Advocating for the Ablative Absolute
Giving Latin an extra flair with Ablative Absolutes
Ablative absolutes give Latin a distinctive flair that can set your translation skills apart. Love them or hate them, they are a fantastic way for Roman authors to give high levels of information in a short phrase. Today we are going to be looking at what ablative absolutes are, how to recognise them, and how to form them.
The most important thing for ablative absolutes is noun endings. If you're struggling with nouns at all, download my free noun endings guide here. It's got everything you need for the first, second and third declension nouns, and that is what you will need today.
How to spot absolutes
So first of all, what does an ablative absolute look like? This is one I prepared earlier:
urbe deleta, milites processerunt.
Let’s break it down:
urbe deleta - the ablative absolute, translates to "with the city destroyed."
milites processerunt - "the soldiers advanced."
Notice that the phrase urbe deleta can be removed, and the main sentence milites processerunt (“the soldiers advanced”) still makes complete sense. This is because absolutes are grammatically separate from the rest of the sentence - they don't affect or get affected by the main clause.
Essential Components
An ablative absolute consists of a noun and a participle, both in the ablative case.
If participles are a concern, don’t worry - I have various posts dedicated to them, such as Present Participles, Perfect Passive Participles, and Future Participles.
Returning to our example, urbe deleta, milites processerunt:
milites processerunt is my main sentence. This is my proper clause of a sentence. It means “the soldiers advanced”. That's a full sentence on its own. We don't need any more information. So it's not going to be changed by urbe deleta.
urbe means "city" and is in the ablative case. urbe is a feminine noun.
deleta means "having been destroyed" and is a feminine participle in the ablative case.
If you've read the posts linked above, you'll know that participles have to agree with the noun they're describing in case (ablative), number (singular), and gender (feminine).
What To Spot: If you see an ablative noun next to a matching ablative participle, it is most likely an ablative absolute
Together, urbe deleta translates to "with the city destroyed".
I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense. To be fair, I never said this was going to give your Latin a coherent flair that makes sense in English. But they are fun. They just give your Latin a cool twist.
My original sentence means “with the city destroyed, the soldiers advanced”. That's the way that a lot of people translate ablative absolutes.
Translation Variations
There are various ways to translate ablative absolutes, each with its level of fluency:
"With the city destroyed"
"After the city was destroyed"
"When the city was destroyed"
My preferred translation is "with the city having been destroyed" because it maintains the ablative case structure, though it may sound clunky in English. The main point is that the city has been destroyed, and as a consequence, the soldiers then advanced.
Consider the sentence regibus exactis, consules facti sunt.
Again you are looking for a participle and a noun in the ablative.
The ablative absolute is regibus exactis.
regibus means "the kings" in the ablative case.
exactis means "having been driven out".
So altogether, regibus exactis translates to "with the kings having been driven out," and consules facti sunt means "consuls were made." This describes the formation of the Roman Republic. The sentence could be translated as:
"With the kings having been driven out, consuls were created."
"When the kings were driven out, consuls were created."
Both translations are correct, but the first is a bit more literal and less natural.
Key Points to Remember
Participles must agree with the noun they describe in case, number, and gender, hence both are in the ablative case in ablative absolutes. For instance:
femina conspecta: "With the woman having been seen" or "When the woman was seen".
muris oppugnatis: "With the walls having been attacked" or "After the walls were attacked."
Participles can exist in any tense. For example, militibus venturis involves a future participle (venturis) and translates to "with the soldiers being about to come."
Ablative absolutes are one of my favourite aspects of Latin grammar. Let’s review the important aspects:
They are grammatically separate from the rest of the sentence.
They don't affect anything else, so you can just bracket them off and treat them on their own.
They involve a noun and a participle in the ablative case.
Again, if you're worried about the participles, the thing you need are the noun endings - grab my free noun endings guide here. It'll really help you out.
Thanks so much for joining me. I hope this has been useful.
How do you find ablative absolutes? I love them, but I know they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea! Let me know what you think of them in the comments!
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