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Comment by fidesomnes | Hacker News Reader

I give my dog commands in classical Latin. She obeys salutat, sedes, veni, mecum, achilles, consiste, ambulo, ambulamas, ambulamasne?, minime, ubi feles?, estne bonus?(for giving treat), amicus, tacete, ire mingis, ire cacare, ad domum. And of course saying amo te gets some nose kisses!

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Love the idea! Though I would have used the singular imperative more, so e.g.

  salūtat (he/she/it salutes) -> salūtā (salute!)  
  sedēs (you sit) -> sedē (sit!)  
  tacēte (be quiet, y'all!) -> tacē (be quiet!)

and maybe the subjunctive for "us"-suggestions, so

  ambulāmus (we walk) -> ambulēmus (let's walk)

Great improvements, gratias tibi ago. Every once in a while I sing "Non longa via est Roma" (see on youtube) and its her favorite song, changing the girls name for her name and I always get some nose kisses with it!

Adding to this, it's also not idiomatic to use an infinitive for a purpose clause in Latin. ire cacare ought to be i ut caces ('Go so you might shit').

Gratias!

dative? nominative?

locative

in a dogative style

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