Chapter 11

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I. Grammar

A. Personal Pronouns

The personal pronouns in Latin are irregular and must be memorized. There are, however, patterns in the declension of these forms which may aid in memorization: mei vs. tui, mihi vs. tibi, me vs. te, nostrum vs. vestrum, etc. Because these are not demonstrative pronouns, the personal pronouns do not exhibit the -ius genitive singular ending.

B. Is, Ea, Id

This pronoun is built from a simple base e-, the weakest form of the demonstrative, to which are added first/second declension endings, with the expected substitution of -ius and -i in the genitive and dative singular. The only forms which do not follow this pattern are is and id. There is a mandatory long mark in the feminine ablative singular (eā).

C. Īdem, Eadem, Idem

It is relatively rare in Latin to find suffixes because they turn endings into “middlings.” Īdem is one of the few exceptions. Only a few forms deviate from the basic pattern, is/ea/id + -dem. Note:

1. The long mark in īdem (masculine nominative singular) is mandatory and distinguishes īdem from idem (neuter nominative/accusative singular).
2. For any form of is, ea, id ending in -m, that final -m becomes -n when -dem follows it: eundem, eandem, eorundem, earundem.

Wheelock (Ch. 11) lists only the irregular forms; the full declension is on p. 383.

D. The Use of Pronouns in Latin

There are several important things to note about the use of the personal pronouns in Latin:

1. The nominative forms of the personal pronouns are used mainly for emphasis.
2. The genitive forms of the personal pronouns do not show possession but are used as partitive genitives (e.g. some of us) and objective genitives (love of me); see page 50, note 4. Instead, the adjectives meus, tuus, noster, and vester serve as the possessive forms of the first- and second-person pronouns.
3. However, because the Romans had no possessive (non-reflexive) adjective for the third person (his, her, its, their), they used the genitive of is, ea, id to show possession (eius = "his/her/its"; eorum/earum = "their"). Note that the genitive forms of is, ea, id work differently from the possessive adjectives. Whereas the possessive adjectives decline and agree with their antecedents (e.g. amici mei, officia vestra), eius/eorum/earum do not (e.g. amici eius, officia eorum). Rather, just like his/her/its/their in English, eius/eorum/earum indicate the noun to which they are attached by juxtaposition, usually coming after the noun.
4. Finally, Latin does not use possessive pronouns nearly as often as English; see Wheelock page 51, note 5. That is, where we say "Rufus has his (own) book," Latin says Rufus librum habet (with no equivalent of "his" attached to librum) because possession by the subject is assumed in Latin, if not stated otherwise.

II. Compound Verbs

Just as in English, prepositions in Latin can be appended to the front of a verb and used to modify its meaning. In Latin, however, the preposition is always prefixed to the front of the verb, e.g. induco, whereas in English it more often follows the verb, e.g. lead in. In both languages, the preposition can simply add its literal sense to the verb, as induco does ("lead in"), but sometimes the compounded verb takes on a new, figurative sense in which the connection to the base verb may be hard to fathom (Latin induco can also mean "cover, erase, revoke, persuade, resolve and believe," cf. English make vs. make up, tank vs. tank up, screw vs. screw up).

Vowel gradation is an important principle involved in compound verbs. It is the shortening of the vowel in the verb base when a compound is prefixed, e.g. facio > conficio, capio > accipio, rapio > eripio. Most often, -a- will shorten to -i-, but -e- can as well, e.g. dis- + lego > diligo. In another important process called assimilation, the prefix may also change form before bases beginning with certain consonants, e.g., cum can become col-, com-, con-, co-; ad > ac-, al-, ap-; sub > sup-, sur-, sus-, to name but a few of the many possibilities. By understanding the constituent elements of compound verbs, one not only comes closer to understanding Latin the way the Romans did but can also save much time memorizing verbs.

A worksheet on compound verbs is available.

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III. Vocabulary

nemo: A contraction of ne- and homo (older *hemo); borrows the genitive and ablative singular of nullus.

carus: Often with a dative, “dear (to …)”; the dative is said to be “with carus.”

autem: Another postpositive conjunction (cf. igitur, Ch. 5).

IV. Sentences

Practice and Review

14. See page 52, footnote 9.

V. Review for Test 2