Gender, Number, and Case of Relative Pronouns
This is the most important rule when it comes to using relative pronouns in Latin: the relative pronoun takes its gender and number from its antecedent, but it takes its case from its use within the relative clause. As an illustration, take a look at this sentence again:
- vīdimus virōs quī ā nāvibus veniēbant. We saw the men who were coming from the ships.
According to our chart, the relative pronoun quī can be either masculine nominative singular or masculine nominative plural. Either way, it has to be the subject of its clause (because nominative), and the clause contains the plural verb veniēbant; therefore, quī must be masculine nominative plural. Within the relative clause “…who were coming from the ships”, “who” / quī, our relative pronoun, serves as the subject of “were coming” / veniēbant, so it makes sense that that pronoun is nominative. The pronoun takes its case from its function within its clause. To put it differently:
The relative takes its CASE from its PLACE in its own SPACE.
Notice, however, that the antecedent of quī is virōs, which is masculine accusative plural. quī takes its gender and number (masculine and plural) but NOT its case from virōs. quī serves as the subject of the relative clause, but its antecedent virōs serves as the direct object of the main clause. Relative pronoun and antecedent share gender and number but not necessarily case.
Another example to illustrate this idea:
- rex fēminae ā quā doctus erat crēdidit. The king trusted the woman by whom he had been taught.
Our relative pronoun quā can be parsed in only one way: feminine ablative singular. It is ablative because it is being used in an ablative of agent construction within the relative clause: ā quā doctus erat, “…by whom he had been taught.” Its gender and number, feminine and singular, come from its antecedent, fēminae, which is being used as a dative object of crēdidit in the main clause. Again, the relative pronoun takes its gender and number from its antecedent, but its case from its use within the relative clause.
How, then, can we identify the antecedent of a relative pronoun?
Locating the Antecedent
The relative clause will often be located close to its antecedent, but sometimes it is not. For example, I could easily rewrite the sentence above as:
- rex fēminae crēdidit ā quā doctus erat.
When it isn’t immediately clear what the antecedent of a relative pronoun is, you must use the gender and number of the relative pronoun to try to figure it out. quā is feminine singular, so we’re looking for some noun, pronoun, or substantive adjective in the main clause that is feminine singular. The two nouns are rex and fēminae; of these two, the only possible choice is fēminae (as rex has to be masculine).
Even though the relative clause may be separated from its antecedent in Latin, in English, it makes more idiomatic sense to translate the relative clause immediately after its antecedent. For example, in the following Latin sentence:
- puer carmina cecinit quem docueram.
the relative clause quem docueram modifies the noun puer; antecedent and clause are separated by carmina cecinit. However, if we postpone the translation of the relative clause until the end, it sounds strange and, indeed, even confusing: “The boy sang songs whom I had taught.” Because English relies on word order to make sense, we need to put the relative clause right after its antecedent: “The boy whom I had taught sang songs.”