Dative

The fifth case is the dative. With it added, the noun and adjective paradigms look like this:

Use of the Dative

The dative has a variety of uses, including the indirect object; that is, the additional object found with a verb meaning ‘give’. With such a verb, the gift itself is the direct object and is in the accusative case; the person to whom it is given is the indirect object and is in the dative case. In English there are two constructions used for indirect objects: the indirect object can come before the direct object, or it can come after the direct object with the preposition ‘to’. The indirect objects in these sentences are underlined: ‘I gave Mary the book’, ‘I gave the book to Mary’, ‘We gave them candy’, ‘He gave candy to the children’. Adjectives that agree with dative nouns are also in the dative case.

Possum

The verb possum (principal parts possum, posse, potuī, –) means ‘be able to’ or ‘can’; it is a compound of potis and sum and therefore is conjugated like sum with pot- or posin front of each form.

Because of its meaning possum is usually accompanied by another verb, like English ‘can’ as in ‘I can run’ (= ‘I am able to run’). In Latin this additional verb is in the infinitive, that is, the second principal part. So possum currere (or currere possum) is ‘I can run’, ‘I am able to run’, and scrībere potest (or potest scrībere) is ‘he can write’, ‘he is able to write’.

Colloquia Monacensia–Einsidlensia 6b–j (adapted)

An attempted visit to a sick friend (second or third century ad):

marcus: si vis, veni mecum.

GAIUS: quo?

marcus: ad amicum nostrum Lucium; visitemus eum.

GAIUS: quid enim habet?

marcus: aegrotat. gaius: a quando?

marcus: intra paucos dies incurrit.

gaius: ubi habitat?

marcus: non longe; si vis, ambula. (after a short walk) haec est, puto, domus eius. haec est.

gaius: ecce ianitor; interroga illum num possimus intrare et videre amicum nostrum.

porter: quem petitis?

marcus: dominum tuum Lucium; de salute eius venimus.

porter: ascendite.

marcus: quot scalas?

porter: duas; ad dextram portam pulsate.

marcus: pulsemus. vide, quis est?

slave (opening door): avete omnes.

marcus: dominum tuum volumus visitare. si vigilat, nuntia nos.

slave: non est hic.

marcus: quid dicis? sed ubi est?

slave: descendit ad lauretum ut ambularet.

marcus: gratulamur illi. cum venerit, dic illi nos ad eum venisse de salute eius gratulantes, quia omnia bona sunt.

slave: sic faciam.

Colloquium Harleianum 12a–f (adapted)

A very unrealistic representation of how a lawyer finds a job (perhaps third century ad). Because many people who learned Latin did so in order to become lawyers, ancient Latin teachers painted a rosy picture of the life of a lawyer in an effort to encourage people to study Latin.

rich friend: domine, salve.

lawyer: salvus sis semper, amice.

rich friend: quomodo sunt res tuae? omnia bene?

lawyer: quomodo dei volunt.

rich friend: quid nunc agis?

lawyer: agebam, nunc autem vacat mihi.

rich friend: volo tibi iniungere administrationem meae actionis. eamus; ambula et ego tibi dabo quod agas. omnium enim bonorum dignus es.

Translate into Latin

marcus: Come with me in order to see Lucius.

GAIUS: Why?

marcus: He is ill.

GAIUS: Let's go. Where does he live?

marcus: He lives here; this is his house.

GAIUS: Let's knock on the door.

porter: Hello! Whom are you seeking?

marcus: We are seeking your master. We have heard that our friend Lucius is ill and we want to see him: is he awake?

porter: Lucius does not live here; my master's name is Titus.

Result Clauses

So far we have seen three types of subordinate clause taking the subjunctive: purpose clauses, indirect commands, and fear clauses. A fourth type is the result clause, which indicates the result of the action expressed in the main verb. Like the three types of subjunctive clause already seen, result clauses follow sequence of tenses: the present subjunctive is used if the main verb is in a primary tense, and the imperfect subjunctive if it is in a historic tense. (So far, the only historic tense we have seen is the perfect.) Result clauses are introduced by ut; if the result is negative, the ut does not change to nē, but instead a nōn is added to the verb of the subordinate clause. Most result clauses can be translated with English ‘that’ and a normal indicative verb, but there are also other possibilities.

Practice

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