a. When a person is called or addressed, the case used is called the voc´ative (Latin vocāre, “to call”). In form the vocative is regularly like the nominative. In English the name of the person addressed usually stands first in the sentence. The Latin vocative rarely stands first. Point out five examples of the vocative in this dialogue.
b. Observe that questions answered by yes or no in English are answered in Latin by repeating the verb. Thus, if you wished to answer in Latin the question Is the sailor fighting? Pugnatne nauta? you would say Pugnat, he is fighting, or Nōn pugnat, he is not fighting.
[ LESSON VII]
THE FIRST OR Ā-DECLENSION
[57.] In the preceding lessons we have now gone over all the cases, singular and plural, of nouns whose nominative singular ends in -a. All Latin nouns whose nominative singular ends in -a belong to the First Declension. It is also called the Ā-Declension because of the prominent part which the vowel a plays in the formation of the cases. We have also learned what relations are expressed by each case. These results are summarized in the following table:
| Case | Noun | Translation | Use and General Meaning of Each Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | |||
| Nom. | do´min-a | the lady | The subject |
| Gen. | domin-ae | of the lady, or the lady’s | The possessor of something |
| Dat. | domin-ae | to or for the lady | Expressing the relation to or for,especially the indirect object |
| Acc. | domin-am | the lady | The direct object |
| Abl. | domin-ā | from, with, by, in, the lady | Separation (from), association or means (with, by),place where or time when (in, at) |
| Plural | |||
| Nom. | domin-ae | the ladies | The same as the singular |
| Gen. | domin-ā´rum | of the ladies, or the ladies’ | |
| Dat. | domin-īs | to or for the ladies | |
| Acc. | domin-ās | the ladies | |
| Abl. | domin-īs | from, with, by, in, the ladies |
[58.] The Base. That part of a word which remains unchanged in inflection and to which the terminations are added is called the base.
Thus, in the declension above, domin- is the base and -a is the termination of the nominative singular.
[59.] Write the declension of the following nouns, separating the base from the termination by a hyphen. Also give them orally.
pugna, terra, lūna, ancil´la, corō´na, īn´sula, silva