The ablative of price names what is paid, charged, or accepted in an exchange: librum decem dēnāriīs ēmī means “I bought the book for ten denarii.” English supplies “for,” “at,” or no preposition at all, but none of those words determines the Latin case. The ablative follows from the phrase’s role as the price attached to a transaction.
The core construction
The construction is most transparent with verbs of buying, selling, costing, and being sold. The thing bought or sold has its ordinary role as object or subject; the price is ablative.
| Predicate | Thing transacted | Price | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| emō “buy” | accusative object | ablative | (formal) and (informal) |
| vēndō “sell” | accusative object | ablative | (formal) and (informal) |
| vēneō “be sold” | nominative subject | ablative | (formal) commercial or narrative prose and (informal) comedy |
| stō “cost” | nominative subject; often a person in the dative | ablative | (formal) and (literary) |
Tunicam quīnque dēnāriīs ēmī.
I bought a tunic for five denarii.
Mercātor equum duōbus talentīs vēndidit.
The merchant sold the horse for two talents.
Vīlla trīgintā mīlibus sēstertium vēniit.
The villa sold for thirty thousand sesterces.
In the last example, mīlibus is ablative plural because “thousands” states the price, while sēstertium is genitive plural dependent on “thousands.” A phrase can contain nested case relations; do not force every word in a price expression into the ablative.
Definite and indefinite prices
A numbered sum, a quantity of goods, or a concrete payment is a definite price and regularly takes the ablative. The same is true of the common indefinite ablatives magnō “at a high price, dearly,” parvō “at a low price,” plūrimō “at the highest price,” minimō “at the lowest price,” and vīlī “cheaply.” These uses occur throughout (formal) prose; commercial bargaining is also natural in (informal) comedy.
Fundum magnō vēndidit, quamquam eum vīlī ēmerat.
He sold the estate dearly, although he had bought it cheaply.
Tabernārius vīnum parvō vēndit, quia iam acēscit.
The shopkeeper is selling the wine cheaply because it is already turning sour.
Haec mora mihi magnō stetit: nāvem āmīsī.
This delay cost me dearly: I missed the ship.
The person affected by a cost is often dative, as mihi in the last sentence. The price remains ablative. English “cost me dearly” hides both relations because English marks neither one by inflection.
Why some similar forms are genitive
Latin also has a small, lexical set of genitives of indefinite value or price: especially tantī, quantī, tantīdem, plūris, and minōris. With valuation verbs one also finds magnī, parvī, and related forms. This is not a productive rule allowing any price adjective to become genitive.
Quantī amphoram ēmistī? — Vīgintī dēnāriīs.
How much did you buy the jar for? — For twenty denarii.
Frūmentum hōc annō plūris vēnit, sed vīnum vīlī vēnit.
Grain is selling for more this year, but wine is selling cheaply.
The exchange above gives the system in miniature: indefinite interrogative quantī is genitive, but the exact answer vīgintī dēnāriīs is ablative. Likewise, plūris is an entrenched genitive, while vīlī is ablative. There is no completely logical shortcut; these few forms must be learned as lexical patterns. See Genitive of Value and Price for the full inventory.
Exchange, not only money
The “price” can be a thing surrendered rather than money. With mūtō, commūtō, and permūtō “exchange,” the accusative normally names the thing treated as the object, while an ablative can name what is given or received in exchange. Context determines which side of the bargain the ablative represents.
Nautae frūmentum vīnō mūtāvērunt.
The sailors exchanged grain for wine.
Nēmō lībertātem pecūniā commūtāre dēbet.
No one ought to barter freedom for money.
Cum + ablative is also found with verbs of exchange when the two items are conceived more symmetrically: frūmentum cum vīnō mūtāvērunt “they exchanged grain for wine.” The bare ablative is the traditional price analysis; cum makes the association explicit. These constructions belong mainly to (formal) prose, while highly compressed exchanges can be (literary).
An authentic (formal) example from Cicero (Philippics 7.15) states the relation starkly:
Antonius regna addixit pecunia.
Antony sold kingdoms for money.
This quotation follows an unmacronized edition; elsewhere on this page macrons are pedagogical. Rēgna is the accusative plural object sold, and pecūniā is the ablative price.
Price, means, and penalty
An ablative of price can resemble an ablative of means: money is both the means of buying and what is paid. The predicate supplies the decisive semantic frame. With emō or vēndō, pecūniā is construed as price; with portam pecūniā refēcit “he repaired the gate with money,” it funds the action and is better called means.
Traditional grammars also associate monetary penalties with price: decem mīlibus damnātus est can mean “he was fined ten thousand.” Because legal Latin has its own governing patterns, including genitives of the charge and other penalty expressions, learn each legal predicate with its attested construction rather than extending the commercial rule mechanically. Such legal formulas are (formal).
A reliable diagnostic
When reading or composing, follow this sequence:
- Identify the Latin predicate, not the English preposition.
- Find the commodity, property, service, or advantage being transferred.
- Find the payment or thing surrendered in return.
- Put a definite price and the ordinary forms magnō, parvō, plūrimō, minimō, and vīlī in the ablative.
- Check whether an indefinite form belongs to the exceptional genitive set tantī, quantī, tantīdem, plūris, or minōris.
Word order is not a diagnostic. Decem dēnāriīs hunc librum ēmī and hunc librum decem dēnāriīs ēmī have identical case relations; fronting the price merely gives it more prominence.
Common Mistakes
1. Turning an exact price into a genitive
❌ Equum centum dēnāriōrum ēmī.
Incorrect for ‘I bought the horse for one hundred denarii’—the genitive would attach ‘of one hundred denarii’ to a noun, not mark the payment.
✅ Equum centum dēnāriīs ēmī.
I bought the horse for one hundred denarii.
2. Making every vague price genitive
❌ Tabernam parvī vēndidit.
Incorrect in the ordinary Classical commercial idiom; parvī belongs to valuation, while selling cheaply uses ablative parvō.
✅ Tabernam parvō vēndidit.
He sold the shop at a low price.
3. Treating English “for” as one Latin construction
❌ Prō duōbus talentīs equum ēmī.
Incorrect for a simple purchase price—prō means ‘on behalf of’ or ‘in place of,’ not every English ‘for.’
✅ Duōbus talentīs equum ēmī.
I bought the horse for two talents.
4. Making the price agree with the object
❌ Hanc vīllam trīgintā mīlia ēmī.
Incorrect—the numbered sum is not a second accusative object.
✅ Hanc vīllam trīgintā mīlibus sēstertium ēmī.
I bought this villa for thirty thousand sesterces.
Key Takeaways
The ablative of price encodes the payment in a transaction, not a translation of English “for.” Exact sums and ordinary commercial magnō, parvō, plūrimō, minimō, and vīlī are ablative. A limited inherited set—tantī, quantī, tantīdem, plūris, and minōris—remains genitive. Parse the predicate and exchange relation first; only then choose an English wording.
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Start learning Latin →Related Topics
- Genitive of Value and PriceB1 — Use the small Classical set of genitives for indefinite value and contrast them with the ablative used for actual prices.
- Ablative of QualityB1 — Describe a person or thing with a modified ablative phrase, especially for physical features, condition, character, and endowment.
- Ablative of RespectB1 — Use the ablative to limit a statement to the respect in which it is true, from body parts and qualities to fixed supines in -ū.
- Ablative of Means and InstrumentA2 — Use the bare ablative for the tool, resource, method, or force by which an action is accomplished.
- Ages, Measurements, and MoneyB1 — Express age, dimensions, distance, weight, capacity, and price with the cases and counting idioms used in Classical Latin.