Latin Mini Cheat Sheet (1 page)

1) Core Idea

Latin marks roles with endings, not word order. Word order is flexible; endings do the heavy lifting.

No articles: add "a/the" when translating to English as needed.

2) Cases — What the endings mean

Case	Function	Quick English cue
Nominative	Subject / predicate	who/what acts
Accusative	Direct object / motion-to	what is acted on
Genitive	Possession / of	of, ’s
Dative	Recipient / benefit	to/for
Ablative	Means / place / separation	by/with/from/in/on
Vocative	Direct address	“O Marcus!”

Neuter rule: nominative = accusative; plural ends in -a.

3) 1st Declension (mostly feminine)

puella, puellae (girl)

	Nom	Gen	Dat	Acc	Abl
Sing.	-a	-ae	-ae	-am	-ā
Plur.	-ae	-arum	-is	-as	-is

4) 2nd Declension (masc.)

servus, servi (slave); ager, agri (field)

	Nom	Gen	Dat	Acc	Abl
Sing.	-us/-er	-i	-o	-um	-o
Plur.	-i	-orum	-is	-os	-is

5) 2nd Declension (neuter)

bellum, belli (war)

	Nom	Gen	Dat	Acc	Abl
Sing.	-um	-i	-o	-um	-o
Plur.	-a	-orum	-is	-a	-is

Remember: neuter plural nominative/accusative = -a.

6) Verbs — Who, when, what

Present personal endings: -o/m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt → I, you, he/she/it, we, you pl, they

Key tenses:

Present: amo, amas, amat
Imperfect (was ...ing): -bam, -bas, -bat, -bamus, -batis, -bant
Future: 1st/2nd: -bo/-bis/-bit/-bimus/-bitis/-bunt; 3rd/4th: -am/-es/-et/-emus/-etis/-ent
Perfect (did/has): -i, -isti, -it, -imus, -istis, -erunt (from 3rd principal part)

sum (to be): sum, es, est, sumus, estis, sunt; eram, eras, erat...; fui, fuisti, fuit...

Conjugations by infinitive: -are (1st), -ēre (2nd), -ere (3rd), -ire (4th).

7) Prepositions that take a case

Accusative: ad (to), per (through), propter/ob (because of), in (into, motion), sub (under, motion), ante (before), post (after), inter (among), circum (around)

Ablative: cum (with), sine (without), de (down from/about), pro (for), in (in/on, location), sub (under, location), ab/ā (from/by), ex/ē (out of)

8) Common moves that confuse beginners

Ablative of means: gladio pugnat = he fights with a sword.
Accusative of duration: tres horas mansit = he stayed three hours.
Dative of possession: puero liber est = the boy has a book.
Ablative absolute: urbe capta, dux fugit = with the city captured, the leader fled.
Indirect statement: dicit puellam venire = he says the girl is coming.

9) Reading checklist (fast scan)

Find the finite verb (person/number/tense).
Pick the nominative subject(s) that agree with the verb.
Accusatives = likely direct objects; datives = recipients/beneficiaries.
Prepositional phrases and ablatives for where/when/how.
Match adjectives to nouns by gender/number/case.
Translate literally, then smooth the English.

Optional sanity check: try moving words around in Latin; if the endings still match, your analysis is probably right.

10) Micro-examples

Puella puerum amat. — The girl loves the boy. (Nom + Acc + V)

Agricolae puero aquam dant. — The farmers give the boy water. (Nom pl + Dat + Acc + V)

In urbe magna cum amico ambulo. — I walk in the big city with a friend. (in + Abl; cum + Abl)

Urbe capta, milites domum redierunt. — With the city captured, the soldiers returned home.