CLC Stage 2 refresher

CLC Stage 2 refresher

Introducing the ACCUSATIVE (object) case

​In English, word order is very important to convey meaning

• ​Metella shouts at the slave

• ​The slave shouts at Metella

• ​These are completely different sentences (in one of these sentences the slave is in big trouble...)

​WHY LATIN WORD ORDER DOESN'T MATTER

​Consider the previous sentence 'Metella (subj) shouts at the slave (obj)'

​​​Metella servum vituperat

​is exactly the same as

​servum Metella vituperat

​or, for that matter,

vituperat servum Metella

... because it's the word ENDINGS that tell us what job the word is doing in a sentence, not its POSITION

Multiple Choice

How would you translate

'The slave shouts at Metella'

• servum Metella vituperat

• servus Metella vituperat

• servus Metellam vituperat

• servum Metellam vituperat

​

• The English sentence was 'The slave shouts at Metella'

• ​Here, the slave is performing the action, so he needs to be the NOMINATIVE

• servus

• ​Metella isn't performing any action: she's receiving it instead.

• ​She needs to be ACCUSATIVE here

• Metellam

• ​So the sentence translates as 'servus Metellam vituperat'

Multiple Choice

One more try... What is the Latin for 'The dog attacks the master'?

• canis dominum oppugnat

• canem dominum oppugnat

• canem dominus oppugnat

• canis dominus oppugnat

​The dog attacks the master

​The right answer is:

​​

canis dominum oppugnat

​

​

Here, the dog is in the NOMINATIVE case, because it's doing the attacking, so canis not canem (it behaves like 'mercator' in the box)

​

​Here, we need to change the ending of dominus to dominum - the ACCUSATIVE - to show that he's on the receiving end of the attack!

Poll

Final question. Which of the following is the correct translation for

'Quintus sees the dog'?

Think about the correct ENDINGS, not WORD ORDER

• Quintum videt canem

• Quintus canis videt

• canem Quintus videt

• videt Quintus canis