Understanding the Latin Ablative Case Usage

Ablative

Ablative of place from which describes active motion away from a place. Nouns, either proper or common, are almost always used in this sense with accompanying prepositions of ab/ /abs, "from"; ex/ , "out of"; or d , "down from". E.g. ex agr s, "from the fields"; ex Graeci ad Italiam navig v runt, "They sailed from Greece to Italy."

Ablative of the whole to which a certain number belongs or is a part. E.g. centum ex vir s, "one hundred of the men"; qu nque ex e s, "five of them."

Ablative of separation implies that some person or thing is separated from another. No active movement from one location to the next occurs; furthermore, ablatives of separation sometimes lack a preposition, particularly with certain verbs like care or l ber . E.g. Cicer host s ab urbe prohibuit, "Cicero kept the enemy away from the city"; E s tim re l ber vit, "He freed them from fear."

Ablative absolute describes the circumstances surrounding an action. E.g. Urbe capt , Aen s f git, "With the city having been captured, Aeneas fled."

Ablative of personal agent marks the agent by whom the action of a passive verb is performed. The agent is always preceded by ab/ /abs. E.g. Caesar de s admon tur, "Caesar is warned by the gods."

Instrumental ablative[edit] Some uses of the ablative descend from the Proto-Indo- European instrumental case.

Ablative of instrument or of means marks the means by which an action was carried out. E.g. ocul s vid re, "to see with the eyes". This is equivalent to the instrumental case found in some other languages. Special deponent verbs in Latin sometimes use the ablative of means idiomatically. E.g. titur stil literally says "he is benefiting himself by means of a pencil"; however, the phrase is more aptly translated "he is using a pencil."

Ablative of manner describes the manner in which an action was carried out. The preposition cum (meaning "with") is used when (i) no adjective describes the noun (cum c r , "with care") or (ii) optionally after the adjective(s) and before the noun (magn (cum) celerit te, "with great speed").

Ablative of attendant circumstances is similar: "magno cum clamore civium ad urbem perveniunt" ("they reach the city to the great clamour of the populace")

Ablative of accompaniment describes with whom something was done. Nouns in this construction are always accompanied by the preposition cum. E.g. cum e s, "with them"; Cum am c s v n runt, "They came with friends."

Ablative of agent is a more generalized version of the ablative of personal agent, used when the agent is an inanimate object. In this case, the preposition ab/ /abs is not used. E.g. rex a militibus interfectus est "the king was killed by the soldiers" with personal agents, but impersonally it reads rex armis militum interfectus erat "the king was killed by the weapons of the soldiers."

Ablative of place where marks a location where an action occurred. It usually appears with a preposition, such as in.

Ablative of time when and within which marks the time when or within which an action occurred. E.g. aest te, "in summer"; e tempore, "at that time"; Pauc s h r s id faciet, "within a few hours he will do it."

Other ablatives Other known uses of the ablative include the ablatives of cause, of comparison, of degree of difference, of description, and of specification. Not all ablatives can be categorized into the classes mentioned above.