Chapter 35

RULE 1: The dative case is used with ten special verbs (listed in Wheelock on pages 168-9), certain compound verbs and certain adjectives.

RULE 2: Dative of Possession = Dative + a form of esse [literally, “it is to me” = “I have it”].

I. Grammar

A. Dative with Certain Verbs

Again, a chapter which is easy in theory but complicated in application. Later down the road, some students may run into trouble with the extraordinary uses of the dative because they have forgotten the simple rules laid out in this chapter. I find that students are more apt to remember which Latin verbs take the dative if they learn the literal meaning of these “special” verbs, e.g. ignosco “grant pardon (to . . . ).” However, they must not carry the literal meanings into English; rather, they must also learn to compose non-literal translations in idiomatic English.

B. Dative with Compound Verbs

When a noun is felt to be the object not of a verb but its prefix, that noun will take the dative case. Wheelock has buried in a footnote (page 169, note1) those prepositions which in compound take the dative. Point this footnote out to your students and go through the examples on pages 169-70. [NOTE: As Wheelock says, those prefixes which often take the dative do not necessarily always take the dative. Tell students to expect the dative after a compound verb or, if there is a sentence with a stray dative, to try construing it with the prefix of the verb, but not to think there will always be a dative with a compound verb.]

Click here for a worksheet (with answers) on verb forms and expectations.

C. Other Uses of the Dative of Possession

Since this is the last time Wheelock will address the uses of the dative case per se, it is imperative to add two other important applications of the dative which Wheelock has sequestered in the Supplementary Syntax: the Dative of Possession and the Dative with Certain Adjectives (both on page 375). Because it is important for students to know these constructions when they head into real Latin, these constructions will be seen on tests.

1. Dative of Possession

Est liber mihi means literally “there is a book to me,” implying “I have a book.” Go through Wheelock’s examples on p. 375. You might note that the Latin for “My name is Mark” is Mihi nomen est Marcus (or Marco, dative by attraction to mihi)”. For those of your students with Latinate or Latinable names, an exercise in appellation can be entertaining.

2. Dative with Certain Adjectives

Certain adjectives, many of which correspond with their English counterparts in usage as well as sense, call for a dative noun to complete their meaning, e.g.:

amicus/inimicus: “friendly/unfriendly (to . . . )”
proximus: “(very) near (to . . . )”
par: “equal (to . . . )”

To these can be added similis/dissimilis, fidelis/infidelis, carus, iucundus, etc. Although common sense will lead most students to associate those certain Latin adjectives followed by the dative with English adjectives that take “to” after them, it’s wise to point out the rule anyway.

II. Vocabulary

  • impero: = in- + paro, meaning literally “contrive.”
  • miror: This verb is deponent and cognate with Greek meidao and English smile (for loss of initial s- in Greek and Latin, cf. Greek vipha vs. English snow, Latin ruo vs. English stream [< *sream]). The -r- in the base of miror can still be seen in English smirk, a variant of smile.
  • noceo: Takes a dative object. Like many second-conjugation verbs, noceo is the causative of the o-grade base that appears in the e-grade as neco “kill”; so noceo originally meant “cause harm to,” perhaps “put to death.”
  • parco: Takes a dative object. Peperci is a reduplicated perfect with vowel gradation, cf. pario/peperi. This verb has no true passive and, therefore, the future active participle is substituted for the missing perfect passive participle.
  • pareo: Takes a dative object. Warn students not to confuse this verb with paro!
  • persuadeo: Takes a dative object. A combination of per- (“throughly”) and suadeo (“sweeten”), it means literally “to sweeten something thoroughly for someone,” in modern jargon, “to sugar-coat the pill.” Latin suadeo is related to English sweet and Greek hedus (with change of initial s- to h-); cf. suavis.
  • placeo: Takes a dative object. It may interest students to know that English “please” once took the dative, also: “you” in “if you please” was originally dative, “if it is pleasing to you”.
  • servio: Takes a dative object. This verb should NOT to be confused with servo (“save”). Servio is a denominative verb (i.e. a verb produced from a noun base, cf. finio < finis, custodio < custos) formed from servus. To the derivatives listed by Wheelock you might add sargeant from Old French sergent, cf. Italian servente from Latin serviens (ad legem), i.e. “a sergeant at arms, an officer charged with the arrest of offenders.”
  • studeo: Takes a dative object. This verb has no true passive forms, which is why no fourth principal part is listed.
  • praemium: = pr(a)e- + em- “buy, take” + -ium (a noun-forming suffix); thus, “a thing taken forth, a sum of money received.”
  • antepono: Takes an accusative object of the verb (pono) and a dative object of the compound (ante); that is, “to put something (accusative) before something (dative),” meaning “to prefer X (accusative) to Y (dative).”
  • ignosco: Takes a dative object. Though it’s a compound of in- (“not”) and gnosco (“know”; see Chapter 34, s.v. nascor), it does not mean “not know” (cf. ignoro, ignarus) but “forgive,” in the sense “fail to acknowledge a transgression.”

III. Sentences

Practice and Review

  1. Plena is a predicate adjective and nascor operates here as a linking verb.
  2. A common Latin sentence pattern. A noun used as subject of both a clause and the main sentence will precede both, e.g. “Caesar, when he saw the enemy, (he) ran away and hid.” The condition is future less vivid.
  1. Cum causal
  2. A concessive participle, “(Although) having suffered . . . ”
  1. Cum concessive
  2. “(After) having set forth . . . ”
  3. Cum causal