FORMATION:

1.

TheABLATIVEABSOLUTEiscomposedoftwomajorelements
thatmakeupaphraseorindependentclause.
a) aNOUN(orPRON.)+PARTICIPLEintheABLATIVE
case
b) Participle:PPP(PerfectPassiveParticiple)thisIsthefourth
principalpartoftheverb.

a.

aNOUN(orPRON.)+aNOUN(orPRONOUN)inthe
ABLATIVEcase

2.

TheAblativeAbsoluteisnotgrammaticallyrelatedtoanyother
wordinthemainclause.(Absolutemeaningfreefrom.)

3.

NotethatthetwowordsthatmakeuptheABLATIVE
ABSOLUTEmustbeintheABLATIVEcaseandhavethesame
number(sing.orpl.).

TRANSLATION:

TheABLATIVEABSOLUTEcanbeusedtoshowthesituationof
anactionthathasoccurred

1.

prior(PERFECTPARTICIPLE)tothemainclause

2.

atthesametime(PRESENTPARTICIPLE)asthemainclause

ThetranslationoftheAblativeAbsolutedependsentirelyupon
context.

SITUATION#1

Noun+Noune.g.,CAESAREDUCE

Literally,withCaesar[as]thegeneral

SITUATION#2Noun+Pres.Act.

Participlee.g.,LUCIOLABORANTE

Literally,withLuciusworking

Loosely:PresentParticiplesupplywhileorasWhileLucius
wasworking...

SITUATION#3
Noun+Perf.Pass.Participlee.g.,
MECAPTO
Literally,withme(havingbeen)caught
Loosely:PerfectParticiplesupplyafter,since,or

becauseSinceIwascaptured...
NB:Situation#3isprobablythemostcommon;theRomans
likedmakingABLATIVEABSOLUTEfromthelast
principalpartsofverbs.
Examples:1.aedificiardente,libermatrsquefenestrs
clambant.
Literal:
Loose:
2.librslects,magistermultslittersscripsit.
Literal:
Loose: