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

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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!

5. 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.

6. 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.

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

8. 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.

9. 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
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ibus ās ōs īs