# Latin phrase question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2013, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812 "2013-03-24T12:58:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/1 "2013-03-24T12:58:26Z")
How would I say “My cat is your cat” in Latin? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/2 "2013-03-24T13:03:14Z")
Cattus meus cattus tuus est. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/3 "2013-03-24T13:13:49Z")
Thanks. that is a little different than I got from google translate. It seems to flow better. Any contrary opinions? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/4 "2013-03-24T17:16:08Z")
You could certainly rearrange the words a bit, though what **Giles** gave you would be the standard order. And I might be inclined to colloquially drop the “est”, but that’s not really standard. ---
**Author:** ![\_Quiubo\_vato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/eb8c5e/32.png) [@\_Quiubo\_vato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Quiubo_vato)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/5 "2013-03-24T17:21:08Z")
> [@FuzzyOgre](#): > > How would I say “My cat is your cat” in Latin? Mi gato es su gato ---
**Author:** ![\_Quiubo\_vato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/eb8c5e/32.png) [@\_Quiubo\_vato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Quiubo_vato)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/6 "2013-03-24T17:28:09Z")
Meae felis est vester felis. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/7 "2013-03-24T17:29:52Z")
> [@\_Quiubo\_vato](#): > > Mi gato es su gato That would be **VERY** late Iberian dialect! 😃 **Giles** , any particular reason for choosing _cattus_ over _felis_? I know they’re both valid usages (which surprises people who think “cattus” is pseudo-Latin). But I don’t know the connotations of the two words. ---
**Author:** ![NGC2024](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f475e1/32.png) [@NGC2024](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NGC2024)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/8 "2013-03-24T17:37:15Z")
Why isn’t “your cat” in the accusative case? Just wondering as it’s been a long time since I studied Latin. ---
**Author:** ![\_Quiubo\_vato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/eb8c5e/32.png) [@\_Quiubo\_vato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Quiubo_vato)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/9 "2013-03-24T17:43:27Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > That would be **VERY** late Iberian dialect! 😃 🙂 Sí … muy, muy, sumamente tarde. 😃 Oh, by the way. My cat caught a matta-u. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/10 "2013-03-24T17:45:13Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > **Giles** , any particular reason for choosing _cattus_ over _felis_? I know they’re both valid usages (which surprises people who think “cattus” is pseudo-Latin). But I don’t know the connotations of the two words. I looked both up in Wiktionary, and found that suggested fēlēs rather than “felis” as the nominative, so I just felt that “cattus” sounded better than “fēlēs”. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/11 "2013-03-24T18:08:41Z")
> [@\_Quiubo\_vato](#): > > Oh, by the way. My cat caught a matta-u. :dubious: I was born at night, but not LAST night… ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/12 "2013-03-24T18:30:59Z")
**Chronos** , I didn’t know you knew Latin. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/13 "2013-03-24T18:33:12Z")
> [@NGC2024](#): > > Why isn’t “your cat” in the accusative case? Just wondering as it’s been a long time since I studied Latin. _Esse_ is a “copulative verb” (that sounds dirty!) which links two nominatives. “My cat is your cat” \<=\> “your cat is my cat” in a way that “John hit Mike” \<=/=\> “Mike hit John.” ---
**Author:** ![\_Quiubo\_vato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/eb8c5e/32.png) [@\_Quiubo\_vato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Quiubo_vato)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/14 "2013-03-24T18:34:49Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > :dubious: I was born at night, but not LAST night… Darn! You spoiled my punch line! :mad: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/15 "2013-03-24T18:37:06Z")
> [@\_Quiubo\_vato](#): > > Darn! You spoiled my punch line! :mad: 😉 I was actually torn between doing what I did and posting “_sigh_ Okay, I’ll take one for the team. What’s a matta-u?” but decided that the greater good was served by defusing the bomb… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/16 "2013-03-24T18:41:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Chronos, I didn’t know you knew Latin. Well, a little. I had four years of it in high school and one in college, but I’m very rusty on it. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/17 "2013-03-24T18:49:52Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > _Esse_ is a “copulative verb” (that sounds dirty!) which links two nominatives. “My cat is your cat” \<=\> “your cat is my cat” in a way that “John hit Mike” \<=/=\> “Mike hit John.” From high school English I remember the only thing about a copulative is that “and” is one, is a conjunction, and that we use it however we feel like in lists. Thanks to your post I found out–yet again, and always, I hope–how little I know. Tons of [different types of copulative conjunctions.](http://grammarist.com/grammar/conjunctions/) Never heard of [copulative verbs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_copulae), but hmm, “is” is (Bill Clinton, unsex me now!). I see that some copulative verbs may be used non-copulatively–although in the cited Wiki list I don’t know which ones-- a situation which sounds even dirtier, if not suggestively perverse. ---
**Author:** ![\_Quiubo\_vato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/eb8c5e/32.png) [@\_Quiubo\_vato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Quiubo_vato)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/18 "2013-03-24T18:58:10Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I was actually torn between doing what I did and posting “_sigh_ Okay, I’ll take one for the team. What’s a matta-u?” Nothin’s matta me, whasa matta-u? Sorry. Couldn’t resist it. :o ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/19 "2013-03-24T19:00:06Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I was actually torn between doing what I did and posting “_sigh_ Okay, I’ll take one for the team. What’s a matta-u?” but decided that the greater good was served by defusing the bomb… As I recall, Bullwinkle J. Moose is a graduate of Wassamatta U. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812/20 "2013-03-24T19:08:15Z")
Latin to Bullwinkle in 19 posts. New record? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-phrase-question/653812.md?page=2)