Survival Guide to Beginning Latin Final Project By Rebecca Brown English 362 Fall 2003
The Purpose of This Guide This guide is designed to provide the beginning Latin student with a synthesized reference material that includes many of the basic concepts that are learned in the first semester of Latin. Included in this guide are basic grammatical definitions, examples, tables that can be used in daily learning situations and blank study forms for you to use. I have also included some word studies to show how Latin has remained alive throughout the millennia. This guide uses the following documentation conventions: Indicates a key concept Indicates a question for the reader Indicates an example Italics
Indicates a word or phrase in a language other than English.
Bold
Emphasizes the concept that is being illustrated.
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Table of Contents THE PURPOSE OF THIS GUIDE.........................................................................2 LIST OF FIGURES ...............................................................................................6 LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................6 REFERENCE GUIDE OF GRAMMATICAL TERMS ............................................7 Noun........................................................................................................................................................ 7 Subject .................................................................................................................................................... 7 Direct object............................................................................................................................................ 7 Indirect object......................................................................................................................................... 8 Pronoun .................................................................................................................................................. 8 Genitive Case .......................................................................................................................................... 8 Ablative Case .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Transitive verb........................................................................................................................................ 9 Intransitive verb ..................................................................................................................................... 9 Adjective ............................................................................................................................................... 10 Adverb .................................................................................................................................................. 10 Gender .................................................................................................................................................. 10 Number ................................................................................................................................................. 10 Declension ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Predicate ............................................................................................................................................... 11
THE WAY LATIN WORKS .................................................................................11 Example of An Inflected Word............................................................................................................. 11
WHAT LATIN NOUNS TELL US........................................................................11 Number ................................................................................................................................................. 11 Gender .................................................................................................................................................. 12
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Case....................................................................................................................................................... 12 Declining a noun ................................................................................................................................... 13
WHAT DOES CASE TELL US? .........................................................................14 Nominative case .................................................................................................................................... 14 Genitive case ......................................................................................................................................... 15 Dative case ............................................................................................................................................ 15 Accusative case ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Ablative Case ........................................................................................................................................ 16
DECLENSIONS WITH MODIFIERS ...................................................................16 Example of Feminine Noun .................................................................................................................. 16 Example of Masculine Noun................................................................................................................. 16 Example of Neuter Noun ...................................................................................................................... 16 PAIN Words ......................................................................................................................................... 17
LATIN VERBS ....................................................................................................17 Infinitive................................................................................................................................................ 17 Singular................................................................................................................................................. 18 Plural .................................................................................................................................................... 18 Present Stem ......................................................................................................................................... 18 Present Tense Endings.......................................................................................................................... 18 Future Tense Endings........................................................................................................................... 19 Perfect Tense ........................................................................................................................................ 19
ENGLISH AND ITS ROMAN ROOTS ................................................................20 WORD STUDIES ................................................................................................21 SOURCES ..........................................................................................................24
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APPENDIX A......................................................................................................24 Latin Noun Endings Reference Chart.................................................................................................. 25
APPENDIX B ......................................................................................................26 Latin Noun Endings Drill Chart .......................................................................................................... 26
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List of Figures Figure 1 Diagram of Rebecca cried ......................................................................7 Figure 2 Diagram of Paul rides a bike...................................................................8 Figure 3 Diagram of Puella est parva..................................................................15 Figure 4 Diagram of Vita puellae bonae..............................................................15 Figure 5 Diagram of Puer cibum puellae donavit ................................................15 Figure 6 Diagram of Puellae silvam amant .........................................................15 Figure 7 Diagram of Pugnis insulam occupatis. ..................................................16
List of Tables Table 1 Singular and Plural Forms ...........................................................................12 Table 2 First Declension of Puella ............................................................................12 Table 3 Connection Between Case and Part of Speech ........................................13 Table 4 First Declension Feminine Endings ............................................................13 Table 5 First Declension Noun Puella ......................................................................13 Table 6 Second Declension Masculine Endings .....................................................13 Table 7 Second Declension Masculine Noun Amicus ............................................14 Table 8 Second Declension Neuter Endings ...........................................................14 Table 9 Second Declension Neuter Noun Frumentum ...........................................14 Table 10 First Declension of Feminine Noun Femina with Modifier ......................16 Table 11 Second Declension of Masculine Noun Carro with Modifier ..................16 Table 12 Second Declension of Neuter Noun Praemium with Modifer .................17 Table 13 First Declension PAIN words.....................................................................17 Table 14 Esse (To Be) ...............................................................................................18 Table 15 Translation of Esse.....................................................................................18 Table 16 Present Tense Endings..............................................................................18 Table 17 First Conjugation Portare...........................................................................19 Table 18 Future Endings............................................................................................19 Table 19 First Conjugation Future Tense.................................................................19 Table 20 Perfect Endings...........................................................................................20 Table 21 First Conjugation Perfect Tense................................................................20 Table 22 Second Conjugation Perfect Tense ..........................................................20
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Reference guide of grammatical terms Noun A word that represents a person, animal, place, thing, idea or concept.
Examples a person: student, girl, boy, farmer an animal: dog, bird, cat, horse a place: library, mall, school, India a thing: car, book, computer, refrigerator an idea or concept: democracy, pride, strength, freedom
Subject The person or thing, in a sentence, that performs the action.
Examples • •
John sings a song. John is doing the action of singing, therefore, John is the subject. Mary rides a bike. Mary is doing the action of riding, therefore, Mary is the subject.
Ask yourself: who or what is the sentence about? Rebecca cried subject verb Figure 1 Diagram of Rebecca cried.
Direct object Objects are nouns or pronouns whom the action of the verb is directed towards.
Examples Rebecca sings a song. Sings is the verb and a song is the direct object.
Ask yourself: What is Rebecca singing? The answer is a direct object. Paul rides a bike. Rides is the verb and a bike is the direct object. 7
Ask yourself: What is Paul riding? The answer is a direct object. Paul rides subject verb
a bike direct object
Figure 2 Diagram of Paul rides a bike.
Indirect object A noun that states to whom, for whom an action is done. You will usually find the indirect object before a direct object in a sentence.
Example •
Rebecca gave her the book. Her is the indirect object.
Ask yourself: To whom did Rebecca give the book? The answer is to the indirect object.
Pronoun A word used instead of a noun.
Example • Rebecca likes to swim. She goes swimming everyday. In the first sentence, Rebecca is the noun. In the second sentence she is the pronoun that replaces the noun Rebecca.
Genitive Case This Case shows relationships between nouns, such as possession.
Example The father of the bride is happy.
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In Latin, the phrase, of the bride, would be declined in the genitive Case. Whomever is the one that does the possessing is put into the genitive Case.
Ask yourself: Whose father is it? The answer, the bride, is put in the genitive Case.
Ablative Case (ablative of means) Many ideas expressed in English, using a preposition and a noun, are expressed with the ablative Case in Latin.
Example •
They entice the sailors with money. Pecunia nautas incitamus.
Ask yourself: How are the sailors enticed? The answer is: by means of the ablative, which in this situation is by means of money.
Transitive verb A verb that takes a direct object. The verb cannot stand alone. It needs a direct object to complete the idea. (See above for explanation of direct object.) The action is transferred to an object.
Example •
The boy threw the ball. Threw is a transitive verb and the ball is the direct object.
Ask yourself: Is “The boy threw” a complete sentence or does it need a direct object to complete the sentence? Answer: It is not a complete sentence and it needs a direct object to complete the sentence, which makes it a transitive verb.
Intransitive verb A verb that does not need a direct object to complete its meaning.
Example •
Rebecca is crying.
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Ask yourself: Does this sentence express a complete thought? Answer: yes. We might like to know why Rebecca is crying, but we have a basic understanding of the situation with the information we are given.
Adjective Describes or modifies a noun.
Example •
Rebecca baked a delicious cake. The word delicious describes the noun, which in this Case is cake.
Ask yourself: What kind of cake is it? Answer: an adjective cake....a delicious cake.
Adverb A word that describes a verb. something done?
An adverb answers the question: how is
Example •
Rebecca sings beautifully.
Ask yourself: How does Rebecca sing? Answer: beautifully.
Gender In Latin, all nouns are either masculine, feminine or neuter. There is no logical reasoning behind the gender of a noun. Gender must be learned at the same time you learn the meaning of a noun.
Number This means that a word can be classified as singular, refers to one thing, or plural, refers to more than one thing. In Latin, the ending of a noun will indicate whether it is singular or plural.
Example •
puella (girl) is singular and puellae (girls) is plural.
Declension 10
A group of endings used for nouns and adjectives that speech, gender and number.
indicate part of
Predicate The part of a sentence that expresses what is said about the subject. It completes the information about the subject. It is used with a linking verb such as to be.
Example •
John is cute.
Ask yourself: John is what? The answer is the predicate.
The Way Latin Works There are only a few basic concepts that you have to grasp, in order to get along in Latin. Latin is an inflected language. This means that the endings of a noun or a verb give you specific information regarding number, gender, tense, and in the Case of a noun, its part of speech.
Example of An Inflected Word • puellarum In this example, puell is the stem and arum is the ending. Puell means girl and arum is the second person plural form of the genitive Case. This word means X of the girl, such as, the brother of the girl.
What Latin Nouns Tell Us • • • •
Number Gender Case Declension
Number In English, we understand number in terms of singular and plural. Table 1 below shows the letter “s” is generally the English marker for plural. 11
Example of Number in English Table 1 Singular and Plural Forms
Singular girl
Plural girls
Latin also has singular and plural, however, unlike English which generally uses “s” as its plural marker, there is more than one singular and plural marker in Latin. Table 2 below shows how each Case has its own singular and plural markers and the markers or endings must be learned. Table 2 First Declension of Puella
Case Singular Plural Nominative puella puellae Genitive puellae puellarum Dative puellae puellis Accusative puellam puellas Ablative puella puellis
Gender In Latin, there are three possible genders: feminine, masculine and neuter. Every noun is one of these three genders. When you learn a noun, you must learn its gender at the same time.
Case In Latin, the role that a noun plays in a sentence is referred to as its Case. A nouns Case is indicated by its ending. The endings of words change based on their function in a sentence. There are five commonly used Cases in Latin. • • • • •
Nominative Genitive Dative Accusative Ablative
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Table 3 below illustrates the correlation between Case and part of speech as we understand them in English.
Table 3 Connection Between Case and Part of Speech
Part of speech Subject Possessive Indirect object Direct object Other
Case In Latin Nominative Genitive Dative Accusative Ablative of means
In English Nominative Possessive Object with to Direct object Object with preposition
Declining a noun In Latin, there are three commonly used declensions: •
First Declension Endings (Table 4)
•
Second Declension Masculine Endings (Table 6)
•
Second Declension Neuter Endings (Table 8) Table 4 First Declension Feminine Endings
a ae ae am a
ae arum is as is
Example Table 5 First Declension Noun Puella
Case Nominative Genitive Dative Accusative Ablative
Singular puella puellae puellae puellam puella
Plural puellae puellarum puellis puellas puellis
Table 6 Second Declension Masculine Endings
us i o um o
i orum is os is
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Example Table 7 Second Declension Masculine Noun Amicus
Case Nominative Genitive Dative Accusative Ablative
Singular amicus amici amico amicum amico
Plural amici amicorum amicis amicos amicis
Table 8 Second Declension Neuter Endings
um i o um o
a orum is a is
Example Table 9 Second Declension Neuter Noun Frumentum
Case Singular Plural Nominative frumentum frumenta Genitive frumenti frumentorum Dative frumento frumentis Accusative frumentum frumenta Ablative frumento frumentis
What Does Case Tell Us? Nominative case is used to signify the subject of a sentence. It is also used in the predicate after a linking verb, such as esse (to be). The ending of the nominative that appears in the predicate will agree with the subject.
Example: Puella est parva (The girl is small). Both puella and parva end in the first declension nominative singular
Puella subject
est linking verb
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parva predicate nominative
Figure 3 Diagram of Puella est parva.
Genitive case is used to show possession or ownership. You will see it in a sentence with a structure such as, of the noun or the noun’s...
Example: Vita puellae bonae. Translates: The life of the girl is good OR The girl’s life is good. Puellae is in the genitive singular and has the genitive singular ending ae. Vita nominative
puellae genitive
bonae adjective
Figure 4 Diagram of Vita puellae bonae.
Dative case is used as the indirect object in a sentence. Example: Puer cibum puellae donavit. Translates: The boy gave food to the girl. Puer nominative
cibum accusative
puellae dative
donavit verb
Figure 5 Diagram of Puer cibum puellae donavit.
Accusative case functions as the direct object in a sentence. Example: Puellae silvam amant. Translates: The girls like the forest. Puellae nominative
silvam accusative
amant verb
Figure 6 Diagram of Puellae silvam amant.
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Ablative Case is used to form prepositional phrases, such as, by means of. It does not use a preposition. Example: Pugnis insulam occupatis. Translates: They seized the island by means of a battle. Pugnis ablative
insulam accusative
occupatis verb
Figure 7 Diagram of Pugnis insulam occupatis.
Declensions with Modifiers When declining a noun that has a modifier, such as an adjective associated with it, the modifier must be declined as well. Tables 10, 11 and 12 illustrate a noun from each declension along with an adjective. •
Example: Femina (feminine noun) bona (adjective) Table 10 First Declension of Feminine Noun Femina with Modifier
Case nominative genitive dative accusative ablative •
Singular femina bona feminae bonae feminae bonae feminam bonam femina bona
Plural femine bonae feminarum bonarum feminis bonis feminas bonas feminis bonis
Example: Carrus (masculine noun) magnus (adjective) Table 11 Second Declension of Masculine Noun Carro with Modifier
Case nominative genitive dative accusative ablative •
Singular carrus magnus carri magni carro magno carrum magnum carro magno
Plural carrus magni carrorum magnorum carris magnis carros magnos carris magnis
Example: Praemium (neuter noun) magnum (adjective) 16
Table 12 Second Declension of Neuter Noun Praemium with Modifer
Case nominative genitive dative accusative ablative
Singular praemium magnum praemi magni praemo magno praemium magnum praemio magno
Plural praemia magna praemiorum magnorum praemis magnis praemia magna praemis magnis
PAIN Words PAIN is an acronym. A PAIN word is a masculine noun in a feminine declension. This noun will be declined as if it is feminine, however, any modifiers (adjectives) used with a PAIN word will be declined in the masculine form. The four commonly used PAIN words are shown, declined, in Table 13. • • • •
Poeta Agricola Incola Nauta Table 13 First Declension PAIN words
Case Singular Plural Nominative nauta magnus nautae magni Genitive nautae magni nautarum magorum Dative nautae magno nautis magnis Accusative nautam magnum nautas magnos Ablative nauta magno nautis magnis
Latin Verbs Infinitive The infinitive form of a verb is the form that begins with to and does not show number.
Example The Latin verb esse translates as to be in English The Latin verb parare translates as to prepare in English The infinitives of most Latin verbs end in re.
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Exception: esse, the infinitive of to be, is an irregular verb and does not end in re. Table 14 shows the conjugation for esse. Table 15 shows how it translates in English. Table 14 Esse (To Be)
Singular sum es est
Plural sumus estis sunt
Table 15 Translation of Esse
Singular Plural I am we are you are you (plural) are he, she, it is they are
Present Stem The stem of a present tense verb is found by dropping the re from the infinitive. The stem is important because you will add different endings to it in order to form different tenses of a verb.
• Example For the Latin verb parare, drop the re ending and you will have the stem.
Present Tense Endings This group of endings is added to the infinitive to form the present tense of a verb. The present tense describes an action that is happening right now. Table 13 shows the endings for the present tense and Tables 16 and 17 show examples of conjugations.
• Endings Chart Table 16 Present Tense Endings
Singular o s t
Plural mus tis nt
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Example of first conjugation verb in present tense Table 17 First Conjugation Portare
portare (to carry) Singular Plural porto portamus portas portatis portat portant
Future Tense Endings The future tense describes events or actions that have not yet occurred. Once again, a group of endings is added to the present stem of the verb to form the tense. Table 18 shows the endings for the future tense and Table 19 shows a verb conjugated in the future tense.
Endings Chart Table 18 Future Endings
Singular bo bis bit
Plural bimus bitis bunt
Example of first conjugation verb in future tense Table 19 First Conjugation Future Tense
portare (to carry) Singular Plural portabo portabimus portabis portabitis portabit portabunt
Perfect Tense The perfect tense is akin to the past tense in English. It describes an action or event that is completed. There is a group of endings that is added to the present stem to form this tense. Table 20 shows the endings for the perfect tense and Table 21 shows a first conjugation verb in the perfect tense and Table 22 shows a second conjugation verb in the perfect tense.
Endings Chart 19
Table 20 Perfect Endings
Singular i isti it
Plural imus istis erunt
Example First Conjugation Perfect Tense Table 21 First Conjugation Perfect Tense
portare: to carry Singular Plural portavi portavimis portavisti portavistis portavit portaverunt
Example Second Conjugation Perfect Tense Table 22 Second Conjugation Perfect Tense
docere: to teach
Singular docui docuisti docuit
Plural docuimus docuistis docuerunt
English and its Roman Roots One of the first things that a student notices when they begin to study Latin, is the great similarity between many Latin and English words. Even before beginning their first lesson, students can glance at a paragraph written in Latin and correctly guess the meaning of several words. These similar looking words are called cognates, and they allow the beginning Latin student to excel right from the start. This similarity does not only exist between Latin and English. You will find it between English and all the other Romance languages. Romance
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languages include: Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese and are closely related languages that all stem from Latin. All of those countries were conquered and colonized by the Romans, and their native languages almost completely replaced by Latin. Even the term Romance contains the word Roman; the original speakers of Latin. English is considered a Germanic language; however, more than 60 percent of English comes from Latin. In addition, our alphabet is called the Roman alphabet.
Word Studies Some words, from Latin, which appear in English today, have retained their original meanings. Other words look similar to the original Latin, but their meanings have changed in English. As you will see, there is great crossover, from language to language, that began over 2000 years ago. Larva The original meaning of larva in Latin was ghost. In English, the same word appears, however, it means just-hatched insect eggs. A link can still be seen between these two seemingly different meanings. A ghost is traditionally seen as pale (think Casper) and masked. Larva is also pale and their form masks the future identity of the insect. Portable In Latin, the verb portare means to carry. This word has retained its meaning in English today. You also see this word in French. The verb porter means to carry as well. A porter, in English, is someone who carries your suitcases for you. Amiable 21
In English, this word means likeable or friendly. The original Latin word is amicus and means friendly and friend. In French, the verb aimer means: to like and the adjective amical means friendly. Laudable In English, this word means worthy of praise. The Latin verb laudare means: to praise. The term graduated cum laude means graduated with praise. Navigate The Latin verb navigare means: to sail. In English, this word means to find one’s way. In French, the verb naviguer means to sail or navigate. Mandate In English, this word means to entrust a person or group (sometimes a government) with a particular issue. In Latin, the verb mandare means to entrust. In French, the word for a mandate is mandat. Novelty or novel In English, these words mean something new, as in the sentence: That is a novel idea. In Latin, the word nova means something new. In French, the word nouveau means new. Probation In English, probation means someone who is being tested; they must prove that they can remain on the straight and narrow. In Latin, the verb probare means to test or prove. Pugilist
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In English, this word means a professional boxer. In Latin, the verb pugnare means to fight and the noun pugna means a battle or fight. Server These days in the United States, you can’t go to a restaurant without hearing the phrase “my name is so and so and I will be your server.” A server is a person who will take care of you while at the restaurant. In Latin, a servus was a slave. Memory and Memorial In English, this word means something remembered. In Latin, the word memoria means memory. In French, the word mémoire means memory.
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Sources Hendricks, Rhoda. Latin Made Simple. New York: Doubleday, 1992. "Latin Section." Latin Section. Jan. 2003. Teaching Tools . 15 Dec. 2003 <http://www.teachingtools.org/toolbox/learning/latin/intro.htm>. Morton, Jacqueline. English Grammar for Students of French. 4th ed. Ann Arbor: The Olivia and Hill Press, 1997. Morwood, James. Latin Grammar. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Ullman, B.L., Charles Henderson, and Norman E Henry. Latin for Americans. 1962. Woodland Hills: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 1990.
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Appendix A Latin Noun Endings Reference Chart First Declension -a -ae -ae -am -a
-ae -arum -is -as -is Second Declension, masculine
-us -i -o -um -o
-i -orum -is -os -is Second Declension, neuter
-um -i -o -um -o
-a -orum -is -a -is Š Copyright 1998 Teaching Tools Inc.
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Appendix B Latin Noun Endings Drill Chart First Declension
Second Declension, Masculine
Second Declension, Neuter
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