Who does what?
Use nominative and accusative endings to identify a subject and direct object.
Build the idea, then use it.
English usually announces the doer by position. Latin can announce the doer and receiver through endings, so start looking at word shape.
Who does what?
English leans heavily on word order. Latin can mark the doer with a nominative form and the receiver with an accusative form: puella servum videt and servum puella videt retain the same core relationships.
Case endings free Latin from one fixed order
A noun’s case marks its role in a sentence. The nominative commonly identifies the subject, while the accusative commonly identifies the direct object affected by a transitive verb. In this lesson’s patterns, puella and servus are nominative; puellam and servum are accusative. The final -m is a strong beginner’s clue for a singular accusative, although later declensions will add other shapes.
A verb completes the relationship. videt means ‘he, she, or it sees,’ and amat means ‘he, she, or it loves.’ In puella servum videt, puella is the doer and servum the receiver. Servum puella videt keeps those cases and therefore the same basic meaning. Putting servum first can emphasize the object, but it does not make him the subject.
Change the endings and the event changes
Compare puella servum amat with puellam servus amat. Only two final letters have changed, yet the actor reverses. The first means ‘the girl loves the servant’; the second means ‘the servant loves the girl.’ Reading from left to right without inspecting endings would miss the change.
Use a three-question routine for puer puellam videt: (1) What is the finite verb? videt. (2) Which noun is nominative? puer. (3) Which noun is accusative? puellam. The result is ‘The boy sees the girl.’ Latin can omit an English article, so either ‘a’ or ‘the’ may be suitable when no larger context decides.
Nominative does; accusative receives
In a basic action sentence, a nominative noun is the subject and an accusative noun is the direct object. The ending -m is a useful early signal for a singular direct object: puella servum videt and servum puella videt both mean ‘the girl sees the enslaved man.’ Word order changes emphasis, not the core roles.
Learn these five words in context.
Read them once now; the check will ask you to retrieve them.
- videt
- sees
- amat
- loves or likes
- servus
- enslaved man or servantNominative singular.
- servum
- enslaved man or servantAccusative singular.
- portat
- carries
Servum puella videt.
Servum puella videt.
The girl sees the enslaved man.
- 01
videt supplies the action ‘sees.’
- 02
puella is nominative, so the girl performs the action.
- 03
servum ends in -m and is accusative, so he receives the action despite appearing first.
Source focusAllen and Greenough §§31–39, 387+
Keep this citation attached to the lesson’s claims. Source, genre, date, and purpose determine what the evidence can responsibly support.