Latin · Chapter 6 · Lesson 8 · Grammar primer
The ablative and its many jobs
By, with, from, in, at, than: the case that does the work of half the English prepositions. Means, manner, place, time and separation, sorted into a usable system.
The short version
Tool takes a bare ablative, person ab, companion cum
The ablative looks like a rag-bag because it is one, and this single line sorts most of the traffic. Oculis videmus, we see with our eyes, no preposition at all, because eyes are the instrument. A militibus captus est, he was captured by soldiers, with ab because soldiers are people. Cum patre venit, he came with his father, because that is company rather than means. English says with for all three and leaves you guessing.
oculis videmus; cum patre venit
Sort the rest into FROM, WITH and WHERE
Three older cases collapsed into the ablative and their jobs are still visible. FROM covers separation and source, usually with ab, ex or de, and bare for town names: ex urbe, Roma. WITH or BY covers means, agent and manner. WHERE and WHEN covers place (in urbe), time when (prima luce, tertio anno) and time within which (tribus diebus). File a new use under one of those three heads and the case stops feeling arbitrary.
prima luce, tribus diebus
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