The Grammar of Latin: Chapter 1/Lesson 6-Pronouns

Personal Pronouns in English

Pronouns are nouns which are used instead of another noun ('pro', in place of 'noun', noun.)

There are three catagories of pronouns which are divided up into persons: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

• 1st person refers to the person speaking, I, we. • 2nd person refers to the person addressed, thou, ye (you and you all). • 3rd person is for everything else (he, she, it, they (insert any noun here).

In addition, pronouns can be singular or plural. They are declined like all other nouns.

• I is 1st person singular (only me), we is 1st person plural (me and others). • Thou/you is 2nd person singular (only thee), ye/ you all is 2nd person plural (you and others). • He, she, it is 3rd person singular (he/she/it is one), (they are many).

Personal Pronouns in Latin

1st/2nd Person Pronouns

[edit] Table of Personal Pronouns in all of their cases: I, thou, we, ye

Note: Thou is the archaic singular of the archaic plural ye - useful for distinguishing
you (singular) from you (plural)

	Singular				Plural
Case	1st Person		2nd Person		1st Person		2nd Person
Nominative	ego	I	tū	you	nōs	we	vōs	you
Genitive	meī	of me	tuī	of you	nostrī(nostrum)	of us	vestrī (vestrum)	of you
Dative	mihi	to me	tibi	to you	nōbīs	to us	vōbīs	to you
Accusative	mē	me	tē	you	nōs	us	vōs	you
Ablative	mē	from me	tē	from you	nōbīs	from us	vōbīs	from you

Nota Bene: the genitive is used in certain phrases like:

memor nostrī, mindful of us
paucī vestrum, a few of you.

For the possessive uses (my sister, your bicycle), Latin does not use the genitive, but the possessive adjectives:

meus, mea, meum = my;

tuus, tua, tuum = thy;

suus, sua, sum = his/hers/its/their;

noster, nostra, nostrum = our;

vester, vestra, vestrum = your

Example: Pater noster = Our Father

3rd Person Pronouns

Technically 3rd person pronouns do not exist in Latin as they do in English. However they do have equivalents.

Adjectives modify nouns and take the gender of the noun in which it modifies. However adjectives do not necessarily need a substantive present in the sentence to modify. The substantive can be presumed. In this way, '3rd person' pronouns are formed.

Example 1

Take the masculine form of the adjective 'ille'. Literally it means 'That (masculine) thing.' However one could take it for simply meaning 'he', depending on the context. Similarly, the pronoun 'iste' means 'this (masc.) thing'. Iste and ille are declined in exactly the same way.

If no substantive is provided assume words like these: 'man', 'woman', 'thing', 'idea', 'concept', 'reason' etc. Let context be your guide.

Common Adjectives Used as 3rd Person Pronouns In Latin

Declension of Ille (that)

Declension of *ille* (that): Singular
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
	Latin			English
Nominative	ille	illa	illud	he	she	it
Genitive	illīus	illīus	illīus	his	her, hers	its
Dative	illī	illī	illī	to him	to her	to it
Accusative	illum	illam	illud	him	her	it
Ablative	illō	illā	illō	by, with, from him	her	it

Declension of *ille* (that): Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	English
	Latin			English
Nominative	illī	illae	illa	they, those
Genitive	illōrum	illārum	illōrum	their, theirs, of those
Dative	illīs	illīs	illīs	to them, to those
Accusative	illōs	illās	illa	them, those
Ablative	illīs	illis	illīs	by, with, from them, those

Ille is often used as a kind of pronoun.

Examples of the Usage of Ille:

1. ille est dominus - he is the master (ille as pronoun)
2. ille dominus est malus - that master is bad (ille as adjective)
3. illam videt - he sees her (or 'she sees her' - illam as pronoun)
4. illam puellam videt - he (or she) sees that girl (illam as adjective).

Declension of Is, ea, id: (personal pronouns w/ translations)

            M:       F:       N:
Nominative is       ea       id        he        she        it

Genitive   eius     eius     eius      his       her, hers  its
Dative     eī       eī       eī        to him    to her     to it
Accusative eum      eam      id        him       her        it
Ablative   eō       eā       eō        by, with, from him, her, it.

Nominative ei       eae      ea        they, those

Genitive   eōrum    eārum    eōrum     their, theirs, of those
Dative     eīs,iīs  eīs,iīs  eīs,iīs   to them, to those
Accusative eos      eās      ea        them, those
Ablative   eīs,iīs  eīs,iīs  eīs,iīs   by, with, from them, those

Like ille, is can be used as a form of a pronoun.

Examples of the Usage of Is

1. is est dominus - he is the master (is as pronoun)
2. is dominus est malus - that master is bad (is as adjective)
3. eam videt - he sees her (or 'she sees her' - eam as pronoun)
4. eam puellam videt - he (or she) sees that girl (eam as adjective).

Declension of the Relative pronoun qui, quae, quod: (meaning who, which, he)

            M:       F:       N:
Nominative quī      quae     quod     who       who        which
Genitive   cuīus    cuīus    cuīus    whose
Dative     cuī      cuī      cuī      to whom   to whom    to which
Accusative quem     quam     quod     whom      whom       which
Ablative   quō      quā      quō      by, with, from whom, which.

Nominative qui      quae     quae      who       who        which
Genitive   quorum   quarum   quorum   whose
Dative     quibus   quibus   quibus     to whom, to which
Accusative quos     quas     quos  whom      whom       which
Ablative   quibus   quibus   quibus   by, with, from whom, which

Notice that the same forms are used to ask a question, with the following exceptions:

            M:       F:       N:
Nominative quis     quis     quid     who       which      what
Accusative quem     quam     quid     whom      which      what

Uses of the Relative Pronoun

The relative pronoun takes on the case depending on the function it serves in the relative clause. For example, in the sentence "He sees the man who has a slave," "who" is translated as nominative because it is the subject of the clause "who has a slave." The antecedent (noun to which the pronoun refers) is usually before the relative clause.

Examples of the Usage of the Relative Pronoun

Virum videt (he/she sees) qui servum (servant) habet (he/she has).
He sees the man who has a slave
Ille est vir cujus servus est malus.
That's the man whose slave is bad.
Quis eum videt?
Who sees him?

Declension of hic, haec, hoc (meaning this)

Singular

            M:       F:       N:
Nominative hic      haec     hoc       this
Genitive   huius    huius    huius   
Dative     huic     huic     huic
Accusative hunc     hanc     hoc            
Ablative   hōc      hāc      hōc

Plural

Nominative hī       hae      haec      these
Genitive   hōrum    hārum    hōrum   
Dative     hīs      hīs      hīs
Accusative hōs      hās      haec              
Ablative   hīs      hīs      hīs

N.B. Hic as an adverb means 'here'. N.B. Hic can also be used as a pronoun.

Example of the Usage of Hic

hic servus, non ille, est malus: This slave, not that one, is bad.

Exercises

Give a suitable LATIN translation for the following:

To him
To her
For her
For him
To it
I
You
Ye
of You
of him
We
Thou
of thee
in him
in her

Give a suitable ENGLISH translation for the following:

meus
meī
ille
illud
huic
hī
hoc
nōs
nostrī
vōs
vestrum

Retrieved from "http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Latin/Lesson_6-Pronouns"

Subject: Latin

Lessons in this series:

The Grammar of Latin

.

Dorothy Sayers:

Friday, September 12, 2008

Chapter 1/Lesson 6-Pronouns