# Latin for beginners (1911)/Part II/Lesson LVIII

Layout 2
LESSON LVIII
NUMERALS • THE PARTITIVE GENITIVE
327. The Latin numeral adjectives may be classified as follows:
as, ūnus, one; duo, two; etc.
and answering the question in what order? as, prīmus, first; secundus, second; etc.
328. The Cardinal Numerals. The first twenty of the cardinals are as follows:
| 1 ūnus | 6, | sex | 11 ūndecim | 16, sēdecim |
| 2, duo | 7, | septem | 12, duodecim | 17 septendecim |
| 3, trēs | 8, | octō | 13, tredecim | 18 duodēvīgintī |
| 4 quattuor | 9, | novem | 14 quattuordecim | 19, ūndēvīgintī |
| 5, quīnque | 10, | decem | 15, quīndecim | 20, vīgintī |
a. Learn also centum = 100, ducentī = 200, mīlle = 1000.
329. Declension of the Cardinals. Of the cardinals only ūnus, duo, trēs, the hundreds above one hundred, and mīlle used as a noun, are declinable. ​a. ūnus is one of the nine irregular adjectives, and is declined like nūllus (cf. §§ 109, 470). The plural of ūnus is used to agree with a plural noun of a singular meaning, as, ūna castra, one camp; and with other nouns in the sense of only, as, Gallī ūnī, only the Gauls.
b. Learn the declension of duo, two; trēs, three; and mīlle, a thousand (§ 479.)
c. The hundreds above one hundred are declined like the plural of bonus; as,
330. We have already become familiar with sentences like the following:
* Omnium avium aquila est vēlōcissima
* Of all birds the eagle is the swiftest
* Hoc ōrāculum erat omnium clārissimum
* This oracle was the most famous of all
I.such sentences the genitive denotes the whole, and the word it modifies denotes a part of that whole. Such a genitive, denoting the whole of which a part is taken, is called a partitive genitive.
331. Rule. Partitive Genitive. Words denoting a part are often used with the genitive of the whole, known as the partitive genitive.
a. Words denoting a part are especially pronouns, numerals, and other adjectives. But cardinal numbers excepting mīlle regularly take the ablative with ex or dē instead of the partitive genitive.
b. Mīlle, a thousand, in the singular is usually an indeclinable adjective (as, mīlle mīlitēs, a thousand soldiers), but in the plural it is a declinable noun and takes the partitive genitive (as, decem mīlia mīlitum, ten thousand soldiers).
Examples:
* Fortissimī hōrum sunt Germānī
* The bravest of these are the Germans
* Decem mīlia hostium interfecta sunt
* Ten thousand (lit. thousands) of the enemy were slain
* Ūna ex captīvīs erat soror rēgis
* One of the captives was the king’s sister
EXERCISES
First learn the special vocabulary, p. 297.
I.
* Caesar maximam partem aedificiōrum incendit. 2. Magna pars mūnītiōnis aquā flūminis dēlēta est.
* Gallī huius regiōnis quīnque mīlia hominum coēgerant.
* Duo ex meīs frātribus eundem rūmōrem audīvērunt.
* Quis Rōmānōrum erat clarior Caesare?
* Quīnque cohortēs ex illā legiōne castra quam fortissimē dēfendēbant.
* Hic locus aberat aequō spatiō ab castrīs Caesaris et castrīs Germānōrum.
* Caesar simul atque pervēnit, plūs commeātūs ab sociīs postulāvit.
* Nōnne mercātōrēs magnitūdinem īnsulae cognōverant? Longitūdinem sed nōn lātitūdinem cognōverant.
* Paucī hostium obtinēbant collem quem explōrātōrēs nostrī vīdērunt.
II.
* I have two brothers, and one of them lives at Rome.
* Cæsar stormed that very town with three legions.
* In one hour he destroyed a great part of the fortification.
* When the enemy could no longer defend the gates, they retreated to a hill which was not far distant.Latin, was distant by a small space.
* There three thousand of them bravely resisted the Romans.
* ↑ Ablative of the measure of difference.
* ↑ Not longius. Why?
* ↑ Not the accusative.
References