The Ablative Case and prepositional phrases Latin I, Stage 14, part 2 The Ablative Case and prepositional phrases

Let’s start with the basics… A preposition is a part of speech that describes one noun’s relationship with another. In short, they are “anywhere a cat can go:” In Onto On In front of Over Behind Under Towards Near Away from Around Down from Into About

Latin uses these, just like English in- in/on; into/onto sub-under de -down from, about sine -without cum -with prope -near post -after, behind pro -in front of a/ab -away from, by e/ex -out of There are more, but here are the ones we will see in our stories the most.

But what about CASE? We all know that in Latin, a noun will be in different cases depending on how it is used in a sentence. Prepositions work the same way. In a sentence like: Metella cum Melissā ambulat How do we know that it is “with Melissa” and not “with Metella”? Because Metella and Melissā are in different cases!

CASE, cont. Notice that long line over the –a in Melissā. Many prepositions take the accusative case, but there is a subset, like cum, that use a new case… The ABLATIVE! This is an extremely common case.

These particular prepositions require nouns in the ABLATIVE: Sub In De Sine Pro a/ab Cum e/ex Latin uses a silly mnemonic device to help you remember these.

SID SPACE, the ablative astronaut Sub In De Sine Pro A/ab Cum E/ex

What this means… Anything you are Will be in the ABLATIVE case. With In/on Under Down from/concerning Without In front of Away from Out of Will be in the ABLATIVE case.

The endings īs ABLATIVE ā e Nominative a Us/er -------- Genitive ae ī case 1st declension 2nd declension 3rd declension Nominative a Us/er -------- Genitive ae ī is Dative ō Accusative am um em ABLATIVE ā e Plurals es xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ibus ās ōs īs