Cases are an important part of Latin grammar. Latin nouns use different ending based on their role in the sentence. Let us illustrate the use of four cases: nominative, accusative, genitive and dative.
The first Latin sentence we want to analyze is Puella cantat. The meaning of the sentence is The girl sings. In the sentence the word puella (girl) is in nominative case.
Now we can analyze Puellam videĊ. It means I see a girl. The word puellam (girl) is the object of the sentence. It is in accusative case.
The next sentence is Hic est liber puellae. It means This is the girl's book. In this sentence puellae (girl's) is in genitive case.
Let us now analyze the sentence Canem puellae dant. The meaning of the sentence is They give the girl a dog. In this sentence the word puellae is the indirect object. Though it has the same ending as in the sentence Hic est liber puellae (This is the girl's book), it is in dative case because it is the indirect object of the sentence.
The examples illustrate the importance of case in Latin. In English the word girl is invariable in the nominative, accusative and dative cases. However, in Latin puella is used for the nominative, puellam for the accusative, and puellae for the genitive and dative. It is clear that nouns in Latin are inflected more than they are in English.
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