Ablative (Latin)

Uses

Ablative proper

• 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 careō or līberō. For example, Cicerō hostēs ab urbe prohibuit, "Cicero kept the enemy away from the city"; eōs timōre līberāvit, "he freed them from fear".
• 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 ab/ā/abs, "from"; ex/ē, "out of"; or dē, "down from". For example, ex agrīs, "from the fields"; ex Graeciā in Italiam nāvigāvērunt, "They sailed from Greece to Italy."
• Ablative of personal agent marks the agent by whom the action of a passive verb is performed. The agent is always preceded by ab/ā/abs. Example: Caesar ā deīs admonētur, "Caesar is warned by the gods".
• Ablative of comparison is used with comparative adjectives, where English would use the conjunction "than". Example: aere perennius "longer-lasting than bronze".
• Ablative of cause marks the reason why the subject performs an action: exsiluī gaudiō "I jumped with joy".

  Instrumental ablative

• Ablative of instrument or of means marks the means by which an action is carried out: oculīs vidēre, "to see with the eyes". This is equivalent to the instrumental case found in some other languages. Deponent verbs in Latin sometimes use the ablative of means idiomatically: ūtitur stilō literally means "he is benefiting himself by means of a stylus "; however, the phrase is more aptly translated "he is using a stylus".
• Ablative of agent is a more generalized version of the ablative of personal agent, used when the agent is an inanimate object. When the agent is a person, the preposition ā/ab is used, for example rēx ā mīlitibus interfectus est "The king was killed by the soldiers"; but when the agent is a thing, the preposition is omitted and the ablative case is sufficient, for example: rēx armīs mīlitum interfectus est "the king was killed by the weapons of the soldiers".
• Ablative of manner describes the manner in which an action was carried out. The preposition cum is used
• * when no adjective describes the noun, or
• * optionally after the adjective and before the noun: magnā cūrā, "with great care".
• Ablative of attendant circumstances is similar: magnō cum clāmōre cīvium ad urbem perveniunt
• Ablative of accompaniment describes with whom something was done. Nouns and pronouns in this construction are always accompanied by the preposition cum: cum eīs, "with them"; cum amīcīs vēnērunt, "They came with friends."
• Ablative of degree of difference is used with comparative adjectives and words implying comparison: aliquot ante annīs "a few years earlier".
• Ablative of specification denotes the thing in respect to which something is specified: maior nātū "older by birth".
• Ablative of description or of quality is an ablative modified by an adjective or genitive that expresses a quality that something has: vir summā virtūte "a gentleman of highest virtue".

  Locative ablative

• Ablative of place where marks a location where an action occurred. It usually appears with a preposition, such as in, but not always; e.g., hōc locō "in this place"
• Ablative of time when and within which marks the time when or within which an action occurred. E.g., aestāte, "in summer"; eō tempore, "at that time"; paucīs hōrīs id faciet, "within a few hours he will do it." Compare with the accusative of time, which was used for duration of time and—in classical Latin, following Greek—for dates of the form ante diem N. Kal./Non./Id.
• Ablative absolute describes the circumstances surrounding an action; e.g., urbe captā cīvēs fūgērunt, "with the city having been captured, the citizens fled."

  Ablative with prepositions