AP Latin Unit 2 Cheatsheet: Required - Pliny's Letters: Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius

Ablative Absolute: Noun + participle in ablative case; shows time or circumstance of main action.

• Eruption occurring, Pliny the Elder rushed to help.
• Rarely: noun + noun instead of participle.

Comparative Ablative: Ablative case after comparative adjective/adverb = "than."

• Maior Caesare (“greater than Caesar”) uses the ablative of comparison in place of quam; with quam, the second term normally takes the same case as the first.

Locative Case: Shows location (at/in); used mainly with city names.

• Romae = in Rome (locative)
• Romam = to Rome (accusative, no preposition)
• Romā = from Rome (ablative, no preposition)

Deponent Verbs: Passive form, active meaning.

• Principal parts look passive: orior, orīrī, ortus sum (arise)
• Translate with active voice in English

Indirect Statement: Verb of speaking/thinking/feeling + accusative subject + infinitive verb.

• Dīxit eum venīre = He said that he was coming
• Infinitive shows action from perspective of original speaker

Gerund: Noun formed from verb; declines like noun.

• Bellandi = of waging war

Gerundive: Adjective formed from verb; modifies noun.

• Ad eas rēs conficiendās = for accomplishing (carrying out) these things

Relative Pronoun (qui, quae, quod):

• Agrees in number & gender with antecedent
• Case determined by function in relative clause
• Can be translated as "this," "that," "these," "those" (demonstrative use)

Superlative Adjectives: Highest degree.

• Translated "___est" or "very ___"

Comparative Adjectives: Comparison between two.

• Translated "___er," "more ___," or "rather ___"