The vocative case is used for addressing someone or something directly, often to give a command or ask a question:

• Boys, we will walk to the farmhouse. - Ambulabimus, pueri, ad villam.
• Marcus, why are you Lucius's friend? - Cur, Marce, es amicus Luci?

Note that Latin normally puts the vocative second in the sentence, while English normally puts it first.

Remember that the vocative is always formed the same as the nominative, except for nouns and adjectives of the second declension ending in -us, with nouns ending in -ius ending the vocative with -i, and other -us nouns having -e:

Two irregular ones to remember:

Every Latin verb has five attributes:

We've already learned about person and number and all six tenses. So far, the only voice we've dealt with has been active, and the only mood has been indicative, which is used for making statements and asking questions. (The subjunctive mood, which we'll learn much later, is used for talking about unreal actions. It shows up rarely in English, as in the phrase, “If I were a rich man…”) The imperative mood, which we'll tackle now, is used for giving commands.

The imperative is actually very simple, because it has only one person (second, the “you” you're talking to), and only exists in two tenses, the present and future. The future imperative is very rare, so we'll stick with the present for now. The present active imperative of first conjugation verbs like voco (I call) is formed by adding -ā to the singular and -āte to the plural:

When using the vocative case and imperative mood together, the common method in classical Latin is to put the verb first, then the vocative noun, then the rest of the sentence.

• Vocāte, puellae, vestrum filium. - Girls, call your brother.
• Navigā, Marce, ad Hispaniam. - Marcus, sail to Spain.

However, you'll see a variety of arrangements in prayers, such as this line from the Litany of the Saints:

• Per nativitatem tuam, libera nos, Domine. - Through Thy Nativity, deliver us, O Lord.

• causa, -ae, f., reason, cause
• epistula, -ae, f., letter, epistle
• fābula, -ae, f., story
• hōra, -ae, f., hour
• Iūlia, -ae, f., Julia
• Iūlius, -ī, m., Julius
• Lūcius, Lūcī, m., Lucius
• Mārcus, -ī, m., Marcus
• pecūnia, -ae, f., money
• rēgīna, -ae, f., queen

• albus, -a, -um, white
• amīcus, -a, -um, friendly
• grātus, -a, -um, pleasing, welcome; grateful
• inimīcus, -a, -um, unfriendly, hostile
• niger, nigra, nigrum, black
• novus, -a, -um, new
• parātus, -a, -um, ready, prepared
• sānctus, -a, -um, sacred, holy
• vērus, -a, -um, true

Gratus can describe something which pleases you and makes you grateful, but it can also describe the person who is grateful. The difference should be shown by the context.

• Pecunia est grata. - The money is pleasing. (“The money is grateful” makes no sense.)
• Sum gratus. - I am grateful. (“I am welcome” probably wouldn't make sense, unless the context helped.)

We've already seen that the adjective amicus (friendly) is also used as a noun to mean “friend”. Similarly, inimicus (formed from in- (a prefix meaning “not”) and amicus), when used as a singular noun, means a personal enemy. It is never used to mean the enemy or enemies in a military sense.

Remember that the Romans used the letter “I” as both vowel and consonant, much as we use “Y” in English. When used as a consonant, it even has the “Y” sound, so Iulia is pronounced just like “Julia” in English, except with a “Y” sound in place of the “J”: yoo-lee-a. In Church Latin, it's not unusual to see J's in the place of the consonant I's, but they're still pronounced with a “Y” sound. Personally, I think it's a little easier to read with J's than with I's, but you'll see both used.

Male Roman citizens typically had three names:

Praenomen

The first or given name, chosen by his parents: Marcus, Lucius, Gaius. This was only used by his immediate family. There were only a couple dozen of these in common usage in the Empire, and over half the boys were called Marcus, Lucius, or Gaius.

Nomen

The family name, similar to our last names: Julius, Claudius, Antonius.

Cognomen

This started as sort of a nickname, to help distinguish between men with the same praenomen/nomen combination, which was very common with so few first names in use. Often the cognomen was originally based on someone's physical characters: like Caesar, which means “hairy.” By the time of the Empire, the cognomen was usually passed from father to son, to distinguish immediate families from more distant relatives.

So, Shakespeare's Caesar was actually Gaius Julius Caesar, meaning that he belonged to the Caesar branch of the Julius family, and his immediate family called him Gaius when he was a boy.

Roman women didn't usually have a praenomen, so they were given the female version of the family name. Gaius Julius Caesar's daughter, then, would be Julia. If he had several daughters, they might be numbered: Julia I, Julia II, Julia III, etc. Married women would often add a feminized or diminutive form of their husband's nomen or cognomen, so quite a few combinations were used.

1. After the battle our men shouted for a long time.
2. He will carry a true story far and wide concerning the war.
3. Not many horses are in the sacred forest, are they?
4. Where is the queen's camp?
5. Men, fight well today and we will seize the town.
6. There was not much money in the town, but there was much water.
7. The poor captives freely showed the way to our camp.
8. The white horse was small, but the black horse was large.
9. The holy man carried an epistle to the men and women in France.
10. Marcus, call together your friends in the field.

1. Meus inimicus reginae multam pecuniam dedit, sed non sunt amici.
2. Erisne, Marce, gratus ubi poeta narrabit fabulam?
3. Agricolae carrus erat post novum magnum album equum.
4. Da, Domine, meo filio bona.
5. Legatus ad bellum in Africa multis cum sociis navigavit.
6. Ubi Lucius et Julia in Hispania habitaverunt?
7. Inimicus tuus gladio cras oppugnabit.
8. Poeta multas et veras fabulas longe et late narravit.
9. Impedimenta ad castra carro magno post equum nigrum portavimus.
10. Legatus copias convocavit et arma et tela dedit.

Now we know how to call people by name and give them commands. Next lesson: the third declension. Fasten your seatbelts; this is where I think it starts getting harder. But the third declension also has the most words, so once we get through it we'll be able to translate more interesting things than my little sentences about horses and poets.

1. After the battle our men shouted for a long time. - Post bellum nostri diu clamaverunt.
2. He will carry a true story far and wide concerning the war. - Fabulam veram de bello longe et late portabit.
3. Not many horses are in the sacred forest, are they? - Num multi equi sunt in sancta silva?
4. Where is the queen's camp? - Ubi est castra reginae?
5. Men, fight well today and we will seize the town. - Pugnate, viri, bene hodie et oppidum occupabimus.
6. There was not much money in the town, but there was much water. - Erat non multa pecunia in oppido, sed erat multa aqua.
7. The poor captives freely showed the way to our camp. - Captivi miseri viam ad castris libere demonstraverunt.
8. The white horse was small, but the black horse was large. - Equus albus erat parvus; sed niger magnus.
9. The holy man carried an epistle to the men and women in France. - Sanctus epistulam ad viros feminasque in Gallia portavit.
10. Marcus, call together your friends in the field. Convoca, Marce, amicos tuos in agro.

1. Meus inimicus reginae multam pecuniam dedit, sed non sunt amici. - My enemy gave much money to the queen, but they are not friends.
2. Erisne, Marce, gratus ubi poeta narrabit fabulam? - Marcus, will you be grateful when the poet tells a story?
3. Agricolae carrus erat post novum magnum album equum. - The farmer's cart was behind a new big white horse.
4. Da, Domine, meo filio bona. - Lord, give my son good things.
5. Legatus ad bellum in Africa multis cum sociis navigavit. - The lieutenant sailed to war in Africa with many allies.
6. Ubi Lucius et Julia in Hispania habitaverunt? - Where did Lucius and Julia live in Spain?
7. Inimicus tuus gladio cras oppugnabit. - Your enemy will attack (you) with a sword tomorrow.
8. Poeta multas et veras fabulas longe et late narravit. - The poet told many true stories far and wide.
9. Impedimenta ad castra carro magno post equum nigrum portavimus. - We carried the baggage to the camp with a large cart behind a black horse.
10. Legatus copias convocavit et arma et tela dedit. - The lieutenant called together the troops and gave (them) arms and weapons.

• causa, -ae, f., reason, cause - cause
• epistula, -ae, f., letter, epistle - epistle
• fābula, -ae, f., story - fable
• hōra, -ae, f., hour - hour
• Iūlia, -ae, f., Julia - Julia
• Iūlius, -ī, m., Julius - Julius
• Lūcius, Lūcī, m., Lucius - Luke
• Mārcus, -ī, m., Marcus - Mark
• pecūnia, -ae, f., money - pecunious (means rich)
• rēgīna, -ae, f., queen - regal

• albus, -a, -um, white - alb (a white priest's garment), albino
• amīcus, -a, -um, friendly - amicable
• grātus, -a, -um, pleasing, welcome; grateful - gratitude
• inimīcus, -a, -um, unfriendly, hostile - inimicable
• niger, nigra, nigrum, black - Niger (a river and a republic in Africa)
• novus, -a, -um, new - nova
• parātus, -a, -um, ready, prepared - Semper Paratus (always prepared), the motto of the US Coast Guard
• sānctus, -a, -um, sacred, holy - sanctified
• vērus, -a, -um, true - verify