Dative

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The dative case is a grammatical case of the indirect object generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. For example, in "Brutus gave a book to Cassius".

The dative generally marks the indirect object of a verb, although in some instances the dative is used for the direct object of a verb pertaining directly to an act of giving something.

Form

Here are the basic and very general rules for making a dative in singular:

• If a word ends in "-us", then the dative ends in "-o". "Tullius" becomes "Tullio".
• If a word ends in "-a", then the dative ends in "-ae". "Livia" becomes "Liviae".
• If a word ends in "-o", then the dative ends in "-oni". "Cicero" becomes "Ciceroni".
• Many other words change their ending to "-i" whose rules are more difficult and are not detailed here. Here are some just for example:

"Audens" in dative becomes "Audenti",

"Senatus" in dative is "Senatui",

"Venus" in dative is "Veneri",

"exercitus" in dative is "exercitui",

"homo" in dative is "homini",

"consul" in dative is "consuli",

"praetor" in dative is "praetori", and so on.

Function

Indirect object

Reference

Possessive pronouns in Latin indicate possession strictly. Some relations that are expressed in English with a possessive, such as reference (My name is Gaius) use the dative of reference (Nomen mihi Gaius est.)

Dative with compound verbs

Compound transitive verbs built with the following prefixes normally take a direct object in the dative.

• ab-
• ante-
• circum-
• con-
• in-
• inter-
• ob-
• post-
• prae-
• pro-
• sub-
• super-

Usage in practice

An average Nova Roman citizen would use the dative case in the Latin beginning of an e-mail. Learn more about Latin for e-mail.