>>23181704>>23181706>>23181707Yes, compared to Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin had fewer grammatical rules and a simpler structure. As the everyday spoken language, it naturally evolved away from the more formal, complex literary standard taught to elites.
Here are the key ways Vulgar Latin's grammar was simpler:
Loss of the case system. The most significant change was the gradual disappearance of the complex system of noun cases, which marked a noun's grammatical function by its ending. In its place, Vulgar Latin began to use prepositions and a more fixed word order.
Classical Latin: regis ("of the king," genitive case)
Vulgar Latin: de rege ("of the king")
More fixed word order. Classical Latin could use a variety of word orders because the case endings made the sentence's meaning clear. With the loss of cases, Vulgar Latin adopted a more standard Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order to maintain clarity, a pattern reflected in modern Romance languages.
Fewer verb forms. Vulgar Latin reduced the number of distinct verb forms. This meant personal pronouns, which were often omitted in Classical Latin because the verb ending specified the subject, became more necessary.
Simplification of genders. Classical Latin had three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Vulgar Latin simplified this to a two-gender system, with masculine and neuter merging. This is the same system found in most modern Romance languages.
New articles and pronouns. Classical Latin did not have articles ("the," "a"). In Vulgar Latin, demonstrative pronouns like ille ("that") began to be used as definite articles, another feature that would later be solidified in the Romance languages
