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A Progressive Latin Grammar and Exercises
Introduction to the origins and structure of Latin:
How to study a language on the Internet and in your head
How do you think about languages as you study them? Typically, you will consider every punctuation mark and letter, all the verbs and nouns, adverbs and adjectives, and study them in order to make connections. Ideally, you will have a teacher to point you in the right direction, and help you make those connections. But when you have no teacher, these connections are left for you to discover. They may be clear or hidden, but either way you will have to make them yourself. As you explore this Wikibook, it will require the skill of critical thinking.
You can never go wrong studying a language if you remember that exposing yourself to a language, even if you stumble in practice, is itself learning it. Looking things up too much can sometimes impede progress. Stretch your memory, read slowly, and re-read. As you will soon discover, you are about to study a language that is rich and full of meaning, an ancestor of many modern languages spoken around the world, including romance languages, like Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, and even English.
So do not assume that...
...Latin is like any other language. Do not assume ancient Roman culture is entirely unlike other cultures, however. The Romans grappled with issues that are universally dealt with.
We, the authors, endorse memorization, and after that, immersion. You must develop Latin muscles, and a willingness to write or type things out, or drill using software, or with a friend. Note the patterns after you have memorized the forms, not before. Allow yourself to be mesmerized by them. Similarly, seek out explanation only after you have memorized forms. Memorize forms, then make sentences, then use your knowledge to speak the language.
See also
Special consideration: How to use a Wikibook when progress may mean inaccuracy
The current rules for dealing with inaccuracy in this book is to simply delete what you don't understand and to note your level of schooling and your country of origin and that you were confused in the summary box. Try to use the "revert?" keyword.
In other words, do not tolerate inaccuracy!
Grammatical Introduction to Latin
Latin | |
Intro: | 1 • 2 |
Chapter 1 | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 |
Chapter 2 | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 |
Chapter 3 | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 |
Chapter 4 | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 |
Chapter 5 | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 |
What is Latin?
Parts of this introduction were taken from The Latin Language on the Wikipedia.
Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around the city of Rome called Latium. It gained great importance as the formal language of the Roman Empire.
All Romance languages descend from a Latin parent, and many words in English and other languages today are based on Latin roots. Moreover, Latin was a lingua franca, the learned language for scientific and political affairs in Europe, for more than one and a half thousand years, being eventually replaced by French in the 18th century and English by the middle of the 20th. Latin remains the formal language of the Roman Catholic Church to this day, and as such is the official national language of the Vatican.
Romance languages are not derived from Classical Latin, the language spoken by Caesar and Cicero, but rather from Vulgar Latin, the language spoken by the common people, or vulgus, of Rome. Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin (Romance) differ (for example) in that Romance had distinctive stress whereas Classical had distinctive length of vowels. In Italian and Sardo logudorese, there is distinctive length of consonants and stress, in Spanish only distinctive stress, and in French even stress is no longer distinctive.
Another major distinction between Classical and Romance is that modern Romance languages, excluding Romanian, have lost their case endings (suffixes at the end of the word used in place of prepositions) in most words (some pronouns being exceptions). Romanian is still equipped with several cases (though some, notably the ablative, are no longer represented).
It is also important to note that Latin is, for the most part, an inflected language — meaning that the endings change to show how the word is being used in the sentence.
Introduction to the Latin Language
Simple and Compound Words
In Latin, words are either:
- simple (words that consist of only one part). For example:
Latin | English |
---|---|
eo | I go |
fero | I carry |
do | I give |
- compound (words that consist of more than one part, for example, a root word combined with a prefix). For example:
Latin | English |
---|---|
abeo | I go away |
transfero | I carry across |
reddo | I give back |
Word Parts
Inflected words (i.e., words having ending- or spelling-changes according to their grammatical functions in the sentence) have a stem and a root.
The Stem
The stem is the part of the word to which various suffixes are added. The final suffix determines either the role of the word in the sentence (for example, when a Roman slave wished to address his dominus (master), he used the vocative form domine -- equivalent to "O master" in English) or the person involved in the action (for example, "I dominate" may be expressed as "domin-or", and "they dominate" as "domin-antur"). In these cases, domin- is the stem and -us, -e, -or and -antur are suffixes. The addition of such suffixes is called inflection. This is discussed further in the Summary.
The Root
The root is the part of the word that carries the essential meaning. For example the stem of agito (I drive onward) is agit-, whose root is ag (do, drive), which is in common to words of similar meaning: ago (I do, drive), agmen (that which is driven, such as a flock), etc. Notice the essential difference between a root and a stem. To the root "ag" has been added a suffix "(i)to-" which denotes frequency of action (so "agit-" means to do or drive more than once, hence "agit-o", I agitate, I keep (something) moving, I urge, I impel).
In contrast, English uses word order more than inflection to determine the function of a word within a sentence. English also uses words like pronouns (I, she, etc.) and prepositions (to, at, etc.) where Latin generally prefers inflexions. Thus "dom-i" (noun -- "at home"), "ag-unt" (verb -- "they do/drive").
Primitives
Primitives occur when both the stem and the root are the same. For example, in the word agere (to do, drive) both the stem and the root are the same: "ag-".
Derivatives
Derivatives occur when the root or stem is modified. For example, the stem flamm- from the noun flamma has the root "flag" ("blaze"), "nosco" (I know) from the verb "noscere" has the root "gno-" ("know").
Suffixes
Latin attaches suffixes ("endings") to stems to turn them into words (most stems and roots cannot be used in sentences without an ending). This inflection is essential to forming Latin sentences. The various suffixes and their translations will be learned in the later lessons.
Types of Words used in Latin
Nouns
A noun (Latin: nomen) is "something perceived or conceived by the mind."
There are two kinds of nouns: Substantives and Pronouns.
1. Substantive (nomen substantivum) is a name simply denoting something perceived or conceived: psittacus - the parrot, nix - the snow, virtus - virtue.
2. Pronoun (pronomen) is a word used in place of a substantivum, usually when the substantivum is already known: ea - she, ille - that man
Nouns have changing endings on the stem (known as declension) and three incidents: number, gender and case. Number concerns whether the thing referred to is singular or plural (and the ending shows this); gender classifies a substantive as masculine, feminine or neuter (this determines how the endings of adjectives and pronouns behave) and case (where the ending must show how the noun fits in to the sentence). Adjectives and Pronouns must agree in all incidents when they refer to a substantive.
Verbs
Verbs (verba) express an action or a state of being, e.g., ago (I do), dixit (he said), venis (you come). "Conjugation" is the term for adding inflections to verb stems to indicate person (first, second or third), number (singular or plural), tense (present, future, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect or future perfect), voice (active or passive), and mood (indicative, subjunctive or imperative).
A verb can be either finite or infinite:
1. Finite verbs (verba finita) are inflected and have a subject, e.g., I run, you run, he runs, they drive, the computer is turned on.
2. The infinite verbs (verba infinita) are not inflected and have no subject, e.g. to run, to drive, to turn on, to have drawn. Participles, which are inflected as substantives rather than as verbs, may also be considered infinite, e.g., the running boy.
Modifiers
1. Adjectives (adiectiva) are used to describe nouns. They indicate a quality perceived or conceived as inherent in, or attributed to, something denoted. E.g., vir magnus (the great man), puella pulchra (the fair girl)
2. Adverbs (adverbia) are similar to adjectives, except that they are used to qualify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs, rather than nouns. In practice, they restrict the meaning of the verb or adjective by specifying how or how much. E.g., curro celeriter (I run quickly), pugnat fortiter (he fights bravely), "vere jucundus est" (he's really nice"), "incredibile callida est" (she's incredibly clever).
Other
Particles are uninflected words that provide extra meaning.
1. Prepositions (praepositiones) are little words which tell you how one thing (noun) is behaving in relation to another thing ("the duck was near the pond", "she went towards the wood"). In Latin, the noun that follows a preposition takes a particular ending (called a "case"), depending on the nature of the relationship, or on the nature of the preposition itself. E.g., ad (by), in (in), sub (under). What all this means is that a preposition is a sort of adverb, telling you how something is done. For example, "you go" is a simple statement, but "you go in" suggests that you don't just "go", you go so as to enter something, and so you need a noun for the "something". In English, we might say "you go into the house". In Latin, this would be: "in domum inis". Notice the form "in domum", which means "into" the house -- you're going into it, you're not yet exactly inside it (the ending -um of "domum" is called "accusative"). When you are inside the house, what you do is "in" the house, which is "in domo" (the ending -o of "domo" is called "ablative").
2. Conjunctions (coniunctiones) join together clauses and sentences. E.g., et (and), atque (as well as), sed (but).
3. Interjections (interiectiones) are exclamations used to express feeling or to gain attention. E.g., o! (oh!) eheu! (alas!) ecce! (behold!)
Articles
Latin has NO articles (words for 'the' and 'a'). When translating Latin into English, insert a 'the' or 'a' when appropriate.
Summary
|
|
Inflected | Uninflected |
Substantives: things perceived or conceived | Adverbs: describe adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs |
Adjectives: indicate a quality perceived or conceived as inherent of something in the substantive | Prepositions: help nouns define their relations to other nouns |
Pronouns: nouns used in place of substantives and adjectives | Conjunctions: Join clauses and sentences |
Verbs: mark the beginning of an independent clause. The verb in Latin is inflected so that we know the subject ("I learn"), and its tense (to what general or specific time the clause relates to). We call the inflection of a verb conjugation | Interjection: exclamation |
Exercises1. What is the shared root in the following English words?
2. In the following English words, what is the stem and what is the ending?
3. What parts of speech are each of the English words in (2), as well as the following:
4. Answer the following questions about the Latin language:
Basic Grammar
PronunciationLatin pronunciation has varied somewhat over the course of its long history, and there are some differences between Classical Latin, as spoken in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire, and Medieval or Ecclesiastical Latin, as spoken in the Middle ages and in the Catholic Church. This text focuses on the classical pronunciation.
Note that Latin, as written by the Romans, did not include macrons (the longmarks over long vowels) or the letters J and U. Macrons are used today as pronunciation guides and do not necessarily need to be written. The sound value of the letter U was filled by the letter V, which sounded either /w/ or /ʊ/ depending on context. Modern texts often preserve the V when it is making a /w/ sound and change it to a U when making a /ʊ/ sound. The letter J is sometimes used in modern times (this Wikibook not included) when the letter I is being used in diphthongs. Declension TablesThe following tables will be both referenced and explained in all of the following sections, and hence are placed here.
Note that nouns in the 3rd declension nominative can have any ending, hence why none is given in bold.
Grammar Part 1: Nouns and Their Role in SentencesNouns in Latin are inflected, which means that endings (also known as suffixes or suffices) are appended to the end of the stem to denote these things:
Most nouns in English can be modified to indicate number (cat versus cats), and many pronouns can be modified to indicate case (who versus whose) or gender (he versus she, his versus hers). Case is especially important in Latin as meaning cannot be determined by word order as it can be in English, but purely by word endings, or "inflection". Indeed, the words in a Latin sentence can appear in almost any order with little change in meaning. Two sentences with the word orders "Sam ate the orange" and "The orange ate Sam" could potentially mean the same thing in Latin, though the spellings of "orange" and "Sam" would have to change slightly to denote which was the subject (the one eating) and which was the object (the one being eaten). It is important to note here that although the genders of many words make sense (for example, "puella", meaning a girl, is feminine) many are simply assigned and hold no real meaning. Luckily, as you will find, the gender can often be determined by the spelling of the word (words ending in "us" are almost always masculine, and words ending in "a" are almost always feminine). For many words, however, you will simply have to memorize their gender. Adjectives themselves must match the number, case, and gender of the noun (be it a substantive or a pronoun) they modify. If a noun is nominative singular feminine (see case table below), then the adjective describing it must also be nominative singular feminine. If the noun is accusative plural masculine, then the adjective must be accusative plural masculine. This will be expanded on in the Adjectives section below. The advantage of this system is that adjectives do not need to be adjacent to their respective nouns, as one would be able to tell which noun they modify by which noun they appear to agree with. DeclensionAll substantives are part of one of 5 categories, called declensions. Each declension has a set of standard suffixes that indicate case and number. Usually gender is indicated by the suffix, although there are many exceptions. Therefore, you must memorize the gender of every substantive you learn. By familiarizing yourself with the above tables, you could deduce that originally the suffix indicating number, case, and gender was the same for every noun. However, as the language developed, nouns with a common stem formed declensions and sounds changed. Similar processes happen continually over time, even today. The above tables allow you to familiarize yourself with the existence of each declension, though by no means are you expected to memorize it now. Nonetheless, you will have to memorize it as you are formally introduced to individual cases and declensions in future lessons. Because of its introductory purpose, it is considerably simplified and incomplete, and therefore should not be used as a reference in the future. Adjectives are also classed into declensions:
Pronouns are not part of any declension, as they are all irregular, and simply have to be memorized. CaseCases (Latin: casus) determine the role of the noun in the sentence in relation to other parts of the sentence. There are six cases, Nominative, Vocative, Accusative, Genitive, Dative and Ablative. Vocative (Lesson 3) can be considered a sort of miniature case, generally not being accepted as a true one. Additionally, some nouns have a locative case, which will be covered later. As nominative and accusative are the most basic, these will be taught first (the rest will be covered in later lessons).
GenderAll substantives, including inanimate objects, have a particular gender (genera), which is either masculine, feminine, or neuter. For example, Vir, "a man," is masculine. Marītus, "a husband," is also masculine. Puella, "a girl," is feminine. Māter, "a mother," is feminine. Even inanimate objects are assigned gender, including all the moons, stars, trees, tools, and so forth. Logic will give you little help in determining what the genders of inanimate objects are, and with many nouns memorization is required. Luckily, for many nouns, the spelling of the word indicates the gender. Certain rules may be utilized to determine the gender of an inanimate substantive. Declension is a good indication of gender, especially for 1st and 2nd declension substantives. 1st declension substantives (substantives with an -a suffix) are usually feminine and second declension nouns (substantives with an -us suffix) are usually masculine or neuter. There are a few exceptions, and they will have to be learned. 3rd declension nouns can be either masculine, feminine or neuter (thus the gender will often have to be memorized). 4th declension nouns are usually masculine, sometimes neuter while 5th declension nouns are usually feminine. 1st/2nd declension adjectives alternate the set of endings depending on the gender of noun it describes (see above: Agreement of the Gender of Nouns and the Adjective). If the adjective describes a feminine noun, the adjective must use 1st declension endings, if the adjective describes a masculine noun, the adjective must use 2nd declension masculine endings, if the adjective describes a neuter noun the adjective must use 2nd declension neuter endings. 3rd declension adjectives use the same set of endings for masculine and feminine nouns. However, a slightly different set of endings are used when describing neuter nouns. AdjectivesAs stated above, adjectives must match the gender, number, and case of the noun (be the noun a substantive, or a pronoun) they modify. However, there are many occasions where logic cannot be used to determine the gender of inanimate objects, as genders are generally arbitrary when the noun has no literal gender. Furthermore, the declension of the noun, often determined by the spelling, can in turn be used to determine the gender, especially for the 1st and 2nd. However, this is never the case for the third declension, as the declension itself is not primarily assigned to any gender and the spelling of the nominative ("default") stem is random, leaving you with no hints. A noun and its adjective must also be in the same case. Otherwise, it is impossible to tell which nouns pair up to their respective adjectives in a sentence, as the words in a Latin sentence can appear in any order. See the examples below.
Recapitulation
Therefore:
Before you proceed to the next lesson, complete the exercises below so you will be able to apply this knowledge to Latin. ExercisesEXERCISE • Print Version • Questions
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Questions
Chapter 1: Basic SentencesThe Nominative Case
The Nominative CaseThe nominative case refers to the subject of the sentence. It is also one of the three cases of modern English. Every sentence must have a subject. For example:
Caesar is the subject of this sentence therefore Caesar is given in the nominative case.
Above is the genitive case which shows possession; the army was Caesar's army. We have changed the case of the word "Caesar" by altering its end. The nominative case has been changed to the genitive case by the addition of an apostrophe and the letter "s". Latin cases are formed in the same way. The first step is to learn some words in their nominative case so as to become familiar with their endings which will later be changed to form the other cases. Notes on Vocabulary
Of the "to be" verbs listed in the table, only est and sunt will be covered in this lesson. The table simply allows you to familiarize yourself with them, as verbs will be covered more in future lessons. The nominative case is used for the subject of the sentence (or any noun that is the equivalent of the subject). In this chapter, the following conventions will be used for nouns:
Overview of AdjectivesAn adjective is simply any word that describes a noun, such as an object or subject in a sentence. Of course, whole phrases may be used to describe nouns, but adjectives are individual words. For example:
An adjective can also be used in a sentence opposite a form of "to be." The "to be" verb simply serves as a linking verb, as "the good boy" is an incomplete sentence, but "the boy is good" is a complete sentence.
As shown above, the same is true in Latin. Adjectives in LatinLike nouns, adjectives in Latin are declined. The vast majority take either the first and second declension (antiquus -a -um) or the third declension (ferox, ferocis). All such adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe in gender, number, and case, but not necessarily declension.
These words will look like the adjective antiquus (old, ancient):
Third declension adjectives typically look more like ferox, ferocis (wild, bold). This is because the third declension has no stem assigned to the nominative singular and is a "wild card" in that regard. Adjectives often come after the word they describe. (But since word order is not central to the meaning of a Latin sentence, the adjective may appear anywhere within the sentence. In poetry, for example, several words often separate an adjective from the noun it modifies.) For example: Nota bene: In the following examples the -us ending stands for the masculine (m.) gender, the -a for the feminine (f.) gender, and the -um stands for the neuter (n.) gender. So magnus is masculine, magna is feminine and magnum is neuter.
Bona is an adjective describing a feminine substantive, such as puella. Grammar: Pluralizing Nominatives
To pluralize most first and second declension nouns, replace the singular suffix with the equivalent plural suffix. All adjectives that describe the noun must be pluralized as well because adjectives must agree in case, number, and gender (but not necessarily declension). With the adjectives given, use first declension with feminine nouns and second declension with masculine nouns. In English we use the same nominative plural endings for words we have borrowed from Latin, so it may be helpful to remember we say one vertebr-a but two vertebr-ae, one radi-us but two radi-ī, and one medium but multi-medi-a. Basic verbsVerbs in Latin work quite differently than those in English. Study the following table, then view the examples below, though keep in mind that you only need to fully understand the difference between numbers for the time being.
Examples
Further ExamplesExample 1
Example 2
Notes: In the same way, the adjective magnus -a -um must agree with puella in gender, number, and case, so the correct form is magna (feminine nominative singular, a-declinatio). Example 3
Notes: You may notice that, when pluralized, "currit" becomes "currunt". The original spelling was probably "currint", but changed to "currunt" over time to make it easier to say. This is true of any pluralized verbs that would otherwise be ending in "-int". Example 4
Notes: The adjective magnus -a -um in this case must agree with lūdī in gender, number, and case, so the correct form is magnī (masculine nominative plural). Third Declension Nouns and AdjectivesThird declension nouns and adjectives follow a different pattern. The nominative singular stem is not defined, and as such, any letter (or letters) can serve as a third declension stem. For example, Māter (mother) is a third declension noun in the nominative case. When pluralized, it becomes Mātrēs. "-ēs" is attached to the end of a third declension noun to pluralize it, as opposed to changing the ending completely, because there is no uniform way to do so given the third declension's random nature. You may have also noticed that that the "e" in "Māter" was dropped when pluralized. This often happens when a stem is attached to a third declension noun of similar spelling (example, "Pater" (father) becomes "Patrēs") Examples:
Third declension nouns are listed with the nominative case and the genitive case to provide the main stem, which will be covered in a few lessons. All other nouns are also listed with the genitive for standardization, but often just the genitive ending is given. For example:
All other types of nouns are also generally listed with the genitive Adjectives with a nominative ending in -is and the same stem in the nominative and in the other cases (eg. fortis) end in -e in the neuter and -ia in the neuter plural. For example:
ExercisesEXERCISE • Print Version • Translation
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translation
Present indicative active construct
Grammatical Introduction to VerbsThis introductory section may be a bit overwhelming, but is an overall look at verbs. The majority of this section will be covered in later chapters. Nevertheless, looking over this chapter may help you to familiarize yourself with verbs. Verbs are parts of speech which denote action. There are two main forms of verbs in Latin: • Principal Verbs (the main verb which is found in every sentence. e.g.,: vir ambulat = the man is walking) • Adjectival Verbs (also known as participles, gerunds and gerundives which describe the state of the described noun. e.g.,: vir ambulans = the walking man. The verb behaves as an adjective) Every sentence must have a verb. In a sense, the principal verb is the sentence and all the nouns, adverbs and participles are only describing the scenario of the verb. Thus in Latin this constitutes a sentence: est. If you want to explain 'who' is or exists, you add a nominative substantive: Cornēlia est. We now know Cornelia 'is'. But what is she? So we add an adjective. Cornēlia est bona. Now we can see that Cornelia is good, but to elaborate further we can add an adverb: Cornēlia vix est bona. Now we know that Cornelia is 'hardly' (vix: hardly, scarcely, barely) good. Thus, in English, the shortest Latin sentence is: You are. in Latin: es ExamplesThese two examples will demonstrate the difference between an adjectival verb and a principal verb.
ExercisesEXERCISE • Print Version • Answer
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer
Personal EndingsVerbs in Latin are inflected to reflect the person who performs the action. English does the same to some extent in the verb to be:
Latin, however, inflects all verbs, and is much more extensive than English, allowing writers and speakers of Latin to often drop the personal pronoun (as mentioned last lesson), as the performer of the action is understood by the formation of the verb. The Personal pronoun is only usually added for emphasis. In a way, the ending on Latin verbs are a type of pronoun. ExercisesEXERCISE • Print Version • Answer
MoodsThere are several moods. Each has its own uses to convey certain ideas. The most commons moods are: • Indicative • Subjunctive or Conjunctive • Imperative The two moods we will first learn are the imperative (commands and orders) and the indicative (declarative statements and factual questions). ExercisesEXERCISE • Print Version • Answer
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer
VoiceThere are two constructions verbs can have regarding voice. Verbs can have either an active or passive voice. E.g. 'I smash the car.' 'smash' is an active verb construct. The passive is used when the nominative is affected by the verb. E.g. 'The car is smashed by me.' 'is smashed' is a passive construct. ExercisesEXERCISE • Print Version • Translate
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate
TenseTense in Latin comprises two parts: TIME and ASPECT. Time reflects when the action is occurring or did occur: past, present, or future. Aspect refers to the nature of the action: simple, completed, or repeated. The "completed" aspect is generally termed "perfective" and repeated aspect "imperfective." Theoretically, a verb could have nine tenses (combinations of time and aspect). However, Latin only has six, since some possible combinations are expressed by the same verb forms. Latin tenses do not correspond exactly to English ones. Below is a rough guide to tense in Latin.
As is evident, some Latin tenses do "double duty." The Latin Present and Future Tenses can either express simple or progressive aspect. Particularly difficult to grasp is the Latin Perfect tense, which can either express an action completed from the point of view of the present ("I have just now finished walking"), or a simple action in past time (its "aorist" sense, from the old Indo European aorist tense, which Latin lost but is still present in Greek). ExercisesEXERCISE • Print Version • Translate
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate
Vide (see) the table above. InfinitiveThe infinitive (impersonal) is the form of the verb which simply means 'to (verb)' e.g. 'to do', or 'to be', or 'to love', or 'to hate' etc. All forms which are not in the infinitive are in the finite (personalised) form. The infinitive has a -re at the end of the stem of the verb. The infinitive of 'to be' is an exception and is 'esse'. Dēbeō currere nunc = I ought to run now. Esse, aut nōn esse = To be, or not to be? ExercisesAnswer these two question about the infinitive and finite. EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer
IrregularitiesVerbs which use the passive formation in an active sense are known as deponent. Verbs which don't have a form for every tense and mood are known as defective. You will meet a few words like this soon. ExercisesEXERCISE • Print Version • Answer
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer
Personal PronounsIn case you do ever use a personal pronoun to emphasise the SUBJECT of the verb, you must remember that the personal pronoun must be in the nominative case and the number and person of the verb must match that of the subject. (Review Lesson 7 if unfamiliar with the terms person and subject). ExercisesEXERCISE • Print Version • Translate
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate
Principal PartsWhen one looks up a verb in the dictionary, the principal parts are given. From these principal parts you can find the correct form of the verb for every circumstance.
ExercisesAnswer this question about principal parts. EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer
Using the DictionaryAll nouns are given in the nominative, as well as the declension and gender of the noun. Verbs are alphabetized using the 1st person singular (the first principal part) and the infinitive is given. Supplementary principal parts are given if the various other principal parts do not follow the standard pattern of formation from the infinitive and 1st person singular. Verbs: Conjugation in the Present ImperfectThe present imperfect is the simplest tense. To form the present imperfect all that is required is to place the personal endings at the end of the verb stem. Thus, if you have the stem 'ama' (love), to make it 'I love' you place an ō at the end. I love = amō (amaō*) we love = amāmus
Latin could add personal pronouns, however only for added emphasis and in conjunction with the corresponding person ending on the verb. Otherwise the sentence will not make sense. For example: ego amō = I (not you) love nōs amāmus = We (not you) love but that would be for special emphasis: It's I, not you, who love. Here are the forms of the verb 'porta', carry, in the present imperfect tense: portō I carry first person singular portās thou carriest, you carry second person singular portat he, she, it carries third person singular portāmus we carry first person plural portātis you (all) carry second person plural portant they carry third person plural 'porto' can also be translated 'I am carrying' (present imperfect), 'I do carry' (present emphatic). 'I carry' is known as the 'present simple' tense in English.. Again the 'a' gets dropped when the 'ō' is placed on porta. Porta, and ama are known as 1st conjugation verbs; in other words, verbs which have a stem ending in 'a'. There are three other conjugations, and below are some examples of verbs from each of the four conjugations (present imperfect tense):
Each verb uses the same final letter or letters to indicate the 'subject' - I, thou, he/she/it, we, you, they. Before these final letters, the first conjugation has an 'a' (although when an 'o' is placed, the 'a' is often dropped), the second an 'e', and the third and fourth usually an 'i'. The third person plural forms in the third and fourth conjugations have a 'u'. These verb forms really should be learned by heart. The most common verb of all is irregular (see next lesson). Here is a table of the verb 'to be' in Latin, English, and four Romantic languages (French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese)
The personal endings are the same as in the four regular conjugations. Exercises
EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate
What form of the verb 'amõ' (hint: amõ is conjugated like portõ in the table above) would the following words use to become the suffix:
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate
Imperative MoodThe imperative mood conveys an order (e.g. Go!, Run!, Away Now!). The imperative mood is formed by simply using the stem of the verb. If the order is to a large group of people, or you are trying to show respect, you must use the -te suffix. amō eum = I love him. amā eum = Love him!. amāte eum = Love (respectful, or plural) him!
curre casam = Run home! currite casam = Run (respectful, or plural) home!
Rege prudente = Rule wisely! Regite prudente = Rule (respectful order) wisely! Exercises
EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate
Translate the following verbs:
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate
EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate
Translate Into Latin:
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate
Adverbs & Prepositions
Comparatives and Superlatives of Adjectives (Comparativa et superlativa adjectivorum)
There are three types of adjectives: Positive (the 'normal' adjective, eg. the brave man: fortis vir), Comparative (eg. the braver man, or the rather brave man: fortior vir) and Superlative (eg. the bravest man, or the very brave man: fortissimus vir). Comparatives and superlatives of adjectives are usually formed by appending the suffix -ior (genitive is -ioris) for comparatives and -issimus for superlatives. All comparatives are declined like third declension nouns while superlatives are declined like second declension nouns, and thus must match the gender of the noun the superlative modifies. Often stem changes occur when appending theses suffixes.
Irregular AdjectivesFortunately, there are only a few irregular adjectives.
AdverbsAdverbs are formed usually by replacing the suffix appended to the stem with the -e, or -i and sometimes -um. Adverbs modify the verb in the clause that contains the adverb. The adverb may be placed anywhere with the clause. Adverbs may be of positive, comparative and superlative form. Unlike adjectives and substantives, adverbs do not have declension or gender. And thus they are referred to as being 'indeclinable.' Following suffices are appended to form the comparative and superlative forms of adverbs: -ius for comparatives and -issime for superlative. Example
Irregular adjectives form adverbs regularly from the adjective forms. For example:
Some adverbs do not come from adjectives but rather exist on their own:
Exercise 1EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer
ConjunctionsConjunctions are indeclinable particles that join clauses together to form sentences. Examples of forms of conjunctions in English are: and, but and so. Conjunctions are either coordinating (joining two main clauses) or subordinating (joining a subclause to a main clause).
Exercise 2
Based upon your reading of the table of conjunctions, how would one translate these sentences?
PrepositionsYou have met a few prepositions already. Prepositions are indeclinable and genderless. Prepositions are placed before substantives and adjectives. Most prepositions take only the accusative or ablative case. Some prepositions may take both, however their meanings differ depending on the case.
Exercise 3
Translate the following sentences:
List of Frequent Adverbs, Prepositions, and Conjunctions in LatinTaken from http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/classics203/resources/latin.lex
The Accusative Case
ExercisesEXERCISE • Print Version • Give the accusative singular.
Give the accusative singular for:
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Give the accusative singular.
EXERCISE • Print Version • Give the accusative plural.
Give the accusative plural for:
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Give the accusative plural.
EXERCISE • Print Version • Give the nominative singular.
Give the nominative singular for:
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Give the nominative singular.
Grammar: The AccusativeAs you learned in the last lesson, the verb 'esse' (to be) usually takes the nominative case, because then the word after it is a complement. Most other verbs take the 'accusative' case. In a sentence, the accusative is the "what" - in English grammar, this is known as the direct object. For example: The girl sells the box. What did the girl sell? The box. Thus, box is the direct object, and when we translate it into Latin:
Cistam, then, is in the accusative, because it is the direct object. Again, when an adjective describes a noun in the accusative case, the adjective must agree in number, case, and gender.
Because Latin uses cases to mark the subject and the object of a sentence, word order does not matter. Consider:
Examples of Adjectives Agreeing with the Nominative and Accusative Case
Bonus, a first and second declension adjective, is masculine, nominative, and singular to agree with puer, the word it is describing. Ferocem, a third declension adjective, is masculine, accusative, and singular to agree with canem. Canem is accusative because it is the object of amat. Here is an example of plural adjectives:
The words bonus and ferocem become boni and feroces to agree with the plurals pueri and canes. However, if a girl (puella) happened to love that boy:
Bonus must become bona in order to modify puella, which is feminine. Finally, if the girl isn't good, but rather wild:
Even though puella is first declension, ferox remains third declension. In the same way, a good lion would be bonus leo. Exercise 3Determine whether the adjective agrees with the substantive in all three categories: case, gender, number.
EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer
See table above. Determine whether the adjective (magnus, bonus..) agrees with the substantives (ager, puella, poeta) in both case (nominative, accusative...), gender (masculine, female and neuter) and number (singular and plural). SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer
Grammar: The Use of the Accusative
I heal you. (acc.) You make my day. (acc.) She hit your arm. (acc.) In the examples above, the bold words are the subject of the sentence clause. Because something happens "to" them, they can't be in nominative. Grammatical Explanation Using English Sentences
Exercise 4: Find the Nominative and AccusativeEXERCISE • Print Version • Find the Nominative and Accusative (if present) in each the sentence.
Find the Nominative and Accusative (if present) in each the sentence.
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Find the Nominative and Accusative (if present) in each the sentence.
EXERCISE • Print Version • In the following sentences, identify the accusative and nominative. Then translate.
In the following sentences, identify the accusative and nominative. Then translate.
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • In the following sentences, identify the accusative and nominative. Then translate.
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns in English
Pronouns are nouns which are used instead of another noun ('pro', in place of 'noun', noun.) There are three categories of pronouns which are divided up into persons: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. In addition, pronouns can be singular or plural. They are declined like all other nouns.
Personal Pronouns in Latin1st/2nd Person PronounsTable of Personal Pronouns in all of their cases: I, thou, we, yeNote: Thou is the archaic singular of the archaic plural ye - useful for distinguishing you (singular) from you (plural)
Nota Bene: the genitive is used in certain phrases like:
For the possessive uses (my sister, your bicycle), Latin does not use the genitive, but the possessive adjectives:
3rd Person PronounsTechnically, 3rd person pronouns do not exist in Latin as they do in English. However, they do have equivalents. Adjectives modify nouns and take the gender of the noun which they modify. However, adjectives do not necessarily need a substantive present in the sentence to modify. The substantive can be presumed. In this way, '3rd person' pronouns are formed. Example 1Take the masculine form of the adjective 'ille'. Literally it means 'That (masculine) thing.' However one could take it for simply meaning 'he', depending on the context. Similarly, the pronoun 'iste' means 'this (masc.) thing'. Iste and ille are declined in exactly the same way. If no substantive is provided assume words like these: 'man', 'woman', 'thing', 'idea', 'concept', 'reason' etc. Let context be your guide. Common Adjectives Used as 3rd Person Pronouns In LatinDeclension of Ille (that)
Ille is often used as a kind of pronoun. In situations with multiple phrases or sentences, however, it is syntactically different from is, ea, id (see below). For example: "Canis puero cibum dat. Is laborat in agro." means "The dog gives food to the boy. The dog works in the field". However: "Canis puero cibum dat. Ille laborat in agro." means "The dog gives food to the boy. The boy works in the field". Thus, ille, unlike the other pronouns makes a previous object into the subject (and vice versa). Examples of the Usage of Ille:
Declension of Is, ea, id: (personal pronouns w/ translations)
Like ille, is can be used as a form of a pronoun. Examples of the Usage of Is
Declension of the Relative pronoun qui, quae, quod: (meaning who, which, he)
Uses of the Relative PronounThe relative pronoun takes on the case depending on the function it serves in the relative clause. For example, in the sentence "He sees the man who has a slave," "who" is translated as nominative because it is the subject of the clause "who has a slave." The antecedent (noun to which the pronoun refers) is usually before the relative clause. Examples of the Usage of the Relative Pronoun
Declension of hic, haec, hoc (meaning "this")
N.B. Hic as an adverb that means 'here'. N.B. Hic can also be used as a pronoun. Example of the Usage of Hic
Chapter 1 VerseLatin I prose
The following is a nice easy short story for the Latin novice: Lucius ad forum itSol fulget. Lucius oculos aperit. Videt uxorem suam, Octaviam. Octavia dormit. Ergo, Lucius ad forum it. Lucius multos amicos habet. Unus ex amicis Claudius est. Claudius semper in foro est. Claudius temptat dicere cum feminis, quod Claudius multas feminas amat. Multae feminae, tamen, Claudium non amant. Lucius ad forum ambulat. Multos Romanos videt. Unus Romanorum ad cives orationem facit. Est Claudius! "Ecce! Ecce!" dicit Lucius. Lucius vult dicere cum amico. Claudius, tamen, dicit ad turbam. "Amicus meus, Lucius" dicit, "hominem necavit."A Lucius anxius respondet, "Quid dicis, amice?" Claudius est attonitus. Dicit, "Te non video, mi Luci..." Lucius respondet, "hominem non necavi! Cur tanta dicis?" Claudius sussurat, "Volo videriB fortissimus, amice. Feminae te amant. Me doletC." Lucius omniaD turbaeE patefacit. Multae feminae ad Claudium misserimum rident. Mox, etiam Claudius ad se ridet.
Chapter 2: Complicated SentencesThe Imperfect Tense
Imperfect Active IndicativeThe imperfect is a construct like: English has a similar construct called progressive past. Actions seem incomplete, and so the imperfect label. For example, "I was running," "We were sailing," "They were calling." Note that 'to be' is always there. Latin, however, would sometimes use imperfect like simple past; accordingly, "We were sailing" could be translated as "We sailed." Other translations of imperfect can be used to/kept such as "We used to sail/We kept sailing." Regardless of language, the concept of an imperfect is important. Imperfect is called imperfect for a reason - in Latin, the verb "perficere" means to finish/complete, which is what perfect is from. Thus, imperfect, in the grammatical sense, means not finished - that the action could be or could not be completed. Perfect instead means it has been finished - I saw. You have already seen, and it is now completed. I was seeing implies that the action is not yet completed. The perfect tense, which we will learn later, is a more immediate reference to the past. The name, imperfect, helps you remember its use: in situations where you can't say when an event started or ended or happened, you must use the imperfect. In situations where you can know when an event started or ended or happened, use the perfect. You conjugate the imperfect tense this way: verb + ba + personal ending The endings for imperfect are: Sg. Note that the only thing we add are ba + the personal endings (the same as in the present tense) to the infinitive stem. This gives us the imperfect conjugation. Note that in third and fourth conjugations, you will have to form it differently. There is *no* rule to explain this, it just is, although there are memorization techniques that can help. venire is 4th conjugation and is formed like: veniebam veniebas veniebat veniebamus veniebatis veniebant For third conjugation, an example used in some textbooks/study guides is: capere (to capture or seize) capiebam capiebas capiebat capiebamus capiebatis capiebant Note that it is easiest to think of what the endings -ere and ire lack. The imperfect -ba + the personal ending, which we can call the imperfect conjugation, must be prefixed by ie.
A few examples: amabam - I was loving (A-conjugation--1st) (Wiki-reading tips: See discussion. Some of the above may be unclear, however the clarifying '--' and '/' indicate verification. We may not know what the original author intended, but we know what conjugations the examples are.)
ExercisesTranslate from Latin to English 1. dum sol fulgebat, puer ambulabat ad forum The Genitive and Dative Cases
Noun Tables
The GenitiveThe genitive case is a descriptive case. The genitive case describes the following features of the described noun:
Quite simply, a word in the genitive case is translated with the preposition "of". Note that Latin does not have a separate form for the possessive genitive (Marcus's dog vs The dog of Marcus), as English does. A word in the genitive case showing possession can be translated either way. Latin Examples
Exercise 1Indicate the word in the genitive:
Agreeing with the AdjectivesWhen adjectives are used to describe nouns in the genitive case, they must have the same case, number, and gender as the noun to which it refers. Example
It's that simple. The DativeThe dative case, also known as the indirect object case indicates:
Latin does not distinguish between "to" or "for", though this is sometimes the case in English:
Example 1
'For' is the preposition indicating a dative. 'For' can be used in some other constructs. To determine whether it is dative, analyse the meaning of the sentence (see Example 3). Practice will enable you to quickly spot the case of a noun in the sentence without much effort. Example 2He gave the book to John; He gave to John the book; or He gave John the book. This demonstrates how English can use prepositions to change word order and even 'presume' a certain preposition exists that has been left out, giving a dative construct. Latin Examples
Exercise 2: Translate into English
Note that placeo requires the dative case, as opposed to the accusative case. Verbs such as this are denoted with (+dat.) or similar abbreviations. EXERCISE • Print Version • Questions
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Questions
Roman NumeralsThe Romans did not use the Hindu-Arabic numerals we use today. They used their own symbols and own numeric system. We still use Roman Numerals today.
Note the declensions of the first three numbers. Nullus is the Latin equivalent of zero, for example: nullam puellam in agro video means I see no girl in the field.
Exercise 3Write the word form of the numbers in the following sentences in the correct case.
The Future Tense
Future I, PassiveFuture active is a tense which, unsurprisingly, refers to something which has not yet happened. The endings are fairly basic, and follow fairly regular rules - however, the future endings used in 1st and 2nd conjugation differ from the endings of 3rd, 3rd-io (not a typo!), and 4th. For example - "amo, amare" (1st conjugation) would be Ama bo - I will love
Note the B and the BIs - the distinguishing feature of future tense in Latin. With "venio, venire" (4th conjugation--io), however, the endings are different. In future, this is what they look like: Veni am - I will come [deleted paragraphs go here. deleted to maintain rigorous accuracy, which we will go back to striving for.) To clarify: venire, venio.. we know it is 4th conjugation verb and if we look at its first person singular conjugation, we see that it is an io verb, because the conjugation of the first person singular is "venio". (an io category exists within 3rd and fourth conjugations and is a more general concept which we will briefly introduce here by using venire, venio as an example). Let's first identify what we know. We know it is 4th conjugation -io because it ends in ire, which tells us that it is 4th conjugation, and io because its nominative singular ends in io (venio). Because it is io, we leave the i in. So, when we are asked (as all textbooks should phrase these new questions): 1. What are the steps to form the future 2nd person conjugation? We say: 1. It is better to know more than you need: check the infinitive nominative singular, we now know that it is 4th conjugation io. 2. We now know that we can form the stem: the stem is veni and can then add a personal ending--leaving in the i. We leave in the i because it is io. Because it looks weird, we never leave the i in the future perfect. What is the form for venire, in the future tense, in the 2nd person? The answer is venies.
The Ablative and Vocative Case
The Ablative CaseThe ablative case in Latin has 4 main uses:
The different uses of the ablative will be dealt progressively. For a summary of all forms of the ablative, please consult the Appendix. Grammar Part 5: The Power of the Ablative CaseAblative generally indicates position in time and/or space (i.e. when and where). It can also indicate the idea of ways of getting to a location, abstractly or concretely. Ablative of MeansExerciseHow would you translate "I made the toga by hand"?
AnswerAnswer: Togam manu feci. In this case, the word "manu" is in the ablative (see fourth declension list) and thus means "by hand." ExerciseI have my wisdom by means of my teacher.
AnswerAnswer: Habeo sapientiam magistro. Ablative of TimeHow would you say: I will arrive at the 5th hour. 'at the 5th hour' is indicating position of time. Thus, it can be put into the ablative case, giving: adveniam quinta hora In general, therefore, in order to say "In the morning", "At nine O'clock," or "In the tenth year," use ablative. It is generally used to refer to a specific time in which something has, does, or will occur. Example: I will leave in the night. Hint: Future tense can be looked up in the appendices of this Wikibook! Hint: to leave- discedo, discedere; night- nox, noctis(This is a third declension word!) AnswerAnswer: Discedam nocte. Note the simplicity in which Latin translates the six words into simply two. The ending based language completely negates the need for the words "I," "will," "in," and "the." Ablative of PlaceNaves navigabant mari. The ships were sailing on the sea. The ablative is also useful for showing the location of things, in general where you would use the words on, in, or at. There is an exception for the slightly more archaic locative, which is used with the words domi (from domus, domus, f., home), ruri (from rus, ruris, n., country [as opposed to city]), and Romae (from Roma, Romae, f., Rome), as well as with the names of towns, cities and small islands. Latin has its own way of handling prepositions depending on the nouns and their cases in the sentence, including the versatile in, which can take many different meanings depending upon the case of the object. Ablative with prepositionsHere are a few prepositions that can take the ablative (for a fuller list, see the lesson on adverbs and prepositions in the previous chapter):
As a general rule, when motion is implied, use the accusative, but when location is implied Example 3Servus ex agris venit.
Note: Ager (ager, agri, m., field) must take an ablative suffix to match the preceding preposition, in this case e/ex. Incidentally, both ager and campus mean "field," but ager, like its English derivative "agriculture", connotes a farming field, while campus (think "camping" or "college campus") means "open field." The Campus Martius was a large field in Rome used for military training. The Vocative CaseWhile you will rarely need to ask Lupus where the bathroom is in Latin, you may find yourself reading either quotes or letters in which a person is being directly addressed. The case it will be in is the vocative. For example, "Hail, Augustus" will appear in Latin as Ave Auguste, and not Ave Augustus.
Furthermore, in all but the second declension, the nominative and vocative are exactly the same!
Examples for different declensions in the second declension
Examples
The basic form of the imperative is created by dropping the "re" off of the infinitive form of the verb, as in: Amare, which becomes Ama; at least in the singular active form, which is all that these exercises require. More can be found about this subject in the chapter on verbs. The 3rd, 4th and 5th declensions3rd, 4th, and 5th Declension NounsWe have already seen the first two declensions:
We will now complete the table of nouns with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th declensions. These declensions are more difficult to work with because their nominative and accusative plural forms are identical, as are their dative and ablative plural forms. To distinguish the cases, you must use a very simple key: context. Context will tell you the meaning. 3rd Declension Masculine or Feminine (each word has a set gender): rēx, m.3rd declension nouns have two stems: The nominative and vocative singular stem and the stem used for all other cases. Both stems have to be memorized for each noun. Feminine and masculine forms are indistinguishable.
3rd Declension Neuter i-stem: mare
Other 3rd Declension Neuter: litus
List of common 3rd declension stem change patterns
4th Declension Masculine/Feminine (each word has a set gender) gradus, m.
4th Declension Neuter: cornū
5th Declension Masculine/Feminine (each word has a set gender; most are feminine): rēs, f.
ExercisesExercise 1
Translate the following:
(The answer should be: Catiline?) Exercise 2Translate the following: Irregular Verbs & Revision
Irregular VerbsIrregular verbs do not fit in any particular conjugation. Irregular verbs conjugate but not in a predictable manner. An example of an irregular verb that you have met is 'esse'. There are a few others which will be listed in the present indicate active tense below for you to memorise and refer to.
Exercise 11. Copy out this table and translate. Translate the following sentences: 1. fero portam. 2. fers portam 3. fert portam 4. ferimus portam 5. fertis portam 6. ferunt portam 7. sum bonus 8. es bonus 9. est bonus 10. sumus bonī 11. estis bonī 12. sunt bonī 13. este bonī! 14. nolī currāre! Answer the following questions: 15. What do the irregular verbs have in common with regular verbs? 16. Why do we use 'boni' in question 10, 11, and 12 but 'bonus' in question 7, 8 and 9? Exercise 2Exercises: 1. Decline the following five nouns in both singular and plural number in the five common cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative):
2. Conjugate the verb 'servāre' in both singular and plural number and all three persons. 3. Conjugate the verb 'esse', in both singular and plural number and all three persons. 4. Translate: Nota Bene: Often Latin uses the present to indicate a 'vivid past'. It would be suitable to translate the following passage in the past tense.
Heri, ad tabernam eō. In tabernā sunt trēs rēs quārum amō duas sōleās et unam mensam. Habeō trēs denariōs, sīc ego emeō mensam sōlum quod sum nōn dīvīnitās. Hodiē, mensa est in casā meā. In triclīnio stat. Translation Exercise
Using a DictionaryTo find a Latin word in the dictionary can be difficult. Foremost, Latin verbs are listed using their the 'present indicative 1st person singular active' construct of the verb. Thus, to find the meaning of the verb 'amāre', one must find 'amō' listed in the dictionary. Thus, one must use their wits to determine what the stem and what is the ending of the verb. A bit of searching around in the dictionary may be required. There are a few verbs which are highly irregular which must be learnt such as 'ferō', I carry. Nouns are usually much easier. They are always given in the nominative singular case. If you see a noun such as 'vōcem', and do not know what it is, do not fret. If you look for 'vōc' in the dictionary, you will not find what you are looking for. 'em' is typically a third declension accusative ending, thus you should be aware that third declension nouns have radically changing stems. Those which have the consonent 'c' usually have the consonent 'x' replacing it in the nominative singular. Thus the nominative singular of vōcem, is vōx. Likewise, 'g' is also often used when shifting from nominative singular cases to other cases. For example, rēx becomes 'rēgem' in the accusative. There are plenty of other simple rules which one learns through experience. Unconjugatable and indeclinable words are listed 'as is'. Exercise 1Vocabulary
PassageTranslate the following passage: Confessiōnum meārum librī tredecim et dē malīs et dē bonīs meīs deum laudant iūstum et bonum atque in eum excitant hūmānum intellectum et affectum. Interim quod ad mē attinet, hoc in mē egērunt cum scriberentur et agunt cum leguntur. Quid dē illīs aliī sentiant, ipsī viderint; multīs tamen frātribus eōs multum placuisse et placēre sciō. Imperfect and Future indicative active constructs
Imperfect and Future constructsWarning: Beyond the imperfect, this page cannot is not entirely clear. Do not use it beyond the basic imperfect if you are a first time Latin student. Specific aspects confused me until I got up in the morning. Of course, I never knew them very well anyway. See discussion for my thoughts on this. I have substansially corrected this page. I apologize for my prior errors. Smkatz 14:14, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC) I don't believe that it's 3rd conjugation that receives the "ie," but rather only 3rd-io. So, in your example, "vinciebam" ought to be, "vincebam," but "accipiō" will be "accipiebam." Imperfect Active IndicativeThe imperfect is a construct like: English has a similar construct called progressive past. Actions seem incomplete, and so the imperfect label. For example, "I was running," "We were sailing," "They were calling." Note that 'to be' is always there. Latin, however, would sometimes use imperfect like simple past; accordingly, "We were sailing" could be translated as "We sailed." Other translations of imperfect can be used to/kept such as "We used to sail/We kept sailing." Regardless of language, the concept of an imperfect is important. Imperfect is called imperfect for a reason - in Latin, the verb "perficere" means to finish/complete, which is what perfect is from. Thus, imperfect, in the grammatical sense, means not finished - that the action could be or could not be completed. Perfect instead means it has been finished - I saw. You have already seen, and it is now completed. I was seeing implies that the action is not yet completed. The perfect tense, which we will learn later, is a more immediate reference to the past. The name, imperfect, helps you remember its use: in situations where you can't say when an event started or ended or happened, you must use the imperfect. In situations where you can know when an event started or ended or happened, use the perfect. You conjugate the imperfect tense this way: verb + ba + personal ending The endings for imperfect are: Sg. Note that the only thing we add are ba + the personal endings (the same as in the present tense) to the infinitive stem. This gives us the imperfect conjugation. Note that in third and fourth conjugations, you will have to form it differenntly. There is *no* rule to explain this, it just is, although there are memorization techniques that can help. venire is 4th conjugation and is formed like: veniebam veniebas veniebat veniebamus veniebatis veniebant For third conjugation, an example used in some textbooks/study guides is: capere (to capture or seize) capiebam capiebas capiebat capiebamus capiebatis capiebant Note that it is easiest to think of what the endings -ere and ire lack. The imperfect -ba + the personal ending, which we can call the imperfect conjugation, must be prefixed by ie. A few examples: amabam - I was loving (A-conjugation--1st) (Wiki-reading tips: See discussion. Some of the above may be unclear, however the clarifying '--' and '/' indicate verification. We may not know what the original author intended, but we know what conjugations the examples are.) Future I, ActiveFuture active is a tense which, unsurprisingly, refers to something which has not yet happened. The endings are fairly basic, and follow fairly regular rules - however, the future endings used in 1st and 2nd conjugation differ from the endings of 3rd, 3rd-io (not a typo!), and 4th. For example - "amo, amare" (1st conjugation) would be Ama bo - I will love
Note the B and the BIs - the distinguishing feature of future tense in Latin. With "venio, venire" (4th conjugation--io), however, the endings are different. In future, this is what they look like: Veni am - I will come [deleted paragraphs go here. deleted to maintain rigorous accuracy, which we will go back to striving for.) To clarify: venire, venio.. we know it is 4th conjugation verb and if we look at its first person singular conjugation, we see that it is an io verb, because the conjugation of the first person singular is "venio". (an io category exists within 3rd and fourth conjugations and is a more general concept which we will briefly introduce here by using venire, venio as an example). Let's first identify what we know. We know it is 4th conjugation -io because it ends in ire, which tells us that it is 4th conjugation, and io because its nominative singular ends in io (venio). Because it is io, we leave the i in. So, when we are asked (as all textbooks should phrase these new questions): 1. What are the steps to form the future 2nd person conjugation? We say: 1. It is better to know more than you need: check the infinitive nominative singular, we now know that it is 4th conjugation io. 2. We now know that we can form the stem: the stem is veni and can then add a personal ending--leaving in the i. We leave in the i because it is io. Because it looks weird, we never leave the i in the future perfect. What is the form for venire, in the future tense, in the 2nd person? The answer is venies. Future conjugationExample: I will love:
As an aid to your understanding, this table only applies to the future tense. Do not assume the table is displaying a pattern that is somehow applicable to all of Latin. (Wiki-reading-tip: This is why they are in the future section, and were not discussed before.) The A- and the E- conjugation are (relatively) straight-forward. The others are more advanced, and as the warning notes, could confuse a first-time student. Commercial textbooks probably explain it better at this point, although laying their explanation in a table like the one below is well-advised. Leave items marked with a ? in until issues are resolved. Take a look at the following table:
The vocabulary mostly consists of verbs, and can easily be looked up in a dictionary. We will give a limited translation below, and the rest, for those who are particularly adept at language learning, can be learned through imersion. capere (3rd conjugation--short ere): to seize, metaphorically or literally [see dictionary for full explanation] amare (first conjugation -are): to love EXERCISE: Can you be your own editor? monere (what conjugation? 2nd Conjugation Does it change based on the macron over the first vowel on the ending? Yes long ere = 2nd short =3rd[long ere vs. short ere?] It means to warn like in admonish (an English word that means to scold lightly.) Chapter 2 VerseUsing a DictionaryForemost, Latin verbs are listed using the present indicative first person singular active construct of the verb. For example, to find the meaning of the verb amāre, you must find amō listed in the dictionary. Some verbs like esse and ferre are highly irregular and use different stems to form the perfect tenses. Nouns are usually much easier. They are always given in the nominative singular. If you see a noun such as vōcem and do not know what it is, do not fret. If you look for voc- in the dictionary, you will not find what you are looking for. The ending -em typically belongs to the third-declension accusative; thus, be aware that third-declension nouns have radically changing stems. Those that have the consonant c or g usually have the consonant x in the nominative singular. Thus the nominative singular of vōcem is vōx, and rēx becomes rēgem in the accusative singular. There are plenty of other simple rules which you will learn through experience. Words that do not conjugate or decline (like prepositions and particles) are listed under their only form. Exercise 1Vocabulary
Other Difficulties
PassageTranslate the following passage: Confessiōnum meārum librī tredecim et dē malīs et dē bonīs meīs deum laudant iūstum et bonum atque in eum excitant humānum intellectum et affectum. Interim quod ad mē attinet, hoc in mē ēgērunt cum scriberentur et agunt cum leguntur. quid dē illīs aliī sentiant, ipsī viderint; multīs tamen frātribus eōs multum placuīsse et placēre sciō. Chapter 3: Advanced SentencesImperativesImperativePositive ImperativeEnglishIn English (and in Latin), the positive imperative is a command. For example:
LatinIn Latin, the imperative singular is found by taking the last two letters off of the infinitive. The six exceptions to this rule are dicere (dic), ducere (duc), facere (fac), velle, malle (infinitives not used) and nolle (noli). Ferre (fer) and esse (es) are often considered irregular due to the lack of a vowel at the end but we can see that applying the rule of removing the last two letters forms the imperatives correctly. Examples:Run, boy!
QuestionsWrite out:
PluralTo form the plural imperative in Latin, take the 2nd person plural present form of the verb (eg. amatis, sedetis, regitis, venitis) and replace the is at the end with e. The only exceptions to the rule are velle, malle (imperatives not used) and nolle (nolite). Ferre (ferte) and esse (este) are often considered irregular but applying the rule (fertis -> ferte, estis -> este) correctly forms the imperatives. Go home, boys!
Stay, all of you!
ExercisesWrite out:
Negative ImperativeEnglishIn English, we use the word "don't" for prohibitions, or negative imperatives. For example:
LatinSimilarly, in Latin the negative imperative is formed with two words, the imperative of nolo, nolle and the infinitive. Nolo by itself means "I do not want," but in its imperative it means "do not...!" Nolle is irregular, and its imperative forms are noli and nolite. ExamplesDo not fear me!
Don't build the aqueduct there, soldiers!
Don't wash the dog, boys!
ExercisesTranslate:
Active v. Passive Verbs
A verb's voice shows the relationship between the subject and the action expressed by the verb. Latin has two voices: active and passive. In the active voice, the subject of the clause performs the verb on something else (the object), e.g., "The girl sees the boy." In the passive voice, the subject of the sentence receives the action of the verb, e.g., "The boy is seen by the girl." The personal endings in the active voice are: -ō/-m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt. The personal endings in the passive voice (present, imperfect, future) are: -r, -ris, -tur, -mur, -mini, -ntur. In the perfect, pluperfect and future perfect, the passive voice is formed by the fourth principal part plus the proper forms of sum, esse. For the perfect tense, use the present forms of esse, for the pluperfect use the imperfect forms of esse, and for the future perfect use the future forms of esse. The fourth principal part, when used in a passive construction, acts as a first-second declension adjective and is declined accordingly. As stated before, when the passive voice is used, the subject receives the action of the verb from another agent. This agent, when it is a person, is expressed by the preposition ā/ab plus the ablative case. This construction is called the ablative of personal agent. The ablative of cause is used without a preposition when the agent is not a person. Examples:
Deponent verbsSome verbs are always passive in form, even though they have an active meaning. For example:
Some, called semi-deponent verbs, take on a passive form on only in the perfect. For example:
Note that some deponent and semi-deponent verbs take the accusative case (eg. vereor, vereri, veritus sum = I fear), some the ablative (eg. utor, uti, usus sum = I use) and some the dative (eg. confido, confidere, confisus sum = I trust). When you first encounter such a verb in Latin, be sure to remember the case of the object the verb is taking along with its spelling and meaning. Indicative Passive Verbs
See discussion for a tutorial on the passive voice and how to use it in Latin, including external links which explain future, imperfect, and present indicative passive verb forms. I consider commercial textbooks to be inadequate, so I do not believe that this article can wait.
In the first person, add -r if the active ending is a vowel, otherwise change the final constant to an -r. Examples: paro (I prepare) -> paror (I am being prepared) In the third person, add -ur. Examples: parat (he prepares) -> paratur (he is being prepared) In the second person, things get more complicated. For the plural, replace "tis" with "mini". Note the exception in "ferre", where "fertis" becomes "ferimini". In the word "ferre", the "rm" letter combination consistently gets separated (ferimus instead of fermus, ferimur instead of fermur and ferimini instead of fermini). For the singular present, take out the active ending, add the thematic vowel (a from -are, e from -ere, i from -ire and nothing from -re, as in ferre) of the verb's infinitive ending and add -ris. Examples: paras (you prepare) -> pararis (you are being prepared) Note the -eris ending in the future passive. The future active bo, bis, bit, bimus, bitis, bunt looks like the third conjugation so the passive bor, beris, bitur, bimur, bimini, buntur looks like the third conjugation. The imperfect passive is bar, baris, batur, bamur, bamini, bantur.
Principal Parts
Principal PartsAll Latin verbs are identified by four principal parts. By using the four principal parts, one can obtain any and all forms of the verb, including participles, infinitives, gerunds and the like. Examples of principal parts from verbs of each conjugation:
For all regular verbs, the principal parts consist of the first person singular present active indicative, the infinitive, the first person singular perfect active indicative, and the supine (or in some texts, the perfect passive participle).
Some verbs lack fourth principal parts (e.g., timeō, timēre, timuī, —; to be afraid); others, less commonly, lack a third in addition (e.g., ferro, ferre, tuli, latum; to bring/carry). Others, such as sum, esse, fuī, futūrus, may use the future active participle (futūrus) as their fourth principal part; this indicates that the verb cannot be made passive. The Perfect Indicative Tense
Latin Perfect Active TenseThe perfect tense is used for action that has already been completed. English has two corresponding constructions: present perfect and simple past. The present perfect uses the present of "to have" plus the past participle. ("I have sailed to Athens twice." "These women have spoken the truth.") The simple past is a separate verb form that indicates a completed action. ("I came, I saw, I conquered.") Another related form, which uses "did" as an auxiliary, is used for emphasis, negation or interrogation. ("I did see you at the Forum, didn't I?") In Latin, the perfect indicative is equivalent to all of these. The perfect endings:
(1) There is an alternative third person plural ending, -ēre, used mainly in poetry. For example, amāvēre = amāvērunt. Although these endings apply to all Latin verbs, each verb's stem changes differently in the perfect tense. To find the stem, use the third principal part, which is the first person singular perfect active indicative form of that verb.
Example
Singular:
Plural:
Basically, the Perfect indicative active is the perfect tense under a flash name. Rules for Finding the Perfect StemThe perfect stem can often be guessed by knowing the verb's first person singular and infinitive. Here are some rules that perfect stems often follow.
The Perfect Indicative Passive Verbs
The perfect passive is an easy tense to form in Latin, and it is also one of the most useful. The verb "to love" in the perfect passive would translate into English as "I was loved". Forming the Perfect Passive in LatinIn order to form the perfect passive you must be familiar with the principal parts of the verb with which you are working, e.g., amo, amāre, amāvī, amātum. The fourth principal part is the perfect passive participle.
To use the perfect passive, first determine the gender and number of the subject of the sentence. For example, in the sentence "The queen was killed by the soldier," queen is the subject. In Latin, queen will be feminine nominative singular (regīna). Now make the participle agree with the subject in gender and number (and case), just as you would with any adjective. As a review, the singular endings for the participle, a first/second declension adjective, are: Masculine: -us — (amātus) Feminine: -a — (amāta) Neuter: -um — (amātum) The endings for plural nouns are: Masculine: -ī — (amātī) Feminine: -ae — (amātae) Neuter: -a — (amāta) These participles by themselves can be translated with "having been", eg. amatus = having been loved. Add a present form of sum, and you have the perfect passive, eg. amatus sum = I am having been loved = I have been loved. Conjugation of Verbs in the Perfect PassiveFirst Conjugation (amō, to love)
Second Conjugation (moneō, to warn)
Third Conjugation (regō, to rule)
Fourth Conjugation (audiō, to hear)
Notes
ExamplesRegina ā milite interfecta est.
Rex ad proelium est ā servīs portātus.
Numquam enim ā Pomponiā nostrā certior sum factus esse cuī dare litterās possem. (Cicero, Ad Atticum 1.5)
ExercisesConvert the following sentences with relative clauses into sentences with the same meaning but using past participles. eg. Aemilianus vidit urbem quam deleverat -> Aemilianus vidit urbem a se deletam
Future and Past Perfect Indicative Tenses
Future perfectThe future perfect tense is used for an action that will have been completed in the future by the time something else has happened. English example: "I will have seen the movie by the time it comes out." To form the future perfect, take the perfect stem and add the future perfect endings:
Note the similarities to the future tense of sum, except for the third person plural ending -erint[1] in place of -erunt, which serves as the perfect ending instead. Hence: amāverō, I will have loved; vīderitis, you (pl.) will have seen
PluperfectThe pluperfect tense is used to describe something in the past that happened before another event in the past. English example: "I had graduated by the time I applied for a job." To form the pluperfect, take the perfect stem and add the pluperfect endings:
Hence: amāveram, I had loved; vīderātis, you (pl.) had seen ExamplesDe Acutiliano autem negotio quod mihi mandaras (mandaveras), ut primum a tuo digressu Romam veni, confeceram. (Cicero, Ad Atticum 1.5)
Ego certe meum officium praestitero. (Caesar, De Bello Gallico IV)
Ablative Absolute and Accusative Infinitive Constructions
Ablative AbsoluteThe ablative absolute construction is used in a sentence to provide a background for the main action in the sentence. An ablative absolute is formed with a noun and an adjective or participle in the ablative case. convivis ingressis ille cenam parat With the guests having entered, he prepares dinner. viris in taberna bibentibus feminae diligenter laborabant With the men drinking in the tavern, the women worked diligently. omnibus ieiunis multos panes parare debuit With everyone (being) hungry, he had to prepare lots of bread. Accusative InfinitiveThe accusative infinitive construction is used to indirectly report speech or thoughts. An accusative infinitive construction is formed by taking the indirect clause and putting the subject in the accusative and the verb in the infinitive. ille credit pueros stultos esse He believes the boys to be fools = He believes that the boys are fools. magister parentibus dicit pueros stultos esse The teacher says to the parents that the boys are fools. colonus uxori dicit se confectum esse The farmer says to his wife that he is exhausted. In this sentence, note how the reflexive se refers to the main subject of the sentence. colonus uxori dixit se confectum esse The farmer said to his wife that he was tired. Note how esse, despite being a present infinitive, is translated into the past tense. This is because the infinitive uses the action of the main verb, in this case dixit as a reference point instead of the present. But what about sentences such as "the farmer says to his wife that he worked diligently"? For those, you need to use the past infinitive. Overview of infinitives in all tenses
The sentence "The farmer says to his wife that he worked diligently" would thus translate as: colonus uxori dicit se diligenter laboravisse The following examples show how different infinitives with the main verb in the past and present would appear in English:
Translation Exercises
Chapter 3 Verse
The following poem is written in Hendecasyllabic. It is an introductory, dedication poem written by the poet Gaius Valerius Catullus. it is commonly referred to as "Catullus 1" or by its first line.
Chapter 4: The Subjunctive Mood and Complex SentencesThe Subjunctive Mood
SubjunctivesThe Subjunctive is one of the three different moods a Latin verb can take. The two other moods are the Indicative and the Imperative. The subjunctive is perhaps the most common and also most difficult to grasp, and there are a great number of different subjunctive uses. The subjunctive mainly expresses doubt or potential and so is called 'jussive,' which is from 'iubere' - to command, bid. Whereas the indicative declares "this happened" or "that happened," the subjunctive expresses what could have been or what could be.
"If this were to happen," or "May this happen!" or "I ask you to make this happen" are all possible uses of the subjunctive. There are four subjunctives: present, imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect. There are no subjunctives in the future tense, which already incorporates an element of doubt. The Present SubjunctiveThe present subjunctive is similar to the present indicative, except marked by a change of the theme vowel. present stem + theme vowel change + ending FormIn the present subjunctive, the theme vowel for every conjugation changes; in effect, the first conjugation masquerades as the second conjugation and all the other conjugations take on the appearance of the first.
Some ways to remember this are in the following collapsed table.
Example Conjugationporto, portare, portavi, portatus (1st conjugation - to carry) Present IndicativeThis is the present active indicative form of portare, which has already been covered.
Remember the join vowels. Present SubjunctiveThe present active subjunctive of portare would be conjugated as follows:
Notice:
Present Subjunctive of EsseThe present active subjunctive of sum, esse, the verb "to be", is conjugated as follows:
Unlike the conjugation of the present active indicative form, the present subjunctive is regular. The same personal endings are affixed to si-. Present Subjunctive of Posse
Translates as... "May (I/You/He/We/You/They) be able" Imperfect SubjunctiveThe imperfect subjunctive is formed by adding the personal endings -m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt to the present infinitive (often the second principal part).( or passive endings -r, -ris, -tur, -mur, -mini, -ntur. In other words, for voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatum The imperfect subjunctives are formed thus:
For deponent verbs, whose second principal part is the passive infinitive (e.g., conari, vereri, pati, expediri) a pseudo present infinitive is used (e.g, conare, verere, patere, expedire; although these forms do not exist as stand-alone infinitives, they actually ARE the singular imperatives for these deponent verbs) The imperfect subjunctive of the verb to be (sum, esse) is conjugated regularly, as are ALL irregular verbs, e.g.: possem, vellem, nollem, ferrem, irem)
Uses of the SubjunctiveVerbs in the subjunctive mood may assume special meaning in specific constructions. Volitive or Optative ClausesSubjunctives in independent clauses are often translated as volitive/optative (that is, as a "wish".) Volitives/optatives show an intention for an action to occur; e.g. "amet" may be translated in volitive/optative context as "may he love" HortatoryA suggestion or command in first person(most often plural); e.g. "cedamus" as an hortatory subjunctive is "let us depart" JussiveA suggestion or command in third person; e.g. "cedat" as a jussive subjunctive is "let her depart"; "deprehendatur"= "Let him be seized" PotentialThe potential or possibility of something happening, in any person: (Fortasse) te amem. "Perhaps I may love you." All of these Subjunctive types can be used in an independent (main) clause. Note that all can be translated with "let" or "may"; the differences lie in how English will represent the subjunctive verb: Wish (Volitive): May we be friends forever! Hortatory (Suggestion): Let us be friends! Jussive (Command): Let them be friends! Potential (Possibility): They may be friends; we may be friends; you may be friends. Purpose ClausesA purpose clause is a dependent clause used, as the name shows, to show purpose. Often initiated by an indicative verb, the clause contains a subjunctive verb in either the present or imperfect tense. Present and imperfect verbs in purpose clauses should be translated with the auxiliary verbs "may" and "might," respectively. For example, "Marcus urbem condidit ut regeret" should be translated as "Marcus built the city so that he would rule." These appear frequently in Latin. The Uses of the Subjunctive
First Person Exhortations (Hortatory Subjunctive)Definition, Common Usage and Expression in LatinAn exhortation is a statement which expresses a wish. In English, the most common exhortation is "let's go". Other possibilities are "would go", "should go" and "may go". In Latin, these statements are equally as often used and are expressed in the present subjunctive active tense. ExamplesFestinemus ad forum - Let's hurry to the forum Roma discedamus - Let's leave Rome Roma non discedam, nam mea familia ibi vivit. - I should not leave Rome, for my family lives there. (Also, "I will not leave" -- the form is ambiguous.) Cenemus! - Let us dine! Cenarem tecum si laborem perficerem[1] - I would dine with you if I should finish my work. Purpose ClausesDefinition, Common Usage and Expression in LatinA purpose clause is a clause which expresses that someone did something in order that something else might happen. In English they usually contain the words in order to or so that. In Latin this concept is expressed by the words ut and ne followed by a verb in the subjunctive mood. Ut means "so that" or "in order to" and ne means "lest." In purpose clauses, only forms of the imperfect (following the secondary sequence of tenses) and present (for the primary sequence) are used. ExamplesQuintus donum Scintillae dedit ut eum amaret - Quintus gave Scintilla a gift so that she would love him. (The imperfect subjunctive is used to indicate a "present/future" time relationship with the perfect main verb, with pluperfect being the only other option, indicating a past time relationship). Fabius equos domum duxit ne tempestate timerentur - Fabius brought the horses home lest they be frightened by the storm. Marcus Graeciā fugit ut matrem suam Romae inveniret - Marcus fled Greece to find his mother in Rome. Result ClausesDefinition, Common Usage and Expression in LatinResult clauses state that something occurred as a result of something else happening. For a positive result, use ut. For a negative result, use ut... non. ExamplesSextus tam iratus erat ut fratrem interficere vellet - Sextus was so angry that he wished to kill his brother. Horatia tam laeta erat ut lacrimaret - Horatia was so happy that she cried. Caesar tam potus erat ut Galliam oppugnare non posset - Caesar was so drunk that he couldn't attack Gaul. Milo tam defessus erat ut in via dormiret - Milo was so tired that he slept on the road. Indirect CommandsDefinition, Common Usage and Expression in LatinAn indirect command is a statement like the following: "He ordered her to do x". The English equivalent words are "to" or "that they should" It can also take the form of "I am ordering you to do x", as opposed to the imperative "DO X!". Several verbs in Latin take the subjunctive mood with indirect commands:
These verbs use an ut/ne + the subjunctive construction. ExamplesImperator militibus imperavit ut castra caperent - The general ordered the soldiers to capture the camp Eum rogo ut navem emat - I am asking him to buy the ship. Mater liberis imperavit ne in horto currerent - The mother asked her children not to run in the garden. Indirect questionsDefinition, Common Usage and Expression in LatinThe subjunctive is used in indirect questions. For example, the question 'What are you doing?' is direct, while "He asked what I was doing" is indirect. In Latin, the verb in the clause containing the indirect question must be in the subjunctive. ExamplesImperator milites rogat si castra ceperint - The general asks the soldiers if they captured the camp. Eum rogo quid faciat - I am asking him what he is doing. Magister pueros rogat utrum laborent an ludant - The teacher asks the boys whether they are working or playing. Notā bene!
The Subjunctive Imperfect
The conjugation of the subjunctive imperfect active follows a simple rule. The verb in its infinitive form, that is, the second principle part, (amare, to love, for example) simply has the subjunctive endings appended onto it as follows: ego amarem tu amares is amaret nos amaremus vos amaretis ei amarent
tu amareris is amaretur nos amaremur vos amaremini ei amarentur ApplicationThe imperfect subjunctive is only used for complex syntactic contructions; cum clauses and indirect questions and the like. Rarely, if ever, does it stand alone. Because/CumOne application is in its use of 'cum' in the sense of 'because' as a clause. e.g.
The Subjunctive Passive Verbs
Passive Subjunctive SystemHaving examined Lessons 15 and 23, forming the passive subjunctive should be quite simple. PresentModify the verb stem appropriately with a vowel change (as learned in Lesson 15), then add the present passive endings (Lesson 23).
ImperfectThe passive endings added to the present active infinitive.
The Subjunctive Perfects
The conjugation of the perfect subjunctive active consists of: the perfect stem + "eri" + the standard active endings (-m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt). An example conjugation of the first conjugation verb paro, parāre is as follows: The conjugation of the pluperfect subjunctive active consists of: the perfect stem + "isse" + the standard active endings. An example conjugation of the first conjugation verb paro, parāre is as follows: The Subjunctive Perfect Passive Verbs
Subjunctive Passive VerbsSubjunctive Passive PerfectSubjunctive passive verbs form from the 4th principle part as shown in the example below. The verb's third principle part, e.g. in the word impedire(to obstruct): impedio, impedire, impedivi, impeditus; gains the passive ending for the appropriate person.
To make the verb into a perfect passive, take the fourth principle part, make it agree with the subject in gender, number, and case, and then add in the appropriate form of esse. In the perfect, we use the present form of esse, and specifically the subjunctive present(sim, sis, sit, simus, sitis, sint.) For example, Do you know what has been done to him? would be made into: scis quid eum factum sit? Singular mutatus sim I have been changed. mutatus sis You have been changed. mutatus sit He has been changed. Plural* mutati simus We have been changed. mutati sitis You have been changed. mutati sint They have been changed.
ExercisesIn this section, it is only truly necessary to translate the italicized portion. The rest exists in order to make the subjunctive necessary. the children were so bad that they have been scolded. (Children- Liberi; To scold- vitupero, vituperare, vituperavi) He asked how I was tricked.(trick-ludo, ludere, lusi, lusus)
Subjunctive Passive PluperfectThe subjunctive passive pluperfect is very similar to the perfect, with the major difference being the way esse is conjugated. In specific, the word esse is simply given the active endings(m,s,t,mus,tis, nt)
Singular mutatus essem I had been changed. mutatus esses You had been changed. mutatus esset He had been changed. Plural* mutati essemus We had been changed. mutati essetis You had been changed. mutati essent They had been changed. ExercisesIn these exercises, only the italicized parts require translation. The rest exist to make the subjunctive necessary. Remember, the subjunctive is not used in any but complex sentences or other rare circumstances. Ovid wrote so much in the Metamorphoses that his hand had been changed into stone. The Gerund and Participles
ParticiplesParticiples are verbs which function grammatically like adjectives. English, aided by auxiliary participles, is able have participle phrases in many tenses. Latin has participles that do not have auxiliary supplementary participles. This limits the usage of the participle in Latin, according to some wiki-scholars of Classical Studies.
Present Active ParticiplesPresent participles are formed by adding -ns to the stem of the verb.
Present Participles are declined like 3rd declension adjectives. In cases besides the nominative, the -s becomes -t. Examples: 1. ferens, ferentis 2. capiens, capientis 3. ens, entis ExercisesForm the Present Participle and translate of the following Latin verbs:
UsesThe examples will show participles of the verb amo, amare, amavi, amatum (to love).
In deponent verbs, the perfect passive participle is formed in the same way as in regular verbs. However, since the nature of the deponent verb is passive in form and active in meaning, the participle is translated actively. Remember that participles are adjectives, and therefore must be declined to agree with the noun which they modify in case, number and gender. GerundThe gerund is a verbal noun which is used to refer to the action of a verb. For example: ars scribendi = the art of writing. The gerund is declined as a second declension neuter noun. It is formed by taking the present stem and adding -ndum.
Meanings of the gerund
GerundiveThe gerundive is a 1st/2nd declension adjective formed the same way as the gerund, and its function overlaps somewhat with the gerund, but otherwise differs. The literal translation of the gerundive is with "to be", eg. defendendus, -a, -um = "to be defended".
Exercises1. Convert the following subjunctive purpose clauses into gerund or gerundive clauses with the same meaning. For example: militabat ut patriam defenderet -> militabat ad patriam defendendum or militabat patriam defendendi causa or militabat ad patriam defendendam. Try to use each construction twice.
2. Translate into Latin. For example: I must see the temple -> templum mihi videndum est
Conditional ClausesConditional ClausesConditional clauses in English and Latin have the general form: if (condition clause) (result clause) Or: (result clause) if (condition clause) For example:
There are 3 types of conditional clauses in Latin:
Simple Fact ConditionalsSimple fact conditionals in Latin have the general form: si (condition clause in the present indicative) (result clause in the present indicative) Or: si (condition clause in the imperfect/perfect indicative) (result clause in the imperfect/perfect indicative) For example:si diligenter laboras, bonus puer es If you are working diligently, you are a good boy. si dominum adiuvabas, bonus servus eras If you were helping your master, you were a good slave. Contrary to Fact ConditionalsContrary to fact conditionals are used if the condition clause is known to be false. For example: If you weren't playing during class, you would be a good boy (but you were playing, so you aren't a good boy). Contrary to fact conditionals have the general form: si (condition clause in the imperfect subjunctive) (result clause in the imperfect subjunctive) Or: si (condition clause in the pluperfect subjunctive) (result clause in the pluperfect subjunctive) For example:si matrem adiuvaret, cena parata esset If he were helping his mother, the dinner would be ready. si patrem adiuvisset, pater matrem adiuvare potuisset If he had helped his father, his father would have been able to help his mother. Note how English uses would and would have for result clauses, while Latin uses the same tense as in the condition clauses. Future ConditionalsFuture conditionals are, of course, used to express conditions in the future. For example: If you help me, I will be done faster. Future conditionals take the following general form: si (condition clause in the future or future perfect) (result clause in the future) Or: si (condition clause in the present subjunctive) (result clause in the present subjunctive) For example:si fortiter pugnaveritis, urbs non delebitur If you fight bravely, the city will not be destroyed. Note how English uses the present tense for the condition clause, while Latin uses the future or future perfect. si diligenter laboretis, vobis meridie domum dimittam If you were to work diligently, I would dismiss you at noon. This type of clause, known as the future less vivid (as opposed to the future more vivid which uses the future and future perfect), is used to express more improbable conditions in the future. Revision
Passive/Subjunctive Tenses The present tense through future tenses use the present stem. I'm using the word amo, amare, amavi, amatus - to love, so the present stem is "am".
Idioms
Translation
Lesson 20, as a bit of a reward is a little translation excercise from the Gospel of Saint Luke. Excercise 1 Vocabulary coming soon, at the moment consult your dictionary Respondens Simon dixit: "Aestimo quia is, cui plus donavit". At ille dixit ei: "Recte iudicasti". Et conversus ad mulierem, dixit Simoni: "Vides hanc mulierem? Intravi in domum tuam: aquam pedibus meis non dedisti; haec autem lacrimis rigavit pedes meos et capillis suis tersit. Osculum mihi non dedisti haec autem, ex quo intravi non cessavit osculari pedes meos. Oleo caput meum non unxisti; haec autem unguento unxit pedes meos. Propter quod dico tibi: Remissa sunt peccata eius multa, quoniam dilexit multrum: cui autem minus dimittitur, minus diligit." Dixit autem ad illam: "Remissa sunt peccata tua". Et coeperunt, qui simul accumbebant, dicere intra se: "quis est hic, qui etiam peccata dimittit?". Dixit autem ad mulierem: Fides tua te salvam fecit; vade in pace!". Et factum est deinceps, et ipse iter faciebat per civitatem et castekkyn oaeducabs et evangelizans regnum Dei, et Duodecim cum illo, et mulieres aliquae, quae erant curatae ab spiritibus malignis et infirmitatibus, Maria, quae vocatur Magdalene, de qua daemonia septem exierant, et Ioanna uxor Chuza procuratoris Herodis, et Sussanna et aliae multae, quae ministrabant eis de facultatibus suis. Chapter 4 VerseHaec est fabula De Faciebus Iani. Ianus, ut dicebatur, erat unus deorum, cui facies duae erant. Altera earum enim in futura et altera in praeterita prospiciebat. Apollo ei olim sic dixit: "Nonne tibi facies est, qua tempus praesens spectes?" Et paulo post Ianus ita respondit: "Mundus - orbis terrarum cyclus est similiter ac tempus est cyclicum. Et initium omnium et finem video. Omnia prospicio aeternusque sum, neque opus est porro videre, quae palam iaceant." Diu cogitavit Apollo de verbis Iani hominesque acutissimā mente in omni orbe terrarum conquaesivit eo consilio, ut ipse tam sapiens ut Ianus fieret. Postea cum quibusdam illustrissimis viris collocutus est, quo sapientior esset. Eo facto tamen unus eorum, cui Minervus nomen, Apollinem monuit, ne summam quaereret sapientiam, quam novisse nullum alium quam Ianum oportebat. Revenit autem Apollo ad Ianum eumque, ut veritatem cognosceret, ea summa rogavit. "Intellegisne omnino quid roges?" inquit Ianus, "Si dis par fueris, omnibus iuribus privari possis." Itaque Apollo cognovit sapientissimum omnium fuisse, a quo monitus est.
This is the story of the faces of Janus. Janus, as it used to be said, was one of the gods who had two faces. It was that one spied into the future while the other into the past. Apollo once had said to him, "Have you not a face with which to see the present?" After a few moments, thus spoke Ianus: "The world is a circle. Time is a circle. I see both the beginning and end of all living things. I am foreseeing and eternal; therefore, it is not necessary for me to see that which is lying out of sight." Apollo thought about these words for a very long time, and thus, that he might become wise like Janus, he sought the keenest minds of the land. He then was speaking with some great men that he might become wiser. However, one, whose name was Minervus, warned him not to seek the ultimate/highest truth because it may only be known by Janus. But he returned again to ask Janus that he might obtain the truth. "Do you even know for what you're asking? If you enter onto the same level (of the Gods), all your rights might be snatched from you," said Janus. And so Apollo knows now that the same man who had warned him was the wisest of all. Verse from the Gospels< Latin A Verse From the Gospel of St. LukeRespondens Simon dixit: "Aestimo quia is, cui plus donavit". At ille dixit ei: "Recte iudicasti". Et conversus ad mulierem, dixit Simoni: "Vides hanc mulierem? Intravi in domum tuam: aquam pedibus meis non dedisti; haec autem lacrimis rigavit pedes meos et capillis suis tersit. Osculum mihi non dedisti haec autem, ex quo intravi non cessavit osculari pedes meos. Oleo caput meum non unxisti; haec autem unguento unxit pedes meos. Propter quod dico tibi: Remissa sunt peccata eius multa, quoniam dilexit multrum: cui autem minus dimittitur, minus diligit." Dixit autem ad illam: "Remissa sunt peccata tua". Et coeperunt, qui simul accumbebant, dicere intra se: "quis est hic, qui etiam peccata dimittit?". Dixit autem ad mulierem: Fides tua te salvam fecit; vade in pace!". Chapter 5: ReviewRevision
What is Latin?Parts of this introduction were taken from The Latin Language on the Wikipedia. Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around the city of Rome called Latium. It gained great importance as the formal language of the Roman Empire. All Romance languages descend from a Latin parent, and many words in English and other languages today are based on Latin roots. Moreover, Latin was a lingua franca, the learned language for scientific and political affairs in Europe, for more than one and a half thousand years, being eventually replaced by French in the 18th century and English by the middle of the 20th. Latin remains the formal language of the Roman Catholic Church to this day, and as such is the official national language of the Vatican. Romance languages are not derived from Classical Latin, the language spoken by Caesar and Cicero, but rather from Vulgar Latin, the language spoken by the common people, or vulgus, of Rome. Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin (Romance) differ (for example) in that Romance had distinctive stress whereas Classical had distinctive length of vowels. In Italian and Sardo logudorese, there is distinctive length of consonants and stress, in Spanish only distinctive stress, and in French even stress is no longer distinctive. Another major distinction between Classical and Romance is that modern Romance languages, excluding Romanian, have lost their case endings (suffixes at the end of the word used in place of prepositions) in most words (some pronouns being exceptions). Romanian is still equipped with several cases (though some, notably the ablative, are no longer represented). It is also important to note that Latin is, for the most part, an inflected language — meaning that the endings change to show how the word is being used in the sentence. Introduction to the Latin LanguageSimple and Compound WordsIn Latin, words are either:
Word PartsInflected words (i.e., words having ending- or spelling-changes according to their grammatical functions in the sentence) have a stem and a root. The Stem The stem is the part of the word to which various suffixes are added. The final suffix determines either the role of the word in the sentence (for example, when a Roman slave wished to address his dominus (master), he used the vocative form domine -- equivalent to "O master" in English) or the person involved in the action (for example, "I dominate" may be expressed as "domin-or", and "they dominate" as "domin-antur"). In these cases, domin- is the stem and -us, -e, -or and -antur are suffixes. The addition of such suffixes is called inflection. This is discussed further in the Summary. The Root The root is the part of the word that carries the essential meaning. For example the stem of agito (I drive onward) is agit-, whose root is ag (do, drive), which is in common to words of similar meaning: ago (I do, drive), agmen (that which is driven, such as a flock), etc. Notice the essential difference between a root and a stem. To the root "ag" has been added a suffix "(i)to-" which denotes frequency of action (so "agit-" means to do or drive more than once, hence "agit-o", I agitate, I keep (something) moving, I urge, I impel). In contrast, English uses word order more than inflection to determine the function of a word within a sentence. English also uses words like pronouns (I, she, etc.) and prepositions (to, at, etc.) where Latin generally prefers inflexions. Thus "dom-i" (noun -- "at home"), "ag-unt" (verb -- "they do/drive"). Primitives Primitives occur when both the stem and the root are the same. For example, in the word agere (to do, drive) both the stem and the root are the same: "ag-". Derivatives Derivatives occur when the root or stem is modified. For example, the stem flamm- from the noun flamma has the root "flag" ("blaze"), "nosco" (I know) from the verb "noscere" has the root "gno-" ("know"). Suffixes Latin attaches suffixes ("endings") to stems to turn them into words (most stems and roots cannot be used in sentences without an ending). This inflection is essential to forming Latin sentences. The various suffixes and their translations will be learned in the later lessons. Types of Words used in LatinNounsA noun (Latin: nomen) is "something perceived or conceived by the mind." There are two kinds of nouns: Substantives and Pronouns. 1. Substantive (nomen substantivum) is a name simply denoting something perceived or conceived: psittacus - the parrot, nix - the snow, virtus - virtue. 2. Pronoun (pronomen) is a word used in place of a substantivum, usually when the substantivum is already known: ea - she, ille - that man Nouns have changing endings on the stem (known as declension) and three incidents: number, gender and case. Number concerns whether the thing referred to is singular or plural (and the ending shows this); gender classifies a substantive as masculine, feminine or neuter (this determines how the endings of adjectives and pronouns behave) and case (where the ending must show how the noun fits in to the sentence). Adjectives and Pronouns must agree in all incidents when they refer to a substantive. VerbsVerbs (verba) express an action or a state of being, e.g., ago (I do), dixit (he said), venis (you come). "Conjugation" is the term for adding inflections to verb stems to indicate person (first, second or third), number (singular or plural), tense (present, future, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect or future perfect), voice (active or passive), and mood (indicative, subjunctive or imperative). A verb can be either finite or infinite: 1. Finite verbs (verba finita) are inflected and have a subject, e.g., I run, you run, he runs, they drive, the computer is turned on. 2. The infinite verbs (verba infinita) are not inflected and have no subject, e.g. to run, to drive, to turn on, to have drawn. Participles, which are inflected as substantives rather than as verbs, may also be considered infinite, e.g., the running boy. Modifiers1. Adjectives (adiectiva) are used to describe nouns. They indicate a quality perceived or conceived as inherent in, or attributed to, something denoted. E.g., vir magnus (the great man), puella pulchra (the fair girl) 2. Adverbs (adverbia) are similar to adjectives, except that they are used to qualify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs, rather than nouns. In practice, they restrict the meaning of the verb or adjective by specifying how or how much. E.g., curro celeriter (I run quickly), pugnat fortiter (he fights bravely), "vere jucundus est" (he's really nice"), "incredibile callida est" (she's incredibly clever). OtherParticles are uninflected words that provide extra meaning. 1. Prepositions (praepositiones) are little words which tell you how one thing (noun) is behaving in relation to another thing ("the duck was near the pond", "she went towards the wood"). In Latin, the noun that follows a preposition takes a particular ending (called a "case"), depending on the nature of the relationship, or on the nature of the preposition itself. E.g., ad (by), in (in), sub (under). What all this means is that a preposition is a sort of adverb, telling you how something is done. For example, "you go" is a simple statement, but "you go in" suggests that you don't just "go", you go so as to enter something, and so you need a noun for the "something". In English, we might say "you go into the house". In Latin, this would be: "in domum inis". Notice the form "in domum", which means "into" the house -- you're going into it, you're not yet exactly inside it (the ending -um of "domum" is called "accusative"). When you are inside the house, what you do is "in" the house, which is "in domo" (the ending -o of "domo" is called "ablative"). 2. Conjunctions (coniunctiones) join together clauses and sentences. E.g., et (and), atque (as well as), sed (but). 3. Interjections (interiectiones) are exclamations used to express feeling or to gain attention. E.g., o! (oh!) eheu! (alas!) ecce! (behold!) ArticlesLatin has NO articles (words for 'the' and 'a'). When translating Latin into English, insert a 'the' or 'a' when appropriate. Summary
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Exercises1. What is the shared root in the following English words?
2. In the following English words, what is the stem and what is the ending?
3. What parts of speech are each of the English words in (2), as well as the following:
4. Answer the following questions about the Latin language:
Revision
PronunciationLatin pronunciation has varied somewhat over the course of its long history, and there are some differences between Classical Latin, as spoken in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire, and Medieval or Ecclesiastical Latin, as spoken in the Middle ages and in the Catholic Church. This text focuses on the classical pronunciation.
Note that Latin, as written by the Romans, did not include macrons (the longmarks over long vowels) or the letters J and U. Macrons are used today as pronunciation guides and do not necessarily need to be written. The sound value of the letter U was filled by the letter V, which sounded either /w/ or /ʊ/ depending on context. Modern texts often preserve the V when it is making a /w/ sound and change it to a U when making a /ʊ/ sound. The letter J is sometimes used in modern times (this Wikibook not included) when the letter I is being used in diphthongs. Declension TablesThe following tables will be both referenced and explained in all of the following sections, and hence are placed here.
Note that nouns in the 3rd declension nominative can have any ending, hence why none is given in bold.
Grammar Part 1: Nouns and Their Role in SentencesNouns in Latin are inflected, which means that endings (also known as suffixes or suffices) are appended to the end of the stem to denote these things:
Most nouns in English can be modified to indicate number (cat versus cats), and many pronouns can be modified to indicate case (who versus whose) or gender (he versus she, his versus hers). Case is especially important in Latin as meaning cannot be determined by word order as it can be in English, but purely by word endings, or "inflection". Indeed, the words in a Latin sentence can appear in almost any order with little change in meaning. Two sentences with the word orders "Sam ate the orange" and "The orange ate Sam" could potentially mean the same thing in Latin, though the spellings of "orange" and "Sam" would have to change slightly to denote which was the subject (the one eating) and which was the object (the one being eaten). It is important to note here that although the genders of many words make sense (for example, "puella", meaning a girl, is feminine) many are simply assigned and hold no real meaning. Luckily, as you will find, the gender can often be determined by the spelling of the word (words ending in "us" are almost always masculine, and words ending in "a" are almost always feminine). For many words, however, you will simply have to memorize their gender. Adjectives themselves must match the number, case, and gender of the noun (be it a substantive or a pronoun) they modify. If a noun is nominative singular feminine (see case table below), then the adjective describing it must also be nominative singular feminine. If the noun is accusative plural masculine, then the adjective must be accusative plural masculine. This will be expanded on in the Adjectives section below. The advantage of this system is that adjectives do not need to be adjacent to their respective nouns, as one would be able to tell which noun they modify by which noun they appear to agree with. DeclensionAll substantives are part of one of 5 categories, called declensions. Each declension has a set of standard suffixes that indicate case and number. Usually gender is indicated by the suffix, although there are many exceptions. Therefore, you must memorize the gender of every substantive you learn. By familiarizing yourself with the above tables, you could deduce that originally the suffix indicating number, case, and gender was the same for every noun. However, as the language developed, nouns with a common stem formed declensions and sounds changed. Similar processes happen continually over time, even today. The above tables allow you to familiarize yourself with the existence of each declension, though by no means are you expected to memorize it now. Nonetheless, you will have to memorize it as you are formally introduced to individual cases and declensions in future lessons. Because of its introductory purpose, it is considerably simplified and incomplete, and therefore should not be used as a reference in the future. Adjectives are also classed into declensions:
Pronouns are not part of any declension, as they are all irregular, and simply have to be memorized. CaseCases (Latin: casus) determine the role of the noun in the sentence in relation to other parts of the sentence. There are six cases, Nominative, Vocative, Accusative, Genitive, Dative and Ablative. Vocative (Lesson 3) can be considered a sort of miniature case, generally not being accepted as a true one. Additionally, some nouns have a locative case, which will be covered later. As nominative and accusative are the most basic, these will be taught first (the rest will be covered in later lessons).
GenderAll substantives, including inanimate objects, have a particular gender (genera), which is either masculine, feminine, or neuter. For example, Vir, "a man," is masculine. Marītus, "a husband," is also masculine. Puella, "a girl," is feminine. Māter, "a mother," is feminine. Even inanimate objects are assigned gender, including all the moons, stars, trees, tools, and so forth. Logic will give you little help in determining what the genders of inanimate objects are, and with many nouns memorization is required. Luckily, for many nouns, the spelling of the word indicates the gender. Certain rules may be utilized to determine the gender of an inanimate substantive. Declension is a good indication of gender, especially for 1st and 2nd declension substantives. 1st declension substantives (substantives with an -a suffix) are usually feminine and second declension nouns (substantives with an -us suffix) are usually masculine or neuter. There are a few exceptions, and they will have to be learned. 3rd declension nouns can be either masculine, feminine or neuter (thus the gender will often have to be memorized). 4th declension nouns are usually masculine, sometimes neuter while 5th declension nouns are usually feminine. 1st/2nd declension adjectives alternate the set of endings depending on the gender of noun it describes (see above: Agreement of the Gender of Nouns and the Adjective). If the adjective describes a feminine noun, the adjective must use 1st declension endings, if the adjective describes a masculine noun, the adjective must use 2nd declension masculine endings, if the adjective describes a neuter noun the adjective must use 2nd declension neuter endings. 3rd declension adjectives use the same set of endings for masculine and feminine nouns. However, a slightly different set of endings are used when describing neuter nouns. AdjectivesAs stated above, adjectives must match the gender, number, and case of the noun (be the noun a substantive, or a pronoun) they modify. However, there are many occasions where logic cannot be used to determine the gender of inanimate objects, as genders are generally arbitrary when the noun has no literal gender. Furthermore, the declension of the noun, often determined by the spelling, can in turn be used to determine the gender, especially for the 1st and 2nd. However, this is never the case for the third declension, as the declension itself is not primarily assigned to any gender and the spelling of the nominative ("default") stem is random, leaving you with no hints. A noun and its adjective must also be in the same case. Otherwise, it is impossible to tell which nouns pair up to their respective adjectives in a sentence, as the words in a Latin sentence can appear in any order. See the examples below.
Recapitulation
Therefore:
Before you proceed to the next lesson, complete the exercises below so you will be able to apply this knowledge to Latin. ExercisesEXERCISE • Print Version • Questions
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Questions
TranslationLatin/Latin/Lesson 1-Nominative
Exercises
ExercisesEXERCISE • Print Version • Give the accusative singular.
Give the accusative singular for:
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Give the accusative singular.
EXERCISE • Print Version • Give the accusative plural.
Give the accusative plural for:
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Give the accusative plural.
EXERCISE • Print Version • Give the nominative singular.
Give the nominative singular for:
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Give the nominative singular.
Grammar: The AccusativeAs you learned in the last lesson, the verb 'esse' (to be) usually takes the nominative case, because then the word after it is a complement. Most other verbs take the 'accusative' case. In a sentence, the accusative is the "what" - in English grammar, this is known as the direct object. For example: The girl sells the box. What did the girl sell? The box. Thus, box is the direct object, and when we translate it into Latin:
Cistam, then, is in the accusative, because it is the direct object. Again, when an adjective describes a noun in the accusative case, the adjective must agree in number, case, and gender.
Because Latin uses cases to mark the subject and the object of a sentence, word order does not matter. Consider:
Examples of Adjectives Agreeing with the Nominative and Accusative Case
Bonus, a first and second declension adjective, is masculine, nominative, and singular to agree with puer, the word it is describing. Ferocem, a third declension adjective, is masculine, accusative, and singular to agree with canem. Canem is accusative because it is the object of amat. Here is an example of plural adjectives:
The words bonus and ferocem become boni and feroces to agree with the plurals pueri and canes. However, if a girl (puella) happened to love that boy:
Bonus must become bona in order to modify puella, which is feminine. Finally, if the girl isn't good, but rather wild:
Even though puella is first declension, ferox remains third declension. In the same way, a good lion would be bonus leo. Exercise 3Determine whether the adjective agrees with the substantive in all three categories: case, gender, number.
EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer
See table above. Determine whether the adjective (magnus, bonus..) agrees with the substantives (ager, puella, poeta) in both case (nominative, accusative...), gender (masculine, female and neuter) and number (singular and plural). SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer
Grammar: The Use of the Accusative
I heal you. (acc.) You make my day. (acc.) She hit your arm. (acc.) In the examples above, the bold words are the subject of the sentence clause. Because something happens "to" them, they can't be in nominative. Grammatical Explanation Using English Sentences
Exercise 4: Find the Nominative and AccusativeEXERCISE • Print Version • Find the Nominative and Accusative (if present) in each the sentence.
Find the Nominative and Accusative (if present) in each the sentence.
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Find the Nominative and Accusative (if present) in each the sentence.
EXERCISE • Print Version • In the following sentences, identify the accusative and nominative. Then translate.
In the following sentences, identify the accusative and nominative. Then translate.
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • In the following sentences, identify the accusative and nominative. Then translate.
Exercises
Noun Tables
The GenitiveThe genitive case is a descriptive case. The genitive case describes the following features of the described noun:
Quite simply, a word in the genitive case is translated with the preposition "of". Note that Latin does not have a separate form for the possessive genitive (Marcus's dog vs The dog of Marcus), as English does. A word in the genitive case showing possession can be translated either way. Latin Examples
Exercise 1Indicate the word in the genitive:
Agreeing with the AdjectivesWhen adjectives are used to describe nouns in the genitive case, they must have the same case, number, and gender as the noun to which it refers. Example
It's that simple. The DativeThe dative case, also known as the indirect object case indicates:
Latin does not distinguish between "to" or "for", though this is sometimes the case in English:
Example 1
'For' is the preposition indicating a dative. 'For' can be used in some other constructs. To determine whether it is dative, analyse the meaning of the sentence (see Example 3). Practice will enable you to quickly spot the case of a noun in the sentence without much effort. Example 2He gave the book to John; He gave to John the book; or He gave John the book. This demonstrates how English can use prepositions to change word order and even 'presume' a certain preposition exists that has been left out, giving a dative construct. Latin Examples
Exercise 2: Translate into English
Note that placeo requires the dative case, as opposed to the accusative case. Verbs such as this are denoted with (+dat.) or similar abbreviations. EXERCISE • Print Version • Questions
SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Questions
Roman NumeralsThe Romans did not use the Hindu-Arabic numerals we use today. They used their own symbols and own numeric system. We still use Roman Numerals today.
Note the declensions of the first three numbers. Nullus is the Latin equivalent of zero, for example: nullam puellam in agro video means I see no girl in the field.
Exercise 3Write the word form of the numbers in the following sentences in the correct case.
Translation
The Ablative CaseThe ablative case in Latin has 4 main uses:
The different uses of the ablative will be dealt progressively. For a summary of all forms of the ablative, please consult the Appendix. Grammar Part 5: The Power of the Ablative CaseAblative generally indicates position in time and/or space (i.e. when and where). It can also indicate the idea of ways of getting to a location, abstractly or concretely. Ablative of MeansExerciseHow would you translate "I made the toga by hand"?
AnswerAnswer: Togam manu feci. In this case, the word "manu" is in the ablative (see fourth declension list) and thus means "by hand." ExerciseI have my wisdom by means of my teacher.
AnswerAnswer: Habeo sapientiam magistro. Ablative of TimeHow would you say: I will arrive at the 5th hour. 'at the 5th hour' is indicating position of time. Thus, it can be put into the ablative case, giving: adveniam quinta hora In general, therefore, in order to say "In the morning", "At nine O'clock," or "In the tenth year," use ablative. It is generally used to refer to a specific time in which something has, does, or will occur. Example: I will leave in the night. Hint: Future tense can be looked up in the appendices of this Wikibook! Hint: to leave- discedo, discedere; night- nox, noctis(This is a third declension word!) AnswerAnswer: Discedam nocte. Note the simplicity in which Latin translates the six words into simply two. The ending based language completely negates the need for the words "I," "will," "in," and "the." Ablative of PlaceNaves navigabant mari. The ships were sailing on the sea. The ablative is also useful for showing the location of things, in general where you would use the words on, in, or at. There is an exception for the slightly more archaic locative, which is used with the words domi (from domus, domus, f., home), ruri (from rus, ruris, n., country [as opposed to city]), and Romae (from Roma, Romae, f., Rome), as well as with the names of towns, cities and small islands. Latin has its own way of handling prepositions depending on the nouns and their cases in the sentence, including the versatile in, which can take many different meanings depending upon the case of the object. Ablative with prepositionsHere are a few prepositions that can take the ablative (for a fuller list, see the lesson on adverbs and prepositions in the previous chapter):
As a general rule, when motion is implied, use the accusative, but when location is implied Example 3Servus ex agris venit.
Note: Ager (ager, agri, m., field) must take an ablative suffix to match the preceding preposition, in this case e/ex. Incidentally, both ager and campus mean "field," but ager, like its English derivative "agriculture", connotes a farming field, while campus (think "camping" or "college campus") means "open field." The Campus Martius was a large field in Rome used for military training. The Vocative CaseWhile you will rarely need to ask Lupus where the bathroom is in Latin, you may find yourself reading either quotes or letters in which a person is being directly addressed. The case it will be in is the vocative. For example, "Hail, Augustus" will appear in Latin as Ave Auguste, and not Ave Augustus.
Furthermore, in all but the second declension, the nominative and vocative are exactly the same!
Examples for different declensions in the second declension
Examples
The basic form of the imperative is created by dropping the "re" off of the infinitive form of the verb, as in: Amare, which becomes Ama; at least in the singular active form, which is all that these exercises require. More can be found about this subject in the chapter on verbs. Revision
Personal Pronouns in English
Pronouns are nouns which are used instead of another noun ('pro', in place of 'noun', noun.) There are three categories of pronouns which are divided up into persons: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. In addition, pronouns can be singular or plural. They are declined like all other nouns.
Personal Pronouns in Latin1st/2nd Person PronounsTable of Personal Pronouns in all of their cases: I, thou, we, yeNote: Thou is the archaic singular of the archaic plural ye - useful for distinguishing you (singular) from you (plural)
Nota Bene: the genitive is used in certain phrases like:
For the possessive uses (my sister, your bicycle), Latin does not use the genitive, but the possessive adjectives:
3rd Person PronounsTechnically, 3rd person pronouns do not exist in Latin as they do in English. However, they do have equivalents. Adjectives modify nouns and take the gender of the noun which they modify. However, adjectives do not necessarily need a substantive present in the sentence to modify. The substantive can be presumed. In this way, '3rd person' pronouns are formed. Example 1Take the masculine form of the adjective 'ille'. Literally it means 'That (masculine) thing.' However one could take it for simply meaning 'he', depending on the context. Similarly, the pronoun 'iste' means 'this (masc.) thing'. Iste and ille are declined in exactly the same way. If no substantive is provided assume words like these: 'man', 'woman', 'thing', 'idea', 'concept', 'reason' etc. Let context be your guide. Common Adjectives Used as 3rd Person Pronouns In LatinDeclension of Ille (that)
Ille is often used as a kind of pronoun. In situations with multiple phrases or sentences, however, it is syntactically different from is, ea, id (see below). For example: "Canis puero cibum dat. Is laborat in agro." means "The dog gives food to the boy. The dog works in the field". However: "Canis puero cibum dat. Ille laborat in agro." means "The dog gives food to the boy. The boy works in the field". Thus, ille, unlike the other pronouns makes a previous object into the subject (and vice versa). Examples of the Usage of Ille:
Declension of Is, ea, id: (personal pronouns w/ translations)
Like ille, is can be used as a form of a pronoun. Examples of the Usage of Is
Declension of the Relative pronoun qui, quae, quod: (meaning who, which, he)
Uses of the Relative PronounThe relative pronoun takes on the case depending on the function it serves in the relative clause. For example, in the sentence "He sees the man who has a slave," "who" is translated as nominative because it is the subject of the clause "who has a slave." The antecedent (noun to which the pronoun refers) is usually before the relative clause. Examples of the Usage of the Relative Pronoun
Declension of hic, haec, hoc (meaning "this")
N.B. Hic as an adverb that means 'here'. N.B. Hic can also be used as a pronoun. Example of the Usage of Hic
Chapter 6 Verse
Verses are very important. They are exactly like they are in English.
Poem about Latin
Latin is a language, At least it used to be; It killed the Ancient Romans, And now it's killing me. (Iambic Trimeter) It killed Julius Caesar And killed those who learned it. Bless the dead! They surely earned it. (Anapestic Dimeter) |