Cāsus Nōminātīvus · Vocātīvus · Accūsātīvus

The nominative is the case of (a) the subject of a finite verb and (b) the predicate noun or adjective after a linking verb.

Subject use: every finite verb in Latin has a subject, expressed or understood. With personal verbs, the pronoun-subject is normally omitted because the verb-ending makes it explicit: veniō already says "I come"; the subject pronoun ego is used only for emphasis or contrast (ego veniō, tū manēs "I come, you stay").

For 3rd-person verbs, the subject is also often omitted when clear from context. With est, the subject is sometimes omitted entirely in idioms: tempus est "it is time"; nōn est facile "it is not easy".

Predicate use: a predicate noun or adjective is connected to the subject by a linking verb (sum, fīō, maneō, videor, and the passives of "calling" verbs vocor, dīcor, putor).

Caesar dux est "Caesar is leader" — dux = predicate noun, agreeing with Caesar in case (nom.).
vir bonus est "the man is good" — bonus = predicate adjective, agreeing in gender, number, case.

Nominative absolute: in poetry and elevated prose, a nominative + participle can stand independently: silentibus omnibus, dīxit "with everyone silent, he spoke". This is rare and stylistic; the ablative absolute is far more usual.

The vocative is the case of direct address. It is identical to the nominative in all declensions except the 2nd-decl. masculines in -us, which take -e in the vocative singular: amīcus → amīce; servus → serve; domine → domine "O master!".

Names in -ius contract: fīlius → fīlī "O son!"; Mārius → Mārī; Cornēlius → Cornēlī. Iuppiter retains its nominative form (the vocative-element -pater is already fossilized).

Vocatives in -er retain the -er: puer, miser, magister. Adjectives in -us follow the -e rule: bone vir! "good man!"; cāre amīce "dear friend!".

The vocative often takes the interjection ō (rhetorical, somewhat solemn): Ō Caesar!, Ō rēgīna. In ordinary speech and prose ō is omitted: Mārce, dīc mihi "Marcus, tell me". Ō is rarely used in epistolary salutations; classical letters begin with the addressee in nominative form (Cicerō Atticō salūtem "Cicero greets Atticus").

Special vocatives:
• meus / mī: irregular; mī fīlī "my son!".
• deus: vocative is deus (no -e).
• populus Rōmānus in formal address: vocative form is regular (populī Rōmānī for the gen.).

The accusative has many uses; the most fundamental is the direct object of a transitive verb: puer librum legit "the boy reads a book". A verb is "transitive" if its action passes from subject to direct object. The direct object is what the action affects.

Many Latin verbs that English construes with prepositions take direct accusatives: vītō tē "I avoid you" (not "from you"); ineō negōtium "I enter upon a business"; aggredior aliquem "I attack someone".

Motion toward a place: normally a preposition is used (ad, in): ad urbem "to the city", in agrum "into the field". But with names of towns, small islands, and a few common words, the accusative stands alone (no preposition):

• Cities: Rōmam īre "to go to Rome" (not *ad Rōmam); Carthāginem profectī sunt "they set out for Carthage".
• Islands: Dēlum nāvigāmus "we sail to Delos".
• Common words: domum "homewards"; rūs "to the country"; foras "outside".

The bare-accusative idiom is one of the few preserved Indo-European archaisms in Latin's preposition-rich syntax. Many city-names in this construction also retain a fossilized locative form ("at X") and ablative ("from X").

The accusative expresses extent of time or space: "for how long", "for how far". Always without preposition (in classical prose); contrast with the ablative which expresses "at the time when" or "within which".

Extent of time (duration): tōtam noctem vigilāvī "I stayed awake the whole night"; multōs annōs ibi habitāvit "he lived there many years"; quattuor diēs in oppidō mānsit "he stayed four days in the town".

Extent of space (distance, dimension): mūrus decem pedēs altus "a wall ten feet high"; fossa quīnque pedēs lāta "a ditch five feet wide"; aberat ā castrīs duo mīlia passuum "he was two miles away from the camp".

Distinguish carefully:
• nocte vēnit = ablative, "he came at night" (a single point of time)
• noctem vēnit = accusative, would mean "he came (for) a night" (duration; rare in this sense)
• tōtā nocte mānsit = ablative of time within, "throughout the night"
• tōtam noctem mānsit = accusative of duration, "for the whole night"

Accusative of exclamation: ō fortūnātam Rōmam! "O fortunate Rome!"; mē miserum! "wretched me!"; heu fortūnātōs nimium! "alas, the too-fortunate!". Used after interjections (or alone, in poetry) to express strong emotion. The construction is exclamatory rather than predicative.

Adverbial accusatives: certain neuter pronouns and adjectives function adverbially: multum "much", plūrimum "most", nihil "not at all", id "for that reason", aliquid "somewhat", nimium "too much".

Greek accusative (Hellenistic borrowing, mostly poetic): an accusative of respect or part affected: os umerōsque deō similis "(like a god) in face and shoulders" (Vergil); nōn intellēctus pedēs "not understood as to his feet". Common with parts of the body, especially in Augustan poetry; forensic for Cicero's bombast.

Two classes of verbs govern two accusatives simultaneously:

(a) Predicative double accusative — verbs of "calling, naming, choosing, electing, making, considering": vocō, nōminō, creō, faciō, putō, dūcō, habeō, exīstimō, dēsignō. The first accusative is the direct object; the second is a predicate noun/adjective referring to the first.

cīvēs Cicerōnem cōnsulem creāvērunt "the citizens elected Cicero consul" — Cicerōnem = direct object, cōnsulem = predicate accusative. In passive: Cicerō cōnsul creātur (both nominative).

This construction is fundamental to Latin political/legal language: tē rēgem creāmus "we make you king"; iūdicēs eum dignum honōrēs habuērunt "the judges held him worthy of honors".

(b) Person-and-thing double accusative — verbs of "asking, teaching, concealing, demanding": rogō, doceō, cēlō, ōrō, postulō, flāgitō, interrogō, ēdoceō. The two accusatives represent (1) the person being asked/taught/concealed-from, and (2) the thing being asked/taught/concealed.

magister puerōs grammaticam docet "the teacher teaches the boys grammar" — both puerōs (person) and grammaticam (thing) are accusative.

In passive constructions, the construction varies:
• doceō, cēlō often retain the thing-accusative: puerī grammaticam docentur "the boys are taught grammar".
• rogō, ōrō typically lose the person-acc., keeping a passive subject and thing-acc.: rogor sententiam "I am asked my opinion".
• postulō and similar use ab+abl. for the person: ā tē peccātum postulō "I demand the offense from you".

Cognate accusative: an intransitive verb may take an accusative cognate to itself — that is, a noun derived from the same root or expressing the same notion. vītam vīvere "to live a life"; somnium somniāre "to dream a dream"; ōrātiōnem dīcere "to deliver a speech"; servitūtem servīre "to serve in slavery"; pugnam pugnāre "to fight a fight".

The cognate object usually carries an adjective that adds meaning: magna voce vōciferāre "to cry out with a great voice"; longam vītam vīvere "to live a long life".

Adverbial accusative: certain neuter pronouns and adjectives function adverbially when accusative: multum "much", plūrimum "very much", nihil "not at all", id (genus) "of that kind", aliquid "somewhat", quid "why?", partim "partly", cēterum "for the rest, however".

These crystallized accusatives are the precursors of Latin's adverb formation: many adverbs are historically frozen accusative neuters.

Greek accusative (accusative of respect / of part affected): a Hellenistic borrowing, common in Augustan poetry. The accusative specifies the part of the subject affected by the action: nūdus genū "naked as to the knee"; tunicātus pedēs "wearing a tunic on the feet"; os umerōsque deō similis "(like the god) in face and shoulders" (Vergil, Aen. 1.589).

This construction is alien to native Latin idiom; it appears chiefly in elevated poetry imitating Greek models. In ordinary Latin prose, such ideas would be expressed by an ablative of respect or by a prepositional phrase.

The most distinctive Latin construction with the accusative is indirect statement (ōrātiō oblīqua): after verbs of saying, thinking, perceiving, knowing, the subordinate clause becomes accusative + infinitive. The subject of the original direct statement becomes accusative, and the verb becomes infinitive (with relative tense).

Direct: Caesar venit "Caesar comes".
Indirect: dīcō Caesarem venīre "I say that Caesar is coming" (lit. "I say Caesar to come").

Tense of the infinitive shows time relative to the main verb: present infinitive = simultaneous; perfect = prior; future = subsequent.

This construction — fully treated in Lectiō XXXII §§ 580-600 — is the workhorse of Latin reported speech and an indispensable feature of all Latin literature, from Cicero's speeches to Augustine's theology. Beginners must master it early to read any continuous Latin text.

Common verbs introducing accusative + infinitive: dīcō, putō, arbitror, exīstimō, crēdō, sciō, ignōrō, nesciō, sentiō, intellegō, audiō, videō, perspiciō, mēminī, oblīvīscor, nūntiō, scrībō, demonstrō, doceō, spērō, prōmittō, polliceor, minor, nōn dubitō.