Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #63: The Accusative Case

Today is something new: the accusative case! So far you have learned the nominative case, which is used for the subject of the verb, along with the genitive case, which expresses possession. Now with the accusative case, the verbs can have objects.

We'll start with the accusative case of the 1st-declension nouns:

victoria: victory (subject of verb)
victoriae: of the victory, victory's
victoriam: victory (object of verb)

The accusative case ending is -m. Just add that -m to the -a- vowel that marks the 1st declension, and you get -am.

In English, we only have the accusative case for a few pronouns, and sometimes the English accusative ending is also -m, like in Latin: him is the accusative of he ("I saw him"), whom is the accusative of who, them is the accusative of they.

For English nouns, however, there is no accusative case marker. You cannot tell if a noun is the subject or object of the verb just by looking at the noun; instead, English uses word order, with the subject coming before the verb, while the object comes after the verb.

In Latin, the word order does not matter; what matters is the word ending. If you see the word victoria, then you know it is the subject of the verb; if you see the word victoriam, then you know it is the object of the verb.

So, as you look at today's sayings, pay close attention to the word endings, especially when the object comes before the verb and/or the subject comes after the verb. Anything is possible!

To get ready for today's sayings, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:

And now here are today's proverbs, each of which features an accusative 1st-declension noun (for today, I've underlined those accusative nouns to help them stand out):

1. Cura dat victoriam.
Carefulness bestows victory.
cura dat vic-TO-riam.

The verb dat means "gives, bestows," and you can see this root in English "data" and also "date."

The idea is that if you want to win, you need to take care, prepare, pay attention to what you are doing, etc.

Here the word order is the same as in English: subject-verb-object.

2. Copia nauseam parit.
Abundance produces disgust.
CO-pia NAU-seam parit.

The noun copia, "abundance," is the root of English "copious," and you can also see the Latin word in "cornucopia."
The word nauseam is the accusative form of nausea, which gives us English "nausea." The Latin word is a borrowing from Greek ναυσία, "seasickness" from the Greek word ναῦς, which mean "ship."

The verb parit means "gives birth to, produces," and it is the root of English "parent."

Compare the English saying "You can have too much of a good thing."

This time the word order, subject-object-verb, which is different from English subject-verb-object.

3. Aquilam testudo vincit.
(The) tortoise defeats (the) eagle.
A-quilam tes-TU-do vincit.

The word aquilam is the accusative of aquila which gives us English "eagle" and also "aquiline."
The verb vincit, "conquers, defeats, beats" can be seen in English "invincible" (i.e. un-beatable) and also "convince." The verb vincit shares the same root as the noun victoria.

This saying was used to refer to some surprising turn of events: in a race between the slow-moving tortoise and the swiftly flying eagle, of course the eagle would win... but — surprise! — this time the turtle beats the eagle, much like the tortoise defeats the hare in the famous Aesop's fable.

In this sentence, the object comes first!

4. Superbia anteit ruinam.
Pride precedes ruin.
su-PER-bia AN-teit ruinam.

The noun superbia, "pride," has the same root as in English "superb" and "superior."

The verb anteit, "precedes, goes before," is a compound: ante-it, "before-goes." You can see the ante in English words like "anterior" and "anteroom," and also the "ante" in poker.

The word ruinam is the accusative of ruina, "ruin, downfall, disaster." The noun is related to a verb you have seen before: ruit.

Compare the English saying "Pride goeth before a fall."

This sentence has the word order that you would have in English: subject-verb-object.

5. Industriam adiuvat deus.
God helps effort.
in-DUS-triam AD-iuvat deus.

The word industriam is the accusative of industria, "activity, work, effort," which gives us English "industry."

The verb adjuvat, "helps, assists," gives us English "adjutant."

Here you have yet another word order option here: object-verb-subject. This is exactly the opposite of English subject-verb-object word order.

Compare the English saying, "God helps them that help themselves."

Here's a recap: