A brief handout on uses of the ablative, Wheelock chs.

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(standard disclaimer: this is meant as an aid, not as The Law, and does not claim to be comprehensive nor a substitute for studying) NOTE: n this handout have not included long mar!s on any of the vowels, since have recently discovered that some computers are unable to read them and they simply disappear, leaving words wthout ny vwls " tht#s bd$ %o ditched the long mar!s$ &owever, this means that the long "a of first declension nouns and ad'ectives in the ablative won#t have the customary and re(uired long mar!, so don#t be confused$ The e)amples are so short it should be very clear what is meant to be in the ablative$ f you want long mar!s you#ll have to go through and mar! them yourself$ &ey, it builds character$

The various uses of the ablative case in Latin can be confusing but this need not be the case$ They are fairly clearly delineated, so the biggest challenge is simply !eeping the name, form, and function of each one straight$ n the fine tradition of corralling related*confusing stuff in one place, this handout lays out the various uses of the ablative you have encountered so far along with an e)ample or two$ They are presented roughly chronologically (i$e$ in the order you learned them)$ $ +blative for the ob'ect of a preposition$ This is the first one you learned, and it#s easy$ +ll prepositions govern an ob'ect, and various prepositions re(uire their ob'ect to be in various cases$ ,or certain prepositions that case must always be the ablative, for certain others that case can sometimes be the ablative, and the rest don#t concern us here$ Thus veritas a civitate fugit (-Truth has fled from the state$.)$ civitate is ablative because the preposition a/ab ta!es an ob'ect in the ablative case$ There is a way to remember which prepositions ta!e the ablative always or sometimes, and it sort of rhymes/ (do you remember it0)$1 $ +blative of +ccompaniment, 2anner, 2eans These are the uses of the ablative you have learned more recently, the ones with erudite"sounding names$ 3ou should learn the names because they give you a way to organi4e and tal! about them with facility$ They can be confusing primarily because in English we can use the preposition -with. for all three: -with me,. -with haste,. -with a candlestic! (see 5)$. n Latin, on the other hand, some of them re(uire a preposition 6 ablative (cum) while others stand alone in the ablative$ have arranged accompaniment, manner, and means in that order precisely to help you remember which use the preposition$ 7hen the three categories are thus in alphabetical order, as you progress through them starting with accompaniment you also progress from always using cum to sometimes using cum to never using cum$ 1$ +blative of +ccompaniment: This category overlaps with section in that ablatives of accompaniment are always used with the preposition cum$ 3ou#ve used ablative of accompaniment fre(uently since you learned cum but now you !now the name$ Not surprisingly, it is used to show accompaniment (i$e$ person(s) or thing(s) going*coming*doing*etc$ along with some other person(s) or thing(s)): navigabunt nautae cum illis poetis? venit ad urbem cum rosa. -7ill the sailors sail with those poets0. -&e*she comes (or came, with a long mar! on the venit -e.) to the city with a rose$. +s mentioned above, ablative of
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,or any who still haven#t learned the rhyme, it is -ab, cum, de; prae, pro, sine, e8 sometimes in, sub, and super$. Learn it9 Note that ab : a and e : ex$

accompaniment always uses cum$ +n easy way to chec! if what you thin! is accompaniment really is accompaniment is to see if you can translate the -with ;. part of a phrase with -in the company of ;. or -along with ;$. <$ +blative of 2anner: +blative of manner is used to show the manner in which something is done$ This is generally going to employ an abstract noun: audiam cum patientia$ remanebo magna patientia. - shall listen with patience$. - shall remain with great patience$. These e)amples show how this category sometimes uses cum and sometimes doesn#t$ f the noun showing manner (i$e$ the one in the ablative) is not modified by an ad'ective, cum is used, as in the first e)ample$ f the noun showing manner is modified by an ad'ective, either the cum can be dropped (as in the second e)ample) or, if it is retained, the ad'ective is usually punted in front of the preposition: remanebo magna cum patientia$ One way to help distinguish an ablative of manner is to see of the noun in (uestion can be translated in English as an adverb: - wait with patience. : - wait patiently$. 3ou can also try translating the ablative ; as -in a*an ; manner$. - wait with patience. : - wait in a patient manner$. 5$ +blative of 2eans: +blative of means is used to show the means with or by which something is done$ +blative of means is always 'ust a noun in the ablative = it never uses cum$ 7ith concrete nouns things should be very clear: navigant mari. superat mente. -They sail by means of the sea$. -&e*she*it con(uers with (his*hers*its) mind$. 7hen first learned this associated it with the board game >lue: ->ol$ 2ustard in the library with the candlestic!$. That#s ablative of means$ f it#s ablative of means you can translate it as -by means of ;$. Life does get a little complicated when considering more abstract nouns$ +lthough such nouns tend to be used as manner, one might argue for means in certain cases: superabunt magna vi. -They will overcome with great force. could : -they will overcome by means of great force. or -they will overcome very forcefully (that#s a loose translation in order to get the =ly possibility clear, you would not want to translate it so on a test)$. >onte)t will help in many instances$ 7hen translating from Latin into English you need not worry as you can translate them both with -with ;$. $ +blative of Time 7hen or 7ithin 7hich: This category employs a time"related noun in the ablative case without preposition to indicate time -when or within which$. eo tempore recitabavimus. hac tempestate pericula sunt multa. -+t that time we recited$. - n this season the dangers are many$. These should be easy because they never have a preposition$ +n ablative floating about without a preposition should stic! out li!e a sore thumb and can only be manner (only if it has an ad'ective, though), means, or time (note: means and time and all the rest can have ad'ectives too, we only focus on the ad'ective with ablative of manner because that is how it happens that sometimes manner uses cum and sometimes not)$ Of those three options an ablative of time should be obvious b*c of the (uality of time in the word in (uestion and b*c it will ma!e much more sense (-we recited with that time * by means of that time. is nonsense)$ ?$ +blative with >ardinal Numerals:

This is the most recent category you#ve learned and it always uses a preposition, either ex or de$ t is how the @omans say a certain number -of ;,. rather than using the genitive as one might e)pect (note the e)ception to this, that is, milia, which ta!es a genitive of the whole, see ch$ 1A)$ quinque de poetis recitabant. video viginti ex viris. -,ive of the poets were reciting$. - see twenty of the men$. Note this is how Latin e)presses -3 of ;,. i$e$ -si) of the sailors,. but NOT how it says -3 ;,. i$e$ -si) sailors$. That would 'ust be number plus noun, sex nautae, as in English$