[source noun in gen.] + [noun / adj. of portion]

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Here oppidorum and praediorum represents a larger class of things, of which regio is a sub-class or part.  In other words, oppidorum and praediorum are the sources of regio.

NOTE:  the partitive genitive is sometimes called the genitive of the whole, a label that catches the case's primary meaning of source.

([source noun in gen.] + [modifying adj.]) + [specific noun]

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officii and humanitatis qualify hominem almost as adjectives.  We could, if we wanted, translate, A very dutiful and humane man.

Still, it is important to emphasize the primary meaning of these genitives:  officii and humanitatis are the sources of Curius' man-ness.  This use of the genitive is basically partitive.

[source noun in gen.] + [noun with verbal force]

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Here the multitude is a source of rousing.  That is, they are prone to be stirred up by demagoguery.

This use of the genitive is called objective because the verbal idea of concitatio governs multitudinis just as a verb governs an accusative direct object.  It is as if Cicero had written:  "I don't know how he rouses the multitude"—i.e. how they are the object of his influence.

[source noun in gen.] + [noun with verbal force]

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Here animi and corporis are the sources of labor, while istius (that man) is a source of power.

This usage differs from the objective genitive in that the genitives are perceived as the subjects of the implied actions (laboribus and vis);  mind and body are performing labors, while that man is exercising his power. In the example for the objective genitive, someone is rousing the multitude (concitatio multitudinis), not the other way around.

[dative referent] + [noun in nom.] + [linking verb]

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We have a simple fact:  nihil agreste (aut) inhumanum est, nothing rough or ignoble exists.  The dative animo is the reference point for this fact:  with reference to the mind.

The idea of possession, which you are used to thinking is genitive, is in this case a variation on reference:  there is nothing rough or ignoble to the mind, therefore the mind possesses none of these things.

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deesse, to be lacking or to fail, is from de + esse.  It is a linking verb, and requires dative referents to indicate to whom or to what a thing is lacking.

The idea of possession is best perceived by substituting non for de:  dabo operam, ne mea valetudo tuo labori non sit, I'll take care that my well-being not be not present for your effort—i.e. that your effort have my well-being.

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Here the dative referent (e.g. the pronoun ei) must be understood.  Faustulo is in agreement with this referent.

[dative referent] + [nom. noun] + [linking verb] + [gerundive predicate]

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The passive periphrastic expresses duty or obligation, and requires a dative of agent (here vobis), which indicates to whom the obligation is referred

[dative referent] + [verb of being]

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parcere (to be sparing) describes Tiro's desired state of being.  Since a state of being is technically not an action, the verb has no accusative direct object.  Rather, it is used in conjunction with a dative noun, in this case sumptu, which is the reference point of Tiro's sparing.

Likewise the verb servire (to be a slave), which has as its referent the dative corpori.

Objective datives are sometimes called datives of direct object, because they function as accusative direct objects.

The first example contains an indirect command.

[noun in nom.] + [linking verb] + [noun in dat.]

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The idea of referentiality is still at work here.  In this example, the matter at hand (ea res) is described with reference to some purpose or end in view, namely voluptas.

The above example also contains a main clause use of the subjunctive, the subjunctive of wishing.

[nom. noun] + [linking verb] + [dat. referent] +  [dat. of purpose]

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The so-called double dative construction combines the dative of purpose with a second dative, which expresses the primary meaning of reference (in fact, it is called the dative of reference).

In the above examples, you understand that voluptati and curae are the datives of purpose, the ends in view.  ei and tibi, then, are the people to whom these purposes are referred.  In this sense, these datives are basically possessive.

[noun in acc.] + [optional interjection O!]

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The accusative of exclamation generates the smallest possible Latin sentence.  When a speaker or author wishes to draw attention to something, he or she places that thing in the accusative case—without a verb, almost as if he or she were too agitated to include one.

It helps, perhaps, to understand a verb, e.g. Look at wretched me, or Consider wretched me).  But the essential message of the accusative of exclamation is, This noun is the endpoint of my attention, and it should be yours as well.

[word of time in acc. (pl.)] + [typical sentence]

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The accusative of duration (or extent) of time indicates how long an action occurs.  That is, it describes the endpoint of an action in time.

In the first sentence, dies and noctes describes the periods of time in which Cicero is worn away.  The extent of time is vast—all day and all night.  (The plurals simply indicate that it happens day after day and night after night.)

The second sentence is somewhat anomalous because the preposition in precedes dies, which in theory could stand alone.  The expression in dies is idiomatic, but the sense is clear:  Please excuse me to Appuleius, all day, every day.

Compare the ablative of time.

[origin noun in abl.] + [verb of being or originating (optional)]

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Although source is properly a genitive idea, the ablative overlaps in its capacity to indicate from where something arises.

NOTE:  This construction does not require a preposition, although one may appear from time to time, such as e(x), which is the situation above.

Because this sentence is basically an accusative of exclamation in clause form, it requires an infinitive to express action.  The syntax is no different from an indirect statement.

[origin noun in abl.] + [verb of being or originating (optional)]

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Cause as an ablative idea follows from its primary meaning of from where, or perhaps even how.  Here the ablative nouns describe the cause of Terentia's fall.

NOTE:  Because this sentence is basically an accusative of exclamation in clause form, it requires an infinitive to express action.  The syntax is no different from an indirect statement.

[origin noun in abl.] + [verb of separation or motion]

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The ablative of separation follows closely from the primary meaning from where.  In this sentence the nobles are separated from Rome.

NOTE:  Roma is here used without a preposition—names of cities seldom are.  Had the nobles been away from (say) the Forum, Cicero would have written a Foro.

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The verb carere, to lack, contains an inherent idea of separation, which in turn invokes the ablative.  colloquio and loco are therefore the things from which Cicero is separated.  This is the rule with carere:  it takes not an accusative direct object, but an ablative of separation.

[comparative adj. / adv.] + [abl. noun to be compared]

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The ablative of comparision contains a separative / from where idea.  If we say, for example, that X is better than Y, we are really saying that X is separated from Y in terms of goodness (good being the positive form of better).

In the example above, Cicero says that nothing is friendlier than—separated from—solitude.

[word of difference, real or implied] + [abl. noun / adj. defining the difference]

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The ablative of degree of difference catches the primary ablative meanings from where and how at once.

On the how side, the adjectives paulo and quanto modify (in an adverbial sense) the comparatives facilius, defining how each situation is easier.

On the from where side, paulo and quanto distinguish or separate the idea of more easily / easier from other ideas of the same.  That is, to say that something is facilius paulo, more easy by a little, implies that there is also (say) something more easy by much (multo) or by nothing (nihilo).

[abl. noun of time] + [typical sentence]

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The reason why Latin often puts words of time in the ablative is directly related to the primary meaning of this case.  You know that the ablative can mean where;  from where it is a small conceptual jump to when, which is nothing more than a location in time.

Compare the accusative of time.

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This is an example of the ablative of time within which, an offshoot of the ablative of time.  Here we are dealing with not so much a point as a range of time.

[noun in abl.] + [abl. adj] and/or [abl. participle]

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The term absolute is from the Latin absolutus, which means disconnected.  Accordingly, an absolute construction is gramatically and syntactically separate from the main clause.

The reason why Latin requires absolutes in the ablative is because such constructions usually define when the main clause happens, as also happens in ablative constructions of time.

Sometimes an ablative absolute defines the circumstances in which the main clause occurs, and so taps into the primary ablative meaning of how.

Technically speaking, then, ablative absolutes function as adverb clauses, which sometimes describe how or when main clauses occur.

In the above example, Livy offers the circumstances in which or reason why Larentia was called a lupa.  He might have used a cum clause:  cum corpus volgavisset (since she had made her body public).  The ablative absolute, however, does much the same thing, and in fewer words.

[pres. stem of verb] + [-nd-] + [neut. sing. noun ending]

Example:  amare, to love = ama + nd + i / o / um / o, loving

The full declension of the above gerund is as follows:

As you can see, there are no nominative gerunds.  To express the idea of loving in the nominative, we use the infinitive, for example:

amare est vivere.  To love is to live (or, Loving is living).

NOTE:  gerunds exist only in the second declension, only in the singular, and only in the neuter.  If you see what looks to be a feminine or masculine gerund, or a gerund in the plural, then you are doubtless looking at a gerundive instead.

There is little space to go into the usage of the gerund here;  nor have we yet encountered any gerunds in our readings.

Until we do, however, bear in mind once more that gerunds are nouns.  They are used very simply, often in prepositional phrases.  Some examples:

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Problems arise when gerunds, in their verbal capacity, take direct objects.  We could for instance, modify our last example thus:

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In this case amando governs libros as its object.  In practice, however, such constructions are rare.  Rather than gerund + noun, the Romans favored noun + gerundive.  See the section on the basic usage of gerundives for an explanation of the difference between these constructions.