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Vocative case
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===Latin=== [[File:Et tu Brute first folio.jpg|thumb|"[[Et tu, Brute]]?" from Shakespeare's ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'', probably the most famous use of the vocative in literature.]] In [[Latin]], the form of the vocative case of a noun is often the same as the nominative. Exceptions include singular non-neuter second-declension nouns that end in {{lang|la|-us}} in the nominative case. An example would be the famous line from Shakespeare, "{{lang|la|[[Et tu, Brute]]?}}" (commonly translated as "And you, Brutus?"): {{lang|la|Brut'''e'''}} is the vocative case and {{lang|la|Brut'''us'''}} would be the nominative. Nouns that end in {{lang|la|-ius}} end with {{lang|la|-ī}} instead of the expected {{lang|la|-ie}}. Thus, {{lang|la|Julius}} becomes {{lang|la|Julī}} and {{lang|la|filius}} becomes {{lang|la|filī}}. The shortening does not shift the accent so the vocative of {{lang|la|Vergilius}} is {{lang|la|Vergilī}}, with accent on the second syllable even though it is short. Nouns that end in {{lang|la|-aius}} and {{lang|la|-eius}} have vocatives that end in {{lang|la|-aī}} or {{lang|la|-eī}} even though the {{lang|la|-i-}} in the nominative is consonantal. First-declension and second-declension adjectives also have distinct vocative forms in the masculine singular if the nominative ends in {{lang|la|-us}}, with the ending {{lang|la|-e}}. Adjectives that end in {{lang|la|-ius}} have vocatives in {{lang|la|-ie}} so the vocative of {{lang|la|eximius}} is {{lang|la|eximie}}. Nouns and adjectives that end in {{lang|la|-eus}} do not follow the rules above. {{lang|la|Meus}} forms the vocative irregularly as {{lang|la|mī}} or {{lang|la|meus}}, while Christian {{lang|la|Deus}} does not have a distinct vocative and retains the form {{lang|la|Deus}}. "My God!" in Latin is thus {{lang|la|mī Deus!}}, but [[Jerome]]'s [[Vulgate]] consistently used {{lang|la|Deus meus}} as a vocative. [[Classical Latin]] did not use a vocative of {{lang|la|deus}} either (in reference to pagan gods, the Romans used the [[suppletion|suppletive]] form {{lang|la|dive}}).
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