Lesson 11: Prepositions 2

Prepositions which take both the Accusative and Ablative

As we learned, in the dictionary, 50% of prepositions are "prepositions which take the accusative", often abbreviated: "prep. with acc."

The other 50% of prepositions will be "prep. with abl." - prepositions which take the "by, with, in" function (called Ablative). (These will be learned later.)

There are four prepositions which are can take either the object function (accusative) or the "by, with, in" function (ablative), so they are listed in the dictionary as "Prep. with acc., with abl."

The prepositions which take both can have two meanings:

  1. Motion (Accusative) - indicates a geographical or moral motion
  2. Place (Ablative) - indicates a resting / remaining in a place
The most common of these prepositions is "in", with its two meanings:
  1. into, on to, towards (Acc. indicates motion)
  2. in, on, among (Abl. indicates place)
The prepositions which take both: These are listed at the bottom of the list of Prepositions for your reference. Now do Homework 6.


N.B.Some questions may come up if you didn't already know:

"After you've learned everything about Latin, you still have to think." - Fr. Foster

First Experience Latin - Fr. Reginald Foster

Answers to First Experience

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