1. Intro to the Ablative Case:
Ablative of Place Where
Ablative of Means

2. Alex Ablative
Alex was the baby of the family. He was always IN
things, UNDER things, and crawling FROM room to
room. Like many small children, he could also be MEAN
to his pet!

3. You’ve learned that nominative equals the
subject,
Accusative equals the DO or OOP (object of a
preposition),
The ablative is a new case.
The ablative is either an adverb or OOP.

4. The ablative completes the meaning of some
prepostions:
in vīllā
sub arbore
ex agrīs
ē piscīnā

5. The ablative by itself acts as an adverb:
aestate
nōmine
brevī tempore
magnā vōce
secundā hōrā
during the summer
by the name
in a short time
with a loud voice
at the second hour

6. So the ablative by itself can be translated
into English with many different words,
In, at, during, with, by, by means of, are
the most common.

7. Ablative Endings
Case
Singular Plural
Nominative (subject)
Genitive (“of”)
Dative (“to”/ “for”)
Accusative (direct obj.)
Ablative
a
ae
ae
am
a
Case
Sg.
Pl.
Nom. (subject)
Gen. (“of”)
Dat. (“to”/ “for”)
Acc. (direct obj.)
us
i
o
um
i
orum
is
os
Abl.
o
is
ae
arum
is
as
is

8. Awesome Ablatives!
• The ABLATIVE case has many uses.
• There are as many as 15 uses for the ablative.
• Today we’ll learn 2: ablative of place where and
ablative of means.

9. Ablative of Place Where
• A very long name for a very easy concept!
• Use the ablative case after the Latin word IN.
• “in” can mean “in” or “on” depending on the
context
• Where is the boat? in aqua
• Where is the girl? in casa
• Where is the sailor? in undis
• Where is the farmer? in equo
• Where is the queen? in carro

10. Ablative of Means
• An ablative word can be used to express the
instrument or means by which a person does
something.
• This is called the ablative of means.
• In English, we have to say “by…” or “with…” to
express the same thing.

11. Ablative of Means
How does a cook stir the soup?
with a spoon

12. Ablative of Means
How does the baseball player hit the ball?
with a bat

13. Ablative of Means
How does the child color the picture?
with crayons

14. Ablative of Means
• The phrases with a spoon, with a bat, with
crayons would be ablatives of means in Latin.
• The ablative of means does NOT use a Latin
word for “with.” You have to add it in the
English.
• This is similar to how genitives use “of” and
datives use “to” even though those words aren’t
written in the Latin, either.

15. Examples!
• Cibum carro portamus.
• We carry the food with a cart.
• Romani Siciliam pugnis occupant.
• The Romans seize Sicily by battles.

16. Ablative of Means
• Rule: Any noun in the ablative with no
preposition may mean with, by, or on that
noun.
• N.B. This is only for THINGS, not for
people.

17. Wait a Minute…How Can I Tell?
• You’ll notice some endings are the same for
dative and ablative.
• Remember: an ablative of means is usually a
THING, not a person or animal.
• If there’s a “special” verb in the sentence
(giving, showing, telling), then it may be a dative
like we learned earlier.

18. Things to Take Away from Today’s Lesson
• Ablatives use the endings –a, -o, and –is.
• Ablatives can show place where after the word
in.
• Ablatives can show “by means of” without using
a word for “with” or “by.”
• Puella est in casa. The girl is in the house.
• Puella vitam equi cibo servat. The girl saves
the life of the horse with food.