Classical Languages - Latin - Syntax - Nominative and Vocative

Nominative and Vocative
Subject, Predicate, Address

Nominative and Vocative

Prerequisites: Uses of the Cases, Simple Sentence

Next: Accusative

These are the two simplest cases in their use. The nominative is the case of the subject and of the predicate noun. The vocative is the case of address. Neither takes a preposition and neither is governed by a verb or a preposition, so both are quickly learned. They are nevertheless essential: the nominative is the case that you look for first in every sentence, and the vocative introduces the speaker's voice.

Nominative

Forms

The nominative is the form given in the dictionary. Its endings by declension are on the page Nouns, and the full tables in Paradigms: Nouns.

1. Subject of a finite verb

The nominative is the case of the subject, and the verb agrees with it in person and number:

Gallia est omnis dīvīsa in partēs trēs.

All Gaul is divided into three parts. (Caesar, De Bello Gallico 1.1)

Quam diū etiam furor iste tuus nōs ēlūdet?

How long will that madness of yours still mock us? (Cicero, In Catilinam 1.1; furor is the subject of ēlūdet; iste tuus agree with it)

If no nominative is expressed, the subject is contained in the verb ending (vēnī, I came). A pronoun appears only for emphasis.

2. Predicate nominative

A predicate noun or adjective after a linking verb stands in the nominative and agrees with the subject:

Verb Meaning Example
sum be Homō sum. I am a man.
fīō become Caesar dictātor fit. Caesar becomes dictator. (constructed)
maneō remain Rōma līberā manet. Rome remains free. (constructed)
videor seem Rōma magna videtur. Rome seems great. (constructed)

Homō sum: hūmānī nihil ā mē aliēnum putō.

I am a man: I think nothing human foreign to me. (Terence, Heauton Timorumenos 77; homō is a predicate nominative)

Fuimus Trōes, fuit Īlium.

We Trojans have been, Ilium has been. (Vergil, Aeneid 2.325; Trōes is a predicate nominative with fuimus)

Urbs antīqua fuit.

There was an ancient city. (Vergil, Aeneid 1.12; antīqua is a predicate adjective)

3. Nominative with passive verbs of naming and showing

The passive of verbs of naming, making, choosing, thinking and showing keeps a nominative after it, where the active has a second accusative:

Passive verb Meaning
vocor, appellor, dīcor I am called
creor I am elected, made
putor, habeor I am thought
videor I seem

quī ipsōrum linguā Celtae, nostrā Gallī appellantur

who are called Celts in their own language, Gauls in ours. (Caesar, De Bello Gallico 1.1; Celtae and Gallī are predicate nominatives with appellantur)

The passive forms are on the page Indicative passive.

4. Apposition

A noun in apposition is in the same case as the noun it explains:

Rōmulus, rēx Rōmānōrum, urbem condidit. (constructed)

Romulus, king of the Romans, founded the city.

Rōmulus and rēx are both nominative.

5. Nominative in exclamations and lists

The nominative also stands without a verb in labels, headings and titles, and in exclamations (where the accusative is also possible):

Senātus populusque Rōmānus.

The Senate and the Roman People. (the formula SPQR)

Ō tempora, ō mōrēs!

Oh, the times! Oh, the customs! (Cicero, In Catilinam 1.2; grammarians take tempora and mōrēs as an exclamatory nominative or accusative)

6. The nominative is not used for

  • the direct object (accusative);
  • the indirect object (dative);
  • the subject of an infinitive, which is an accusative in indirect statement (see Indirect speech);
  • expressions of place, time or means (ablative or accusative).

Vocative

Forms

The vocative is identical with the nominative in every declension, except in the singular of the 2nd declension:

Type Nominative Vocative Example
1st declension -a -a (same) Lesbia, Catilīna
2nd declension in -us -us -e dominus → domine; amīcus → amīce; Brūtus → Brūte
2nd declension in -ius -ius -ī fīlius → fīlī; Cornēlius → Cornēlī; Vergilius → Vergilī
2nd declension in -er, -ir same same puer, vir
deus deus deus (same)
meus meus mī mī amīce
neuters same as nominative
3rd, 4th, 5th declension same as nominative rēx, mīles
plural (all declensions) same as nominative Quirītēs

Greek names keep Greek forms: for example, Aenēās has the vocative Aenēā.

Use

The vocative is the case of direct address: it names the person or thing spoken to. It stands outside the clause structure and takes no part in agreement with the verb.

  1. Position. The vocative does not usually stand first in the sentence. It tends to follow the first word or phrase, and it is often set off by commas in modern editions. In the Cicero line below, it comes after the interrogative.
  2. With ō. The interjection ō often goes with the vocative to show emotion: Ō tempora, ō mōrēs! (nominative or accusative of exclamation) and Ō Venerēs Cupīdinēsque. It is not required.
  3. With imperatives and questions. Address is typical of commands and questions: Audī, mī amīce.
  4. Agreeing adjectives also stand in the vocative: mea Lesbia, mī fīlī, dulcissime amīce.
  5. The nominative may replace the vocative, particularly in poetry and in solemn speech, and with the pronoun tū.

Examples

Quō ūsque tandem abūtēre, Catilīna, patientiā nostrā?

How long, Catiline, will you abuse our patience? (Cicero, In Catilinam 1.1; Catilīna, 1st declension masculine, nominative form)

Cornēlī, tibi ...

To you, Cornelius ... (Catullus 1.3; Cornēlī is the vocative of Cornēlius)

Lūgēte, ō Venerēs Cupīdinēsque.

Mourn, O Venuses and Cupids. (Catullus 3.1; vocative plural, 3rd declension)

Parsing practice

Identify the case, number and function of each form in bold.

  1. Belgae in Hōrum omnium fortissimī sunt Belgae
  2. fortissimī in the same sentence
  3. Trōes in Fuimus Trōes
  4. Catilīna in Quō ūsque tandem abūtēre, Catilīna, patientiā nostrā?
  5. Celtae in quī ... linguā Celtae ... appellantur
  6. domine
  7. fīlī

Answers

  1. Nominative plural, subject.
  2. Nominative plural, predicate adjective agreeing with Belgae.
  3. Nominative plural, predicate nominative with fuimus.
  4. Vocative singular, address.
  5. Nominative plural, predicate nominative with the passive appellantur.
  6. Vocative singular of dominus.
  7. Vocative singular of fīlius.

Common pitfalls

  • Looking for a subject that is not there. If there is no nominative, the subject is in the verb.
  • Putting the predicate after sum in the accusative. It stays in the nominative.
  • Forgetting the vocative of -us nouns. domine, not dominus.
  • Forgetting the exceptions. fīlī, Vergilī, Cornēlī, mī and deus.
  • Taking the vocative for the subject. Catilīna in Cicero's line is not the subject of abūtēre.
  • Treating Et tū, Brūte? as classical. It is not found in any ancient source.
  • Confusing a predicate nominative with an apposition. The first completes a linking verb; the second explains a noun.

Self-test

  1. What case is the subject of a finite verb in, and what case does a predicate noun after sum take?
  2. Give the vocative singular of dominus, amīcus, fīlius, Vergilius, puer, deus, meus, rēx.
  3. In Urbs antīqua fuit, what is urbs and what is antīqua?
  4. Why is Celtae nominative in Caesar's quī ... Celtae ... appellantur?
  5. Translate: Fīlī mī, audī magistrum.
  6. Why is Brūte in Et tū, Brūte? grammatically correct but historically wrong?
  7. What is the case of Venerēs Cupīdinēsque in Catullus 3.1?
  8. List three situations in which the nominative is used.

Answers

  1. Nominative; nominative.
  2. domine, amīce, fīlī, Vergilī, puer, deus, mī, rēx.
  3. urbs is the subject (nominative singular), antīqua the predicate adjective (nominative singular feminine).
  4. It is a predicate nominative after the passive of a verb of naming.
  5. My son, listen to the teacher. (fīlī, mī: vocatives; audī: imperative; magistrum: accusative.)
  6. The form Brūte is the correct vocative of Brūtus, but the sentence is Shakespeare's, not found in a Roman source.
  7. Vocative plural.
  8. Subject; predicate noun or adjective; apposition (also exclamations and labels).

Next: Accusative

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