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Latin/Lesson 5-Accusative

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Grammar: The Accusative

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Lesson Vocabulary
Latin English
vendit he/she sells
videt he/she sees
amat he/she loves
cist-a -ae (f.) box
ferox, ferocis (m/f.) wild
ager (m.) field
bell-um (n.) war
serv-us (m.) slave

As you learned in the last lesson, the verb 'esse' (to be) usually takes the nominative case, because then the word after it is a complement. Most other verbs take the 'accusative' case.

In a sentence, the accusative is the "what" - in English grammar, this is known as the direct object.

For example: The girl sells the box.

What did the girl sell? The box. Thus, box is the direct object, and when we translate it into Latin:

Example
English: The girl sells the box.
Latin: Puella vendit cistam.
Explanation: NOMINATIVE VERB ACCUSATIVE

Cistam, then, is in the accusative, because it is the direct object.

Again, when an adjective describes a noun in the accusative case, the adjective must agree in number, case, and gender.

Example
English: The girl sells the big box.
Latin: Puella vendit magnam cistam.
Explanation: NOMINATIVE VERB ADJECTIVE ACCUSATIVE NOUN ACCUSATIVE

Because Latin uses cases to mark the subject and the object of a sentence, word order does not matter. Consider:

puer puellam videt The boy sees the girl
puerum puella videt The girl sees the boy
puellam puer videt The boy sees the girl
puella puerum videt The girl sees the boy

Examples of Adjectives Agreeing with the Nominative and Accusative Case

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Explanation- The good boy loves the wild dog.
Latin: puer bonus amat canem (acc) ferocem (acc).
English: [The] boy good [he] loves [the] dog wild.

Bonus, a first and second declension adjective, is masculine, nominative, and singular to agree with puer, the word it is describing.

Ferocem, a third declension adjective, is masculine, accusative, and singular to agree with canem. Canem is accusative because it is the object of amat.

Here is an example of plural adjectives:

Explanation- The good boys love the wild dogs.
Latin: Pueri (plur) boni (plur) amant (plur) canes (plur, acc) feroces (plur, acc).
English: [The] boys good [they] love [the] dogs wild.

The words bonus and ferocem become boni and feroces to agree with the plurals pueri and canes.

However, if a girl (puella) happened to love that boy:

Explanation- The good girl loves the good boy.
Latin: Puella bona amat puerum (acc) bonum (acc).
English: [The] girl good [she] loves [the] boy good.

Bonus must become bona in order to modify puella, which is feminine.

Finally, if the girl isn't good, but rather wild:

Explanation- The wild girl loves the good boy.
Latin: Puella ferox amat puerum (acc) bonum (acc).
English: [The] girl wild [she] loves [the] boy good.

Even though puella is first declension, ferox remains third declension. In the same way, a good lion would be bonus leo.

Exercise 1

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EXERCISE • Lesson 5-Accusative • Give the accusative singular.
  1. lud-us
  2. magn-us
  3. triclīni-um
  4. bell-um
  5. puell-a
  6. serv-us
  7. ager
SOLUTION • Latin/Lesson 5-Accusative • Give the accusative singular.
  1. ludum
  2. magnum
  3. triclīnium
  4. bellum
  5. puellam
  6. servum
  7. agrum
EXERCISE • Lesson 5-Accusative • Give the accusative plural.
  1. lud-us
  2. magn-us
  3. triclīni-um
  4. bell-um
  5. puell-a
  6. serv-us
  7. ager
SOLUTION • Latin/Lesson 5-Accusative • Give the accusative plural.
  1. ludos
  2. magnos
  3. triclīnia
  4. bella
  5. puellas
  6. servos
  7. agros
EXERCISE • Lesson 5-Accusative • Give the nominative singular.
  1. bon-ī
  2. bell-a
  3. triclīni-a
  4. puell-am
  5. agr-ōs
  6. serv-ōs
  7. puell-ae
SOLUTION • Latin/Lesson 5-Accusative • Give the nominative singular.
  1. bonus
  2. bellum
  3. triclīnium
  4. puella
  5. ager
  6. servus
  7. puella

Exercise 2

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Determine whether the adjective agrees with the substantive in all three categories: case, gender, number.

Questions: Does it Agree?
1. magn-us agr-ōs True/False
2. magn-a puella True/False
3. poet-a* bon-us True/False
4. magn-um serv-um True/False
5. poet-ae* magn-ae True/False
6. bell-a magn-a True/False
* Nota bene: Poeta (meaning poet) is a masculine noun, even though it ends in -a.
EXERCISE • Lesson 5-Accusative • Answer

See table above. Determine whether the adjective (magnus, bonus..) agrees with the substantives (ager, puella, poeta) in both case (nominative, accusative...), gender (masculine, female and neuter) and number (singular and plural).

SOLUTION • Latin/Lesson 5-Accusative • Answer
  1. False. Magnus doesn't agree with agrōs; in number and case.
    Magnus: Masculine, singular, nominative.
    Agrōs: Masculine, plural, accusative.
  2. True. Magna agrees with puella.
    Magna: Feminine, singular, nominative.
    Puella: Feminine, singular, nominative.
  3. True. Bonus agrees with poeta.
    Bonus: Masculine, singular, nominative.
    Poeta: Masculine, singular, nominative.
  4. True. Magnum agrees with servum.
    Magnum: Neuter, singular, nominative.
    Servum: Neuter, singular, nominative.
  5. False. Magnae doesn't agree with poetae; in gender.
    Magnae: Feminine, plural, nominative.
    Poetae: Masculine, plural, nominative.
  6. True. Bella agrees with magna.
    Bella: Neuter, plural, nominative.
    Magna: Neuter, plural, nominative.

Grammar: The Use of the Accusative

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Lesson Vocabulary
Latin English
curri-t he/she runs
porta-t he/she carries
specta-t he/she watches
da-t he/she gives
fuisse
fuī
fuistī
(puer) fuit
fuimus
fuistis
fuērunt 		to have been
I have been
you have been
(the boy) has been
we have been
you (pl.) have been
they have been
Nota Bene: 'fuisse' and all the forms of it, the past tense of 'esse', behaves exactly like the present tense.


The newly introduced verbs, ama-t, curri-t, and porta-t take the accusative as the 'object'. Unless specified, any verb you look up in the dictionary will take the accusative, not the nominative. This means that they are transitive verbs, verbs that happen to someone or something, e.g.: 

I heal you. (acc.)
You make my day. (acc.)
She hit your arm. (acc.)

In the examples above, the bold words are the subject of the sentence clause. Because something happens "to" them, they can't be in nominative.

Grammatical Explanation Using English Sentences

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Grammatical Explanation 1
English: The boy hits the car.
Explanation: NOMINATIVE VERB ACCUSATIVE


Grammatical Explanation 2
English: The girl hugs the boy.
Explanation: NOMINATIVE VERB ACCUSATIVE


Grammatical Explanation 3
English: He who flees, deserves the guillotine.
Explanation: NOMINATIVE VERB VERB ACCUSATIVE

Exercise 3: Find the Nominative and Accusative

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EXERCISE • Lesson 5-Accusative • Find the Nominative and Accusative (if present) in each sentence.
  1. The boy is good.
  2. The girl kisses the boy.
  3. The boy gives the book.
  4. The child watches the TV.
  5. Whom it concerns.
  6. To the kitchen I run
  7. I eat the pizza.
SOLUTION • Latin/Lesson 5-Accusative • Find the Nominative and Accusative (if present) in each sentence.
  1. The boy {nom} is good {nom}.
    Puer {nom} est bonus {nom}.
  2. The girl {nom} kisses the boy {acc}.
    Puella {nom} puerum {acc} basiat.
  3. The boy {nom} gives the book {acc}.
    Puer {nom} librum {acc} dat.
  4. The child {nom} watches the TV {acc}.
    Infans {nom} televisorium {acc} videt.
  5. Whom {acc} it {nom} concerns.
    ???
  6. To the kitchen {acc} I {nom} run.
    Ad culinam {acc} [ego {nom}] curro.
  7. I {nom} eat the pizza {acc}.
    Pittam {acc} [ego {nom}] edo.
EXERCISE • Lesson 5-Accusative • In the following sentences, identify the accusative and nominative. Then translate.
  1. Puer est bonus.
  2. Puella puerum amat.
  3. Puer cistam portat.
  4. Fīlius virum spectat.
  5. Ad culīnam currit.
SOLUTION • Latin/Lesson 5-Accusative • In the following sentences, identify the accusative and nominative. Then translate.
  1. Puer {nom} est bonus {nom}.
    The boy {nom} is good {nom}.
  2. Puella {nom} puerum {acc} amat.
    The girl {nom} loves the boy {acc}.
  3. Puer {nom} cistam {acc} portat.
    The boy {nom} carries the box {acc}.
  4. Fīlius {nom} virum {acc} spectat.
    The son {nom} watches the man (father?) {acc}.
  5. Ad culīnam {acc} currit.
    To the kitchen {acc} [he {nom}] runs. (He runs to the kitchen)
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