Six jobs a noun can hold
🎯 Meet the cases — the heart of Latin — through sentences, not tables.
🗣️ Say these out loud
- Puella est. 🔊 poo-EL-la est She is a girl. (the doer) Nominative — the subject, the one doing.
- Puellam video. 🔊 poo-EL-lam WEE-deh-o I see the girl. (the done-to) Accusative — the object. -am is its mark in this family of nouns.
- Liber puellae. 🔊 LEE-ber poo-EL-lye The girl's book. (belonging) Genitive — of, 's. This is where English gets 'genitive' and 'genealogy'.
- Puellae do. 🔊 poo-EL-lye do I give to the girl. (receiving) Dative — to or for. Do = I give, the root of 'donate'.
- Cum puella. 🔊 koom poo-EL-la With the girl. (by, with, from) Ablative — the case of means and accompaniment.
- O puella! 🔊 oh poo-EL-la O girl! (being called) Vocative — for addressing someone. Et tu, Brute — Brute is Brutus being called.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
🔍 One noun, six shapes
A Latin noun is like a verb in English: it changes shape for its job. Puella, puellam, puellae, puellae, puella — five different jobs in one small family. Learn the jobs by what they mean, not by chanting the list.
- Doer → nominative: puella cantat (the girl sings)
- Done-to → accusative: puellam audio (I hear the girl)
- Of → genitive: vox puellae (the voice of the girl)
- To/for → dative: puellae canto (I sing to the girl)
- By/with → ablative: cum puella canto (I sing with the girl)
🌍 Among the people
English kept a shadow of this system in its pronouns: he/him/his is nominative, accusative and genitive. You have been using cases your whole life without a name for them.
🔁 Practise today
- For each English phrase, name the job: 'the boy's book', 'I see the boy', 'the boy runs', 'give it to the boy'.
- Translate: Puellam video. Liber magistri. Cum agricola.
- Write the same Latin sentence in three different word orders and check the meaning has not moved.
