Chapter 20

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Concept Review:

Chapter Twenty introduces the Fourth Declension nouns. Most of the nouns in the Fourth Declension are Masculine and few are Feminine and Neuter. The Nominative, singular of Masculine and Feminine nouns end in -us. The Nominative, singular Neuter nouns end in -u. A u is the characteristic vowel. The characteristic vowel u appears in all the endings EXCEPT Dative and Ablative plural endings. The Dative and Ablative plurals in the Fourth Declension have the ending -ibus rather than the somewhat expected -ubus.

Remember that noun and adjectives must always agree in case, gender, and number. This agreement may not necessarily have the same endings. For references of the forms of Fourth Declension noun, please refer to pages 129-130 or page 446.

Ablatives of Place from which almost always involves a verb of active motion from one place to another. The prepositions ab, de, or ex nearly always govern the Ablative of Place from which. This Ablative often coupled with a preposition often indicates motion away from, down from, and out of.

Example:

Rex populum ab urbe ducet. The king will lead the people from the city.

Equi ex agro currunt. The horses run out of the field.

Ablative of Seperation indicates a person or thing that is seperated from another person or thing. The use of the Ablative of Seperation does not require a verb of active motion or the prepositions ab, de, or ex. The Ablative of Seperation frequently follows verbs indicating "to lack" and "to deprive." Such verbs take the Ablative of Seperation.

Example:

Hostis carebat virtute. The enemy was lacking courage.

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