This preposition
in would take an object in the ABLATIVE case to indicate
place where.
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The LOCATIVE CASE, not illustrated here, is used to indicate place,
e.g., "at Rome."
