Color Coded Latin: A Teaching Method
by Kathleen Canning
© 2011
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- Preface
- Color Chart
- First Declension
- Second Declension
- Third Declension
- Fourth Declension
- Fifth Declension
- First Conjugation
- Second Conjugation
- Third Conjugation
- Fourth Conjugation
- Irregular Verbs
- Latin Sentences Using Declensions and Conjugations
- The Genitive Case
- The Dative Case
- Prepositional Phrases
- Pronouns
- Interrogative Pronouns
- Demonstrative Pronouns
- Subjunctive ARE Verbs
- Subjunctive Long ERE 2nd Conjugation Verbs
- Subjunctive ERE 3rd Conjugation Verbs
- Subjunctive I-Stem 3rd Conjugation Verbs
- Subjunctive IRE 4th Conjugation Verbs
Dative Case
In English we have an Objective case, and we put all sorts of objects in that case. Our direct objects and indirect objects are in the Objective case as well as all prepositional phrases. In Latin there are three cases to handle various types of objects. We use the accusative case for the direct objects and a combination of accusative and ablative for prepositional phrases. The indirect objects are assigned to their own case, the Dative.
The indirect object is almost the same as it is in English except for the use of (to or for). In English we never express the (to or for) ; it is just imagined. He gave Jane a horse for her birthday. Jane is the indirect object. The horse is the direct object. Now imagine a ( to). He gave the horse (to) Jane. Do not write out the (to/for) in English. Jane is indirectly receiving the horse. In Latin the dative ending will give you a hint that you might be dealing with an indirect object. This is not written in stone because the Dative case has other uses. However, if you see a verbs such as give, tell ,done and show you might well be seeing an indirect object. You will frequently find the indirect object in front of the direct object.
Let's look at some sentences in Latin that take an indirect object.
The man gave the queen much money.
The man gave what? He gave money. The direct object (accusative) is money.
To whom did he give the money. He gave it (to) the queen.
He gave the queen money. Queen is the indirect object and will take dative case endings.
Vir reginae pecuniam dedit.
The poets told the boys many stories.
Poetae pueris multas fabulas narrabant.
| Who? (subject) | The poets | nominative |
| Action verb | told | are verb- tense 2 |
| (to) whom? | the boys | dative |
| What? (direct obj.) | stories | accusative |
| Adjective | many | f-acc-pl. -1st decl (Note 1) |
Note 1: must agree in case, number & gender with stories
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| ae/is-(abus) | o/is | i/ibus | ui/u_-ibus | ei/ebus |
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