Latin GrammarThe Ablative of Means(Grammar 3C, p. 172)

The Ablative The ablative has many uses. We first saw it with prepositions. Many prepositions require it.

The Ablative with Prepositions The ablative is required by all prepositions

that mean from: ā/ab dē ē/ex

cum sine in, sub

The Independent Ablative Then we started learning the independent

ablative. The independent ablative is the term used for

the ablative on its own, without a preposition.

PREPOSITIONS

The Ablative of Description The first independent ablative we learned was

the ablative of description:

mīles magnā uirtūte

Ablative of Time Ablative of time

hōc tempore

eā nocte

Ablative of Means The independent ablative is used to tell what tool is used to do an

action. We call this the ablative of means. It is translated with.

stilus, -ī, m. = stylus

haec fēmina stilō scrībit.

Ablative of Means Latin distinguishes between doing something

with a thing as a tool and doing something with a person as a companion.

Doing something with a thing is ablative of means, and no cum (with) is used.

haec fēmina stilō scrībit.

Ablative of Accompaniment Doing somethng with a person as a

companion requires a cum. This use is called ablative of accompaniment.

in urbem cum Marcō abeo.

Ablative of Accompaniment

Marcusmīlitēs

mīlitēs cum Marcō portam effregunt.

Ablative of Meansuirī

Marcus

uirī Marcō portam effregunt.

porta

A Note on Cum Cum is a preposition and usually goes before

nouns:

cum Marcō

cum uirō

cum seruā

A Note on Cum But with pronouns, cum often must be attached after

the pronoun:

mēcum

tēcum

nōbīscum

uōbīscum

sēcum

quōcum

quibuscum

Summary We have now met three uses of the

ablative without prepositions, that is, of the independent ablative: 1. ablative of description.2. ablative of time.3. ablative of means.

Summary The ablative of means does NOT use cum.

fēmina stilō scribit.

The ablative of accompaniment uses cum.

in urbem cum Marcō abeō