Latin IPurpose of Noun Cases

Nominative Case

The purpose of the nominative case is the subject of the sentence

The nominative 1st declension endings are –a and –ae

Genitive Case

The genitive case is used to show possession of another noun in the sentence.

The noun being possessed is in the dative case

The genitive 1st declension endings are –ae and -arum

Dative Case

The dative case is the indirect object of the sentence.

In English, it is usually translated with a to or by.

In the following sentence “the dog” is the indirect object: I threw the Frisbee to the dog.

The dative 1st declension endings are –ae and -is

Accusative Case

The accusative case is used as the direct object of a sentence. In English, the direct object is the noun in which the action is being done to.

In the following sentence, “the Frisbee” is the direct object: I caught the Frisbee.

The accusative 1st declension endings are –am and –as

Ablative Case

The ablative case is used to tell the means by which something is done.

Ablatives are usually translated with a with or by means of.

The ablative also has many forms for different ways to use it but we’ll get into that in a later slideshow.

The ablative 1st declension endings are -ā and –is