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Summary WJEC GCSE Latin - Ablative Absolutes
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These are my teaching notes on ablative absolutes for GCSE Latin grammar - they are also excellent for anyone beginning to learn Latin!
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The Ablative AbsoluteParticiples - A Summary
• A participle is an adjective formed from a verb (ie describing someone doing something:
the smiling girl, barking dog etc). They agree in number, gender and case with the noun
they describe.
• The present participle (‘portans’) goes like rex and is translated ‘while X-ing’, or just ‘X-
ing’ - eg.
pueros cibum consumentes vidimus - we saw the boys (while they were) eating the food
• The perfect passive participle (‘portatus’) goes like a regular 2-1-2 adjective and is
translated literally as ‘having been X-ed’, or just ‘X-ed’ in better English - eg.
hostes victi lente discesserunt - the (having been) defeated enemy left slowly
- sometimes it is better to translate the perfect passive participle as a separate clause:
milites urbem ab hostibus oppugnatam intraverunt - the soldiers entered the city which
had been attacked by the enemy.
The Ablative Absolute
The ablative absolute comes up all the time in Latin, so it’s good to be able to recognise
and translate it. It consists of a noun and a participle, both in the ablative, and not
grammatically linked to the rest of the sentence (ie they form a tiny separate clause). An
ablative absolute commonly comes at the beginning of a sentence: it can sometimes be
separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma.
The literal translation of an ablative (‘with’) can sometimes be used:
omnibus civibus spectantibus, naves profectae sunt - with all the citizens watching, the
ships set out.
But more often, it is better English if you translate an ablative absolute with a separate
clause and using the words when, who or because:
his verbis auditis, puellae laetissimae erant - when they had heard these words, the girls
were very happy.
urbe capta cives miserrimi erano - when the city had been captured, the citizens were
very miserable.
The verb to be does not have a present participle, so sometimes you need to translate the
idea of being without there being a form of esse there:
Caesare duce hostes vicimus - with Caesar (being/as) leader we conquered the enemy.
Exercises
1) his verbis dictis, nuntius discessit.
2) regina horto deleto tristissima erat
3) militibus paratis imperator profiscisi constituit.
4) servis venditis cenam ipse paro.
5) senatore locuto, cives gaudebant.
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