I Endings:

I -ae, -arum

II -i, -orum

III -is, -um, -ium

IV -us, -uum

V -ei, -erum

II Meaning and Use in general: The genitive case generally expresses the relation of one noun to another, and is therefore an adjectival case (as opposed to the dative and ablative which are adverbial) because its most common function is to define or complete the meaning of another noun on which it depends. The genitive is the case of one noun depending on another.

III Uses with examples from Pliny's letters and Aeneid I; add examples from Cicero

GENITIVE WITH NOUNS

1. Possessive Genitive: denotes the person or thing to which an object, quality, action, or feeling belongs.

P Proxime cum in patria mea fui, venit ad me salutandum municipis mei filius praetextatus. (IV.13)

Et pater eius (erat enim una atque etiam ipse adduxerat puerum) quia nullos hic praeceptores habemus. (IV.13)

Confirmata est opinio mea hesterno Fanniae sermone. (III.16)

Note that for personal pronouns (of the first and second persons and the third person reflexive) possession is expressed by the possessive adjectives in agreement with their nouns (rather than by the possessive genitive of the adjective or pronoun: compare meus, noster, tuus, vester, suus to the use of eius, eorum, earum.

V Trojae qui primus ab oris ... (1)

2. Genitive of Quality, Description, or Characteristic is used only when the quality is modified by an adjective. The genitive of quality is much less common in classical prose than the ablative of quality. In general the genitive of quality is used of essential, the ablative of quality of special or incidental characteristics. [A&G 345]

P Erat sane somni paratissimi, non numquam etiam inter ipsa studia instantis et deserentis. [III.5]

Quorsus haec? ne tibi, optimae indolis iuveni, quorundam in mensa luxuria specie frugalitatis inponat. [II.6]

Fuit moris antiqui eos qui vel singulorum laudes vel urbium scripserant aut honoribus aut pecunia ornare .... [III.21]

Expressions such as eius modi, cuius modi are genitive of quality.

Sic candidatum me suffragio ornavit, sic ad honores meos ex secessibus accucurrit, cum iam pridem eiusmodi officiis renuntiasset, sic illo die quo sacerdotes solent nominare quos dignissimos sacerdotio iudicant me semper nominabat. [II.1]

 

The genitive of measure is a type of genitive of quality used with numerals.

Esse autem tibi centum milium censum satis indicat quod apud nos decurio es. [I.19]

Another variety of the genitive of quality is the genitive of price or value (cf also the genitive of charge or penalty with verbs of accusing, condemning or acquitting).

Rogo cures quanti aecum est emat: ita enim delectabit emisse. [I.24]

V Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem. (33)

 

3. Objective Genitive: used for the object of an emotion, action, or agency.

E.g. amor patris may mean:

1. "a father's love" -- subjective genitive

2. "love for a father" -- objective genitive

P Tanta erat parsimonia temporis. [III.5]

Iniungo autem et pro rei magnitudine rogo ut ex copia studiosorum, quae ad te ex admiratione ingenii tui convenit, circumspicias praeceptores quos sollicitare possimus, sub ea tamen condicione ne cui fidem mean obstringam. [IV.13]

V studiis asperrima belli ... (14)

generis tenuit fiducia vestri ... (132)

 

4. Partitive Genitive: the whole of which a part is taken or identified goes into the genitive [also called the genitive of the whole]. The partitive genitive is especially common with indefinite pronouns and with comparatives and superlatives.

P Surgebat aestate a cena luce, hieme intra primam noctis et tamquam aliqua lege cogente. [III.5]

Post cibum saepe, quem interdiu levem et facilem veterum more sumebat, aestate, si quid otii, iacebat in sole, liber legebatur, adnotabat excerpebatque. [III.5]

Erat homo ingeniosus acutus acer, et plurimum in scribendo et salis haberet et fellis nec candoris minus. [III.21]

Atque adeo ego, qui nondum liberos habeo, paratus sum pro re publica nostra, quasi pro filia vel parente, tertiam partem eius quod conferre vobis placebit dare. [IV.13]

Subiunxit egregiam causam: "scripsit" inquit "in epistula quadem, quae apud Domitianum recitata est, 'Regulus omnium bipedum nequissimus'"; quod quidem Modestus verissime scripserat. [I.5]

V O Danaum fortissime gentis, Tydide ... (96)

 

5. GENITIVE WITH ADJECTIVES

Adjectives denoting desire, knowledge, memory, fulness, power, sharing, guilt [and their opposites] may take the genitive.

Note that plenus "full of" may also take the ablative: plenus annis, plenus honoribus. [II.1]

The genitive is used with adjectives in -ax in poetry and Later Latin.

P Servi e cubiculo recesserunt: habebat hoc moris, quotiens intrasset fidelior amicus; quin etiam uxor, quamquam omnis secreti capacissima, digrediebatur. [I.12]

V dives opum (14)

id metuens veterisque memor Saturnia belli ... (23)

nimborumque facis tempestatumque potentem ... (80)

 

6. GENITIVE WITH VERBS

Verbs of accusing, condemning and acquitting take the genitive of the charge or penalty.

Verbs of remembering and forgetting take the genitive. Verbs of reminding take the genitive of the thing and the accusative of the person.

Sed tu, qui huius iudicii meministi, cur illius oblitus es in quo me interrogasti quid de Meti Modesti pietate sentirem? [I.5]

Verbs of feeling take the genitive of the object which excites the feeling [objective genitive].

The impersonals:

miseret pity

paenitet regret

piget       disgust

pudet shame

taedet tire, weary

take the genitive of the cause of the feeling and the accusative of the person affected by the feeling.

Interest and refert may also take the genitive of the person affected.

Superest ut nec te consilii nec me paeniteat obsequii. [I.1]

Verbs of want or plenty may take the genitive, but more commonly take the ablative.

APPOSITIONAL GENITIVE

The genitive sometimes has the force of an appositive. It tells of what something consists.

V spretaeque injuria formae (27) "the insult consisting in her beauty scorned"