
<br /><br />Have I gone completely round the bend, or isn't there a rule that a neuter plural can take a singular verb?The reason this is not correct if you use the neuter castra is that you used est which only works with a singular subject
<br /><br />You're right, I don't know what I was thinking there. Sextus does look like a nominative now that I reread the sentence.<br /><br />I thought that castrum must be plural to have the meaning of "camp", thus castra. So castris is ABL neuter plural. Ah, I see the problem. I had wanted to say "...ad castris Romanis portat". Which is why I used Romanis (ABL plur of Romanus).<br /><br />I don't follow your last sentence about "ad castra Romana". There's clearly something I don't understand about the word castrum, castra, etc. So there is the neuter noun castrum, and the feminine noun castra? <br /><br />Mariek wrote:<br />#2 My son Sextus is carrying his booty to the Roman camp.<br /> Meus filius Sexte suam praedam ad castras Romanis portat.<br /><br />Benissimus wrote:<br />#2 Sextus looks like a nominative, though it could be a a vocative as you put it (though unlikely). Romanis must match with castras so ad castras Romanas. If you meant to use the neuter castrum, castri then it would be ad castra Romana, otherwise you are fine with the femine alternative castras.
<br /><br />Hmm... those prepositions in English don't translate the same in Latin, do they! Ok, I'll have to remember this one.<br /><br />I just started reading the section about "Ablative Denoting With", which Episcopus had mentioned earlier in some other thread. It clarifies which situations require "cum" with the Ablative. It's really helpful! Don't use cum with Cause or Means, but use cum for Accompaniment or Manner. <br /><br />What it meant by saying "it is not Dative" is that "to the Roman camp" is the sense of "towards" (ad) and not the sense of "for/to" (dative).
<br /><br />OK, I definitely don't get the castra feminine noun thing. Would you elaborate please?<br /><br />Castra is plural which doesn't match the singular est. So I should use the singular neuter noun version, castrum. Then the sentence should read :<br /><br /> Castrum est meum, sed tela sunt tua. ???<br /><br /><br />Mariek wrote:<br />#6 The camp is mine, but the weapons are yours.<br /> Castra est mea, sed tela sunt tua.<br /><br />Benissimus wrote:<br />#6 This one is correct, but only if you use the word castra, castrae (an alternative to castrum, castri). The possessive pronouns always matches with case, even if it does look like it could be something else. The reason this is not correct if you use the neuter castra is that you used est which only works with a singular subject.
<br /><br />Have I gone completely round the bend, or isn't there a rule that a neuter plural can take a singular verb?<br />[/quote]<br /><br />In Greek, yes, yet not in Latin.<br /><br />I would like to add that castra, castrae is very badly attested. The latin uses castra, castrorum (neuter, plural)<br /><br />The reason this is not correct if you use the neuter castra is that you used est which only works with a singular subject
<br /><br />You're right, I don't know what I was thinking there. Sextus does look like a nominative now that I reread the sentence.<br /><br />Yup, unless she is addressing Sextus, which is a creative take on the sentence<br />Mariek wrote:<br />#2 My son Sextus is carrying his booty to the Roman camp.<br /> Meus filius Sexte suam praedam ad castras Romanis portat.<br /><br />Benissimus wrote:<br />#2 Sextus looks like a nominative, though it could be a a vocative as you put it (though unlikely). Romanis must match with castras so ad castras Romanas. If you meant to use the neuter castrum, castri then it would be ad castra Romana, otherwise you are fine with the femine alternative castras.
<br /><br />Hmm... those prepositions in English don't translate the same in Latin, do they! Ok, I'll have to remember this one.<br /><br />Indeed. If you are familiar with the verb do, dare, dedi, dat-(um) - to give, you will see whence the word "dative" is derived. It is the case by which things are given, but not moved (ad).<br /><br />I just started reading the section about "Ablative Denoting With", which Episcopus had mentioned earlier in some other thread. It clarifies which situations require "cum" with the Ablative. It's really helpful! Don't use cum with Cause or Means, but use cum for Accompaniment or Manner. [/color]<br /><br />What it meant by saying "it is not Dative" is that "to the Roman camp" is the sense of "towards" (ad) and not the sense of "for/to" (dative).
<br /><br />OK, I definitely don't get the castra feminine noun thing. Would you elaborate please?<br /><br />What I was talking about was the feminine alternative to castrum, castri "castra, castrae," but we have been informed that it is not advisable. Since you used castra with a singular verb, it would have been correct were you using the feminine, but since to be neuter it would have to be a plural noun, it would not have worked.<br /><br />Castra is plural which doesn't match the singular est. So I should use the singular neuter noun version, castrum. Then the sentence should read :<br /><br /> Castrum est meum, sed tela sunt tua. ???<br /><br />Or else just say Castra sunt mea, sed tela sunt tua.<br /><br />[/quote]<br />Mariek wrote:<br />#6 The camp is mine, but the weapons are yours.<br /> Castra est mea, sed tela sunt tua.<br /><br />Benissimus wrote:<br />#6 This one is correct, but only if you use the word castra, castrae (an alternative to castrum, castri). The possessive pronouns always matches with case, even if it does look like it could be something else. The reason this is not correct if you use the neuter castra is that you used est which only works with a singular subject.
<br /><br />Eeks, I messed up btwn ABL & ACC. When will I ever get them straight? I see why I didn't understand what you were saying earlier. I was thinking ABL and you were thinking ACC. Neuter ACC plur of castrum => castra ! So that means the adj Romanus must agree in the ACC plur => Romanos.<br /><br />So my sentence should really read:<br /> Meus filius Sexte suam praedam ad castra Romanos portat.<br /><br />I see what you were doing, but the preposition ad takes an accusative (not an ablative), as most prepositions of motion do.
<br /><br />Nope, we haven't done ANY verbs yet! I don't think BLD will ever talk about em... <br />Indeed. If you are familiar with the verb do, dare, dedi, dat-(um) - to give, you will see whence the word "dative" is derived. It is the case by which things are given, but not moved (ad).
<br /><br />OH! I need to think outside the box. I was hung up on the English "is" in the sentence, and never imagined that I could change the Latin verb to sunt.<br />Or else just say Castra sunt mea, sed tela sunt tua.
<br /><br />Not quite. Don't forget, adjectives need to agree with their nounds in gender as well as case and number. So it should be castra Romana. And you've gone back to talking to Sextus rather than him being your son.Eeks, I messed up btwn ABL & ACC. When will I ever get them straight? I see why I didn't understand what you were saying earlier. I was thinking ABL and you were thinking ACC. Neuter ACC plur of castrum => castra ! So that means the adj Romanus must agree in the ACC plur => Romanos.<br /><br />So my sentence should really read:<br /> Meus filius Sexte suam praedam ad castra Romanos portat.<br />
<br /><br /><br />My son Sextus is carrying his booty to the Roman camp.<br /><br />Sextus, filius meus, praedam suam in / ad castra Romanorum portat. <br /><br /><br />Sextus is Nominative because it is a subject. and 'my son' has to be an apposition in that way. You can also see Sextus as a vocative, then it is 'Sexte' and 'my son' is subject (Nominative). If Sextus is to be regarded as a vocative (Sexte) it normally would be between commas.<br /><br />If it's clear from the context, you can say 'praedam' without 'suam'. Although in a sentence without a context , you better say 'praedam suam'.<br /><br />In 'my son' and 'his booty' you better put the possesive pronoun after the noun. That's the way they did it in classical prose. Sometimes they did'nt, even in clssical prose, but only to emphasize. You must know that if it's clear from the context, putting a possesive pronoun is even a stess on it. If you put it before the noun it's even more emphasized!<br /><br />When you put an apposition with a nounn the most important word must preceed. This is usually the noun and the apposition usually follows. There are a few exceptions. E. G.: Darius, the King, ... = Rex Darius (when you want to put a stress oon the function of Darius) or Darius, rex, ... (When you want to speak about Darius and you mention his title, but the title is not necessary). <br />With filius the apposition is always after the noun!<br /><br />When you want to mention a direction, there are to posibilities; <br /><br />ad with the accusative (castra NOT castris) when you want to say: to the camp, but they don't go inside!<br /><br />in with the accusative, when you want to say: to the camp and they go also inside!<br /><br />There is an alternative construction for the direction: The dative of direction.<br />You can also say Castris Romanorum. But this is a poetic construction and is only mentioned by the Ancients in some sentences! You better not use teh dative, but the construcion with prepositions, cause that's the classical - prose construction.<br /><br />The Roman camp = castra Romanorum. Normally the adjective mostly indicates a quality. The genetive mostly indicates a posessor. <br /><br />castra is neuter plural in this meaning. We translate with a singular noun, but that's not a problem. <br />and the verb is singular, cause the subject is. <br /><br /><br />The camp is mine, but the weapons are yours.<br /><br />Castra mea, arma tua (vestra) sunt. <br /><br />The subject is plural, so is the verb, even when the trasnlation is singular. <br /><br />arma = weapons; tela = weapons to attack (in that specific function) <br /><br />yours: tua is correct, you can also interpretate it as a plural and then we use vestra. But I think tua is better here, cause it's opposed to mine, also singular. Although you have to see it in the context. <br /><br />So I hoped I was helpful, <br />Succes.We finally got to possesive pronouns!<br /><br />#2 My son Sextus is carrying his booty to the Roman camp.<br /> Meus filius Sexte suam praedam ad castras Romanis portat.<br /><br />Is this correct? This question had a footnote saying that it is not the Dative, and asks why. I'm not sure why. Since they already said not the Dative, I figured it couldn't be anything other than the Ablative. Is this correct? I took a guess that I would need to use "ad".<br /><br /><br />#6 The camp is mine, but the weapons are yours.<br /> Castra est mea, sed tela sunt tua.<br /><br />This one threw me off. I know that castra is plural (of castrum). I wasn't sure whether meum should be pluralized to match castra. When I pluralized it, it became mea which looks just like the feminine version. I had the same question about pluralizing tuum to become tua.<br /><br />
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