Two Accusatives
A handful of Latin verbs grab TWO accusatives at once — usually a person and a thing, or a thing and what you're calling it.
Mē sententiam rogāvit — "he asked me my opinion." Cicerōnem cōnsulem creāvērunt — "they elected Cicero consul." English splits these into two slots ("asked OF me", "elected AS consul"); Latin packs both into the bare accusative.
The two accusatives split into two flavors. With naming, choosing, making verbs (appellō, creō, faciō, nōminō) the second accusative re-describes the first — a predicate accusative, the active twin of the predicate nominative.
With asking, teaching, concealing verbs (rogō, doceō, cēlō) one accusative is the person and the other is the thing — both are real direct objects, and either can become the subject when the verb goes passive.
The trap is what surfaces in the passive: a predicate accusative becomes a predicate nominative, but with rogō and doceō the thing usually stays accusative while the person becomes the subject.
"call X Y," "make X Y," "ask X Y," "teach X Y," "hide Y from X" — both nouns ride bare in the accusative
In the passive, predicate-acc. verbs flip BOTH nouns to nominative; rogō/doceō keep the thing accusative and lift the person to subject.
See It In Action
— B. G. viii. 4
Watch the flip: active was suī eum rēgem appellant (two accusatives, eum + rēgem). In the passive both nouns shift to nominative — rēx is now predicate nom., agreeing with the implied subject "he."
— B. C. i. 83
Two accusatives, but this is the compound-verb flavor. Germānōs is what Caesar throws; flūmen is what the trāns- in trāicit still governs — "across the river." Both ride in bare accusative.
— Sall. Cat. 50
This is the trap with rogō: in the passive the PERSON becomes the subject, but the THING stays accusative (sententiam). It's a leftover from the active Sīlānum sententiam rogāvit, "he asked Silanus his opinion."
— B. C. i. 71
Compare with rogō above: with flāgitō the THING becomes the subject and the PERSON moves to ab + ablative. Same family, different default — that's why §396.a flags poscō, flāgitō, postulō as preferring ab + abl. even in the active.
Both verbs take two accusatives in the active. They handle the passive differently — and that's the AP-exam parsing trap.
BOTH accusatives flip to nominative in the passive — predicate nominative
Cicerō cōnsul creātur
Cicero is elected consul (both nom.)
PERSON becomes subject; THING stays accusative
Caesar sententiam rogātus est
Caesar was asked his opinion (person nom., thing acc.)
Tip: Ask: does the second accusative re-describe the first ("call X (a) Y")? → predicate, both go nominative. Or are person and thing two separate objects? → person becomes subject, thing keeps its accusative.
In Caesar sententiam rogātus est ("Caesar was asked his opinion"), why does sententiam stay in the accusative even though the verb is passive?
Study Tips
- •When you see two accusatives next to a verb, ask which family it is: NAMING/MAKING (the second renames the first) or ASKING/TEACHING (one is person, one is thing).
- •For appellō, creō, faciō, dīcō — translate the second accusative with "as" or no preposition: rēgem appellāre = "to call (him) king," not "to call to a king."
- •For rogō and doceō, watch the passive carefully: the person normally becomes the subject (Caesar sententiam rogātus est), and the thing stays accusative as a hangover from the active.
- •Many "asking" verbs PREFER ab + ablative of the person: petō, quaerō, poscō, postulō. Don't force two accusatives where Latin asks for the preposition.