URB: Lesson - Apposition

Apposition

There is one last little piece of grammar information that it is important to name and point out. As you have been reading the sight passages, you have frequently seen situations in which one noun is being used to describe another noun. This is called apposition and the describing noun is called the appositive noun. A few examples in English before we fully examine this in Latin:

  • Emperor Titus
  • Decimus, a skilled soldier
  • The city of Rome

The noun being described in each:

  • Titus
    • Who is Titus? The emperor. 
  • Decimus
    • Who is Decimus? A skilled soldier. 
  • Rome.
    • What is Rome? A city.

In Latin, the appositive noun must agree with the described noun in case and number.

Look at the following examples in Latin to see how the appositive is handled. The described noun is bold and the appositive is in Italics: 

Examples of Apposition

Latin Sentence

English Translation

Apposition Explained

Titus imperator Decimo imperavit.

The Emperor Titus gave an order to Decimus.

imperator is nominative and singular because it is describing Titus, which is nominative and singular

Populus Romanus Decimum, militem doctum, laudabit.

The Roman people will praise Decimus, a skilled soldier.

Here we see the most typical type of apposition, where the appositive noun is set off by commas. militem is accusative singular because it is describing Decimum. Notice here that there is more than just a noun in apposition: this is called the appositive phrase.

Maximus et Rufus ex urbe Roma iam ambulaverant.

Maximus and Rufus had already walked out of the city of Rome.

With names of places, the most common expression of apposition will be using the preposition "of" - city of Rome, country of Italy, etc. The "of" could be replaced with a comma: the city, Rome. Roma is ablative because it is describing urbe.

As you read through the sight passage in this module, pay attention for this type of noun modification.