Pronouns

Understanding Pronouns

• Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns or noun phrases.
• Pronouns in Latin have different forms depending on their role in a sentence.
• These forms are typically specific to gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter), number (singular or plural), and case (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, vocative).

Personal Pronouns

• Personal pronouns are usually used to represent specific people or things.
• The first person pronouns are ‘ego’ (I) and ‘nos’ (we).
• The second person pronouns are ‘tu’ (you singular) and ‘vos’ (you plural).
• The third person pronouns are ‘is, ea, id’ (he/she/it) and ‘ei, eae, ea’ (they).

Reflexive Pronouns

• A reflexive pronoun is used when the action of the verb returns to the subject.
• They are forms of “sui” and can only be used in the genitive, dative, accusative or ablative case (never nominative or vocative).
• For example, in the sentence “Marcus se videt” (Marcus sees himself), “se” is the reflexive pronoun.

Relative Pronouns

• Relative pronouns connect a clause or phrase to a noun or pronoun.
• The Latin relative pronouns include ‘qui, quae, quod’ (who, which).
• For example, in the sentence “Puer quem vidi Marcus est” (The boy whom I saw is Marcus), “quem” is the relative pronoun.

Interrogative and Indefinite Pronouns

• Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions, and include ‘quis, quid’ (who, what).
• Indefinite pronouns refer to nonspecific things or people, and include ‘quis, quid’ (someone, something) and ‘quisque, quidque’ (each one, each thing).
• Note that ‘quis, quid’ can be either interrogative or indefinite depending on context.

Pronouns in Sentence Construction

• The use of pronouns can change the meaning and complexity of Latin sentences.
• Recognising and accurately translating pronouns is a crucial part of understanding Latin grammar.
• Practise identifying pronouns in Latin texts to improve your ability to understand and translate Latin sentences.