VES: Lesson - 1st and 2nd Person Personal Pronouns

1st and 2nd Person Personal Pronouns 

Often when working with verbs, you may see personal pronouns included in sentences for emphasis. The first person personal pronouns are ego (I) and nos (we). The second person personal pronouns are tu (you) and vos (you (plural)).

Let's examine how these personal pronouns are declined.

Latin 1st and 2nd Person Personal Pronouns
Case 1st Person Singular 1st Person Plural 2nd Person Singular 2nd Person Plural
Nominative ego nos tu vos
Genitive* mei nostrum/nostri tui vestrum/vestri
Dative mihi nobis tibi vobis
Accusative me nos te vos
Ablative me nobis te vobis

Translation

  • 1st Person Singular:
    • I, me
  • 1st Person Plural:
    • We, us
  • 2nd Person Singular:
    • You
  • 2nd Person Plural:
    • You (plural)

Nota bene

  • *For now, simply memorize the genitive forms of these pronouns. You will not see them often, but we will learn about their appropriate use later.

Personal Pronoun Use

Unlike English, Latin does not require the use of the nominative pronoun. Remember that the verb ending contains person and number. For instance: facimus = 1st person plural because of the ending -mus. Facimus by itself means "We make". Adding the nominative plural, 1st person pronoun Nos would be redundant. If an author wanted to place emphasis on a subject, or changed subject suddenly, the nominative pronoun would be used for clarity. However, this was fairly uncommon.

For all other cases (genitive, dative, accusative and ablative), the pronoun must be present: the direct object cannot be omitted just because it is a pronoun! In the following example, the pronoun is required:

  • With the pronoun, it is clear who the direct object is:
    • Me numquam videbit.
      • She will never see me.
      • This translation indicates that I will not be seen.
  • Without the pronoun, the meaning of the sentence changes:
    • Numquam videbit.
      • She will never see. 
      • This is a very different translation from the sentence above, as it now implies the subject's general lack of sight.

For all other cases except genitive, the pronouns are treated just like their noun counterparts: dative is the indirect object, accusative is used as the direct object and both the accusative and ablative can be used with prepositions.

The preposition cum is connected to the end of the ablative form of the personal pronouns: me, te, nobis and vobis:

  • mecum - with me
  • tecum - with you (singular)
  • nobiscum - with us
  • vobiscum - with you (plural)