Latin for Beginners · Lesson XIV · Part 3: Possessives, pronouns and the ablative

14. Possessive adjectives: meus, tuus, suus, noster, vester

Goal: Your child uses the possessives correctly, including suus for "his own, their own".

⏱ About 35 minutes · 7 steps

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You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • The special vocabulary page for this lesson (near the back of the book; the lesson tells you the page)
  • A notebook for Latin, and a pencil
  • Index cards for new words (optional)

What's in the book

The possessive adjectives, how they agree with the thing owned, and when to use tuus or vester and suus. Thirteen Latin and six English sentences.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Review

    Decline ager and puer.

  2. The possessives

    Section 98 gives them:

    meus, mea, meum, my, mine

    tuus, tua, tuum, your, yours

    suus, sua, suum, his (own), her (own), its (own)

    noster, nostra, nostrum, our, ours

    vester, vestra, vestrum, your, yours

    They decline like bonus or like the -er adjectives. Meus has a special vocative: mī fīlī, "O my son".

  3. How they agree

    A possessive agrees with the thing owned, not the owner. "Julia is calling her boy" is Iūlia suum puerum vocat: suum agrees with puerum. Use tuus for one owner and vester for more than one.

  4. Vocabulary

    From the special vocabulary for Lesson XIV:

    auxilium, help, aid

    cibus, food

    cōnsilium, plan

    magister, master, teacher

    aeger, aegra, aegrum, sick

  5. Latin to English

    Exercise I. Two of them:

    Tua lōrīca, mī fīlī, est dūra.

    Mea galea, Sexte, est in casā meā.

  6. English to Latin

    Exercise II. Before writing each sentence, decide which possessive, and what it agrees with.

  7. Wrap up

    Your child says "my horse", "your (plural) town", "our daughter" in Latin.

Tip

Latin leaves the possessive out when the meaning is clear. Don't add one to every noun.

Answers to the book's problems

Exercise I: 1. Marcus announces his plan to his friend Sextus. 2. There is a supply of grain in our fields. 3. My friends praise the good dinner of your maid. 4. Your coat of mail, my son, is hard. 5. Our shields and weapons, my friend, are in the Roman camp. 6. Are the men of your fatherland free? They are. 7. Where, Cornelius, is your pretty helmet? 8. My helmet, Sextus, is in my cottage. 9. The long spear is yours, but the sword is mine. 10. Julia loves her pretty chickens, and the chickens love their mistress. 11. Our camp is yours. 12. There is a supply of booty in your camp. 13. Your friends often give food and money to the wretched and the sick.

Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.

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