Exercises

1. Define the root.
2. Define the stem.
3. Define inflection.
4. Define endings.
5. Name the parts of speech.
6. In what area of Italy was Latin originally spoken?

Basic Grammar

Pronunciation

Latin 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.

Most letters in Latin are pronounced similarly to their English counterparts, with several exceptions:

The dipthong "ae" is pronounced as the "ai" in "aisle". The dipthong "au" is pronounced "ow". The dipthong "oe" is pronounced "oy" in "boy". The dipthong "eu" is pronounced as "eh-oo" The dipthong "ou" is pronounced "oo". The dipthong "ui" is pronounced "we".

The letter "c" is always hard. The letter "g" is always hard. The letter "v" can be either a consonant or a vowel. When a consonant, it is pronounced as a "w", and when a vowel it is pronounced as a "u", though it is often edited to a "u". The letter "i" can be either a consonant or a vowel. When a consonant, it is pronounced as a "y" and is often edited to a "j". Neither "u" nor "j" existed in Latin as such.

The letters "k", "w", "z", and "y" did not exist in Latin, though they were occasionally used to write words borrowed from Greek or some other foreign language.

Grammar Part 1: Nouns and Their Role in Sentences

Nouns in Latin are inflected, which means that endings (also known as suffixes or suffices) are appended to the end of the stem. These endings indicate the:

1. Number (whether the noun is singular or plural)
2. Case of the noun (role of the noun in the sentence)
3. Gender (the gender of the word - one of masculine, feminine, or neuter)

Most nouns in English can be modified to indicate number (cat versus cats), whilst 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 syntax as it can be in English, but purely by its endings, or "inflection".

Adjectives themselves must match the gender, number, and case of the noun (be the noun a substantive or pronoun) they modify. For example, if an adjective describes a table, which is feminine, the adjective must have a feminine suffix to match the gender. (It is important to note here that although many genders make sense - for example, "puella", meaning girl, is feminine - many are simply assigned and hold no real meaning. For most words, you will simply have to memorise their gender.) At the same time, the adjective must match the case and number of the noun it modifies. Therefore, if a noun is nominative singular feminine, 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.

Case (casus)

Cases (casus) determine the role of the noun in the sentence in relation to other parts of the sentence. Relations in which a noun fails to express use a preposition along with specific case (see Introduction).

There are 6 cases, nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative and ablative. Vocative (Lesson 3) can be considered a sort of miniature case, however, it is not generally accepted as a true one. As nominative and accusative are the most basic, these will be taught first. Additionally, some nouns have a locative case, meaning "at".

Gender (genera)

All substantives have a particular gender. This includes inanimate objects. There are three genders to which all substantives may lay claim. A substantive can be one of masculine, feminine, or neuter.

For example, homo, "a man," is thought to be 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 etc. Logic will give you little help in determining what the gender of the inanimate objects are, and so ultimately you will be required to memorize the gender associated with each individual substantive.

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. 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.

Declension

All substantives are part of one of the 5 declensions. Each declension has a set of standard suffixes to indicate case and number. Usually gender is indicated by the suffix, however there are many exceptions. Therefore, for substantives, the gender must be memorized for every substantive you learn.

By familiarizing yourself with the following table, 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 (this process happens continually over time, even today).

Adjectives are also classed into declensions, although there only two: 1st/2nd declension and 3rd declension Adjectives.

1st/2nd declension adjectives use 1st declension suffixes from the substantive declension table when describing feminine nouns. 1st/2nd declension adjectives use 2nd declension masculine suffixes from the table when describing masculine nouns. 1st/2nd declension adjectives use 2nd declension neuter suffixes from the table when describing neuter nouns.

3rd declension adjectives behave as 'i' stem substantives unless specified. Masculine and Feminine suffixes (which are the same) will be used if describing masculine and feminine nouns, and Neuter suffixes will be used when describing neuter nouns.

Pronouns are not part of any declension, as they are all irregular, and simply have to be memorized.

Recapitulation

• Declensions are used to categorise nouns in groups. There are 5 declensions in total.
• Each of the five declensions has a distinct set of endings which are appended to nouns of that declension.
• The endings indicate the case and number when appended to the stem of a noun.
• A substantive may use only the endings of the declension of which it is a part.
• Each substantive has a predefined gender which almost never changes and is separate from the suffix.
• Adjectives are a part of the 1st/2nd declension and 3rd declension.
• Adjectives use the gender of the noun that they modify.

Therefore:

• An adjective of the 1st/2nd declension uses 1st declension endings when describing a feminine noun, a 2nd declension masculine ending when describing masculine noun, and 2nd declension neuter when describing a neuter noun.
• An adjective of the 3rd declension uses the same set of endings when describing masculine and feminine nouns and another set of endings when describing neuter nouns. (Actually, there are 3-termination, 2-termination, and 1-termination 3rd declension adjectives. If the adjective is 3-termination, e.g., acer (f. sing.), acris (m. sing.), acer (n. sing.), acres (f. pl.), acres (m. pl.), or acria (n. pl.), then use the appropriate ending; if the adjective is 2-termination, then one termination will be masculine/feminine and the other neuter; if the adjective is 1-termination, the common form is used.)

Before you proceed to the next lesson, complete the exercises below so you will be able to apply this knowledge to Latin.

Exercises

1. What are the three genders?
2. Are the genders which are applied to all nouns logical?
3. What is number (singular/plural)?
4. What is case?
5. What is a declension?
6. Describe the relationship between an adjective and the noun which it modifies.
7. How do 1st/2nd declension adjectives agree in gender with the noun that they modify, and how do 3rd declension adjectives agree in gender with the noun they modify?
8. How many declensions are there?
9. What gender are 1st declension substantives mostly?
10. What genders are 2nd declension substantives mostly?
11. What do the endings on the stem tell you?
12. Summarise this page.

Chapter 1: Basic Sentences

The Nominative Case

Notes on Vocabulary

The nominative case is used for the subject of the sentence (or any noun that is the equivalent of the subject).

NOTE: The nominative singular is unique in that it does not necessarily derive from the genitive stem as do the other cases, but may (particularly in the case of third declension nouns) be significantly different in form.

In this chapter, the following conventions will be used for nouns:

m. = masculine f. = feminine n. = neuter

• First and second declension substantives are given with at least the nominative case. (We will add the genitive singular as time permits. It is not strictly necessary, but you should get in the habit now of declining nouns based on the genitive stem and not the nominative. This chapter is therefore slightly misleading in this regard.)
• Third, fourth, and fifth declension substantives are given with the nominative and genitive singular.
• First/second declension adjectives must be given in all three gender suffixes: -us, -a, -um (masculine, feminine, and neuter). This is because description is not limited to a single gender. For example, being good is not a quality limited to a single gender. Boys can be good, girls can be good, and things can be good. So, since all three genders must apply, we don't label adjectives as particularly m., f., or n..
• Third declension adjectives are given with the nominative and genitive singular. This, however, is only true for third declension adjectives of one termination, so again this chapter is misleading in this regard.

Grammar Part 1: Overview of the Nominative Case

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 neutral. Bona is an adjective describing a feminine substantive, such as puella. For example, bona puella means "good girl." Bonus is an adjective describing a masculine substantive, such as dominus. For example, bonus dominus means "good master." For more on adjectives, see Lesson 2.

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.

A verb must agree in number with its subject.

Examples

Further Examples

Example 1

Notes: The adjective magnus -a -um must agree with triclīnium in gender, number, and case, so the correct form is magnum (neuter nominative singular).

Something like triclīnium magnus est, is incorrect because magnus does not agree with triclinium. To a Latin speaker, this would sound like nonsense. ("The dining room is a large man.")

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: The adjective magnus -a -um here must agree with lūdus in gender, number, and case, so the correct form is magnus (masculine nominative singular).

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).

Exercises

Exercise 1

Adjectives

Adjectives

Overview of Adjectives

An 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. In English, for example:

The red dog attacked the crazy fox.

An adjective can also be used in a sentence opposite a form of "to be."

The boy is good.

In Latin, the same is true.

Adjectives in Latin

Like 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.

Most third declension adjectives do not have separate masculine and feminine forms. (Neuter adjectives follow the third declension neuter pattern.)

First and second declension adjectives have three distinct genders. Feminine adjectives require the first declension, masculine the second (masculine pattern), and neuter the second (neuter pattern).

These words will look like the adjective antiquus (old, ancient):

antiquus (masculine), antiqua (feminine), antiquum (neuter).

Third declension adjectives typically look more like ferox, ferocis (wild, bold).

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:

• ⁽¹⁾ amare, [to] love. amat, [he] loves.
• ⁽²⁾ canis, dog (masc.)
• ⁽³⁾ ferox, ferocis, wild. ferocem (acc.)

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.

Adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case, but not necessarily in declension.

Exercise

Present indicative active construct

Grammatical Introduction to Verbs

This 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:

• Principle 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 principle 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

Examples

These two examples will demonstrate the difference between an adjectival verb and a principle verb.

Exercises

Personal Endings

Verbs 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.

Exercises

Moods

There 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).

Exercises

Voice

There 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.

Exercises

Tense

Tense in Latin is comprised of 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).

Exercises

Infinitive

The 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?

Excercises

Answer these two question about the infinitive and finite.

Irregularities

Verbs 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.

1. What is a deponent verb?
2. What is an irregular verb?
3. What is a defective verb?

Personal Pronouns

In 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. (Revise Lesson 7 if unfamiliar with the terms person and subject).

Exercises

Principle Parts

When one looks up a verb in the dictionary, the principle parts are given. From these principle parts you can find the correct form of the verb for every circumstance.

Exercises

Answer this question about principle parts.

Using the Dictionary

All 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 principle part) and the infinitive is given. Supplementary principle parts are given if the various other principle parts do not follow the standard pattern of formation from the infinitive and 1st person singular.

Verbs: Conjugation in the Present Imperfect

The 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 drops the 'a' in amaō forming amō.

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 commonest 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

Conjugate (find how a verb is in different forms) the verb 'amo'.

Imperative Mood

The imperative mood is 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!

currō casam = I run home.

curre casam = Run home!

currite casam = Run (respectful, or plural) home!

Regō prudente = I rule wisely.

Rege prudente = Rule wisely!

Regite prudente = Rule (respectful order) wisely!

Exercises

• Translate Latin verbs:

• Translate sentences into Latin:

Adverbs & Prepositions

Comparatives, Superlatives, Conjunctions, Prepositions and Adverbs

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), Comparitive (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 Adjectives

Fortunately, there are only a few irregular adjectives.

Other irregular adjectives include magnus, maior, maximus (great); parvus, minor, minimus (small) and multus, plūrēs, plūrimus (many).

Adverbs

Adverbs 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 which the adverb is contained in. 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 Adverbs

Many of the irregular adjectives are irregular in their adjectival forms as well.

There are many other adverbs which do not have comparative or superlative forms.

Exercise 1

Conjunctions

Conjunctions 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 that table, how would one translate these sentences?

1. Aut tu es bonus aut tu es malus ergo dīce mihi vēritātem.
2. Cavēte canem quod nec estis fortes nec cum virtūte.
3. Et canis et cattus sunt laetī creātī.
4. In animō habeō īre ad grammaticum hodiē sed habeō labōrem domī.
5. Ut abacum herī quod calculātor nōn labōrābat.

Prepositions

You 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.

Below is a list of common prepositions that take the accusative case:

ad, ante, circum, contra, extra, in, inter, per, post, prope, propter, super trans.

Below is a list of common prepositions that take the ablative case:

a/ab, cum, de, e/ex, in pro, sine, sub

Exercise 3

1. Using your dictionary, translate the prepositions above, and write them out with the case they take.

Translate the following sentences:

1. eo domum (Latin omits 'ad' with 'domus,' specific city names, and small islands; e.g. Eunt Romam = They go [to] Rome.)
2. cum bona fortuna ero dives!
3. circum agrum est aedificium cum atrio
4. tu non es vir sine animis.
5. familia venit cum amore.
6. matrimonium gemet filios.
7. Res audiebuntur cum dicantur in lingua Latina.

List of Frequent Adverbs, Prepositions, and Conjunctions in Latin

Taken from http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/classics203/resources/latin.lex

• atque, ac (conj): and [also], and; atque is used before consonants, ac before vowels
• ad modum: adv. very, quite; fully; + neg. = at all
• ad huc/adhuc: thus far, as yet, still, in addition, in the future
• aliquam: in some degree
• aliqui -qua -quod: some, any
• aliquis -qua -quid: someone, something; some, any
• aliquando: at times, sometimes; once, formerly
• aliquotiens: several times, at different times
• at (form of ad = in addition to): but (intro startling transitions)
• atque: and as well, even, together with, in everything;
• atque...atque, both..and
• atqui: rather, however, but at any rate, but for all that (transition in arg.)
• aut: or, at least, or else; aut...aut: either...or
• autem: but, on the other hand, however
• coram: adv. and prep. in the presence of, before
• dehinc: adv. while, from here, from now, henceforth; then, next
• deinde: adv. from there; then, afterwards; secondly, next (in order), in the second (next) place
• demum: adv. at last, finally, not till then; precisely, exactly, just, in fact, certainly, to be sure; modo demum: only now, just now.
• denique: adv. finally
• donec: while, as long as, until
• dum: conj. while, now; so long as, provided that, if only; until
• enim: (conj) namely, indeed, certainly, in fact, for, because
• eo quod: because
• etenim: (conj) and indeed, for, as a matter of fact
• etiam: also, besides; even, actually; (time) still
• etsi: (conj.) though, although, and yet
• fas (est): indecl. (it is) right, proper
• huc: here, to this place; so far, for this purpose
• ibi: there, then, therein, on that occassion
• idcirco: for that reason, on that account, therefore
• ideo: therefore, for this reason
• illuc: (adv.) (to) there; to that; to him/her
• immo: (adv.) or rather; indeed; no, yes (emphasis)
• interdum: occasionally, sometimes, now and then
• inde: from there, from that source, then, after; from then
• iuxta: (adv) near by, alike, equally; (prep) close to, right after, near to, beside.
  • iuxta (7th-15th c.): according to
  • iuxta aliquid: to some extent
• ita: thus, so, in this way; ita...ut: just as, so...that
  • ita...quomodo: just as
• licet: all right; (with dat + inf) it is right for someone to; (conj) although, even if
• modo: only, just now
• necnon: also, moreover, certainly, besides
• nempe: to be sure, of course
• non numquam: sometimes
• nondum: not yet
• nonnullus -a -um: some, several
• nuper: recently, lately
• nusquam: nowhere
• ob: before, in front of; on account of, because of; for the sake of; instead of; in proportion to
  • ob rem: to the purpose, usefully
  • quam ob rem: wherefore, accordingly
• olim: once; of old; one day
• praeterea: besides, moreover; hereafter
• postea: afterwards
• postmodum: afterwards; presently
• procul: far off
• proinde: adv. consequently, therefore; just as
• propterea: for that reason, therefore
• prorsus/prorsum: (adv.) forwards; absolutely; in short
• prout: (conj) according as
• qua: (adv) where, as far as, how; qua..qua: partly...partly
• qualibit: anywhere, any way, as you please
• qualis -e: what sort of, what kind of, such as, as
• qualiter: adv. how, as, just as
• quam: (adv) how, how much; as, very
• quamdiu: as long as; while; inasmuch as
• quamquam: although
• quamvis: (adv) however; (conj) although
• quando: when (after nisi, ne) ever; (conj) when, since, because
• quandoque: (adv) at some time; (conj) whenever, as often as, since
• quantum: (adv) as much as, as far as, so much as, to what extent
• quantus: how great, how much
  • in quantum: to what extent
  • quanto: for how much
• quantum ad: in terms of, as far as x is concerned, with respect to
• quapropter: wherefore
• quare: by what means, how; why, wherefore
• quasi: as if, as though
• quatenus: adv.(inter.) how far, how long? (rel.) as far as, in so far as, since
• quemadmodum: (adv) in what way, how; (conj) as, just as
• quicquam: anything
• quicumque quae- quod-: whoever, whatever; all that, any whatever
• quidam quae- quid-: a certain one, someone, a kind of
• quidem: indeed, in fact
• quippe: adv. certainly, of course; conj.(explaining) for in fact, because, since
• quisquam quid-: anyone, anything
• quisque quidque: each, each one, every
• quisquis, quidquid: whoever, whatever; all
• quo: where, what for, to what end
• quoad: as to, with respect to
• quocumque: wither so ever, how so ever
• quod: (conj) because, as far as, in so far as, as for the fact that, in that, that
  • quod si: but if
• quodamodo: in a way
• quomodo: how, in what way; (rel) as, just as
• quondam: once, sometimes, formerly
• quoniam: because, since, seeing that, now that
• quoque: also, too
• quot: how many; (conj) as many
• quotiens: how often (rel) as often as
• rursus: again, in turn
• recte: rightly, correctly
• rursum: again
• sane: reasonably, sensibly; certainly, doubtless, truly; of course; c. neg. = really, at all; to be sure, however
• scilicet: adv. evidently, naturally, of course; (as explan. particle:) namely, that is to say, in other words
• semel: once
• seu: and
• simul: at the same time; together; likewise
• sin: but if
• siquidem: if in fact; if only, if indeed; since indeed, since that
• talis -e: adj. such, of such a kind, the following
• taliter: in such a manner, so
• tam: so, so greatly; tam...quam: so...as, much...as well as
• tamen: yet, nevertheless, still
• tamquam: as, just as; (conj) as if, just as if
• tandem: at last, finally
• tantum: (adv) so much, so greatly; to such a degree; so far; only
• tantus -a -um (adj): of such (a size); so great, so much
• tot: as many, so many
• tunc: (avd) then, just the; thereupon, accordingly, consequently
• ubicumque: wherever, everywhere
• unde: whence, from where; wherefore; this being the case
• usque: as far as, all the way, continually, straight on, up to; until
• ut...ita: while...nevertheless
• uterque -raque -rumque: both, each (of two)
• utinam: would that, if only
• utique: anyhow, at least, at any rate
• utpote: as, in as much as
• utrum: (conj) either, whether
• velut: as, just as, as it were, as though
• verumtamen: but yet, nevertheless
• vero (conj): but, truly
• videlicet: clearly, evidently; namely

The Accusative Case

Exercises

Grammar: The Accusative

As 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.

For example:

Examples of Adjectives Agreeing with the Nominative and Accusative Case

Abbreviations: NOM = nominative, ACC = accusative, S = singular, P = plural, m. = masculine, f. = feminine

Exercise 3

Determine whether the adjective agrees with the substantive in all three categories: case, gender, number.

* Nota bene: Poeta (meaning poet) is a masculine noun, even though it ends in -a.

Grammar: The Use of the Accusative

The newly introduced verbs, ama-t, curri-t, and porta-t take the accusative as the 'object'. Unless specified, any verb you look up in the dictionary will take the accusative, not the nominative. This means transitive verbs, which are verbs that happen to someone or something, e.g.:

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- and because something happens "to" them, they can't be in nominative.

Grammatical Explanation Using English Sentences

Exercise 4: Find the Nominative and Accusative

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns in English

Pronouns are nouns which are used instead of another noun ('pro', in place of 'noun', noun.)

There are three catagories of pronouns which are divided up into persons: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

• 1st person refers to the person speaking, I, we. • 2nd person refers to the person addressed, thou, ye (you and you all). • 3rd person is for everything else (he, she, it, they (insert any noun here).

In addition, pronouns can be singular or plural. They are declined like all other nouns.

• I is 1st person singular (only me), we is 1st person plural (me and others). • Thou/you is 2nd person singular (only thee), ye/ you all is 2nd person plural (you and others). • He, she, it is 3rd person singular (he/she/it is one), (they are many).

Personal Pronouns in Latin

1st/2nd Person Pronouns

Table of Personal Pronouns in all of their cases: I, thou, we, ye

Note: 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:

1. memor nostrī, mindful of us
2. paucī vestrum, a few of you.

For the possessive uses (my sister, your bicycle), Latin does not use the genitive, but the possessive adjectives:

meus, mea, meum = my

tuus, tua, tuum = thy

suus, sua, sum = his/hers/its/their

noster, nostra, nostrum = our

vester, vestra, vestrum = your

Example: Pater noster = Our Father

3rd Person Pronouns

Technically 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 in which it modifies. 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 1

Take 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 Latin

Declension of Ille (that)

Ille is often used as a kind of pronoun.

Examples of the Usage of Ille:

1. ille est dominus - he is the master (ille as pronoun) 
2. ille dominus est malus - that master is bad (ille as adjective) 
3. illam videt - he sees her (or 'she sees her' - illam as pronoun) 
4. illam puellam videt - he (or she) sees that girl (illam as adjective).

Declension of Is, ea, id: (personal pronouns w/ translations)

            M:       F:       N:
Nominative is       ea       id        he        she        it 

Genitive   eius     eius     eius      his       her, hers  its 
Dative     eī       eī       eī        to him    to her     to it 
Accusative eum      eam      id        him       her        it 
Ablative   eō       eā       eō        by, with, from him, her, it. 
 
Nominative ei       eae      ea        they, those 

Genitive   eōrum    eārum    eōrum     their, theirs, of those 
Dative     eīs,iīs  eīs,iīs  eīs,iīs   to them, to those
Accusative eos      eās      ea        them, those   
Ablative   eīs,iīs  eīs,iīs  eīs,iīs   by, with, from them, those 

Like ille, is can be used as a form of a pronoun.

Examples of the Usage of Is

1. is est dominus - he is the master (is as pronoun) 
2. is dominus est malus - that master is bad (is as adjective) 
3. eam videt - he sees her (or 'she sees her' - eam as pronoun) 
4. eam puellam videt - he (or she) sees that girl (eam as adjective).

Declension of the Relative pronoun qui, quae, quod: (meaning who, which, he)

            M:       F:       N:
Nominative quī      quae     quod     who       who        which
Genitive   cuīus    cuīus    cuīus    whose 
Dative     cuī      cuī      cuī      to whom   to whom    to which
Accusative quem     quam     quod     whom      whom       which 
Ablative   quō      quā      quō      by, with, from whom, which. 

Nominative quī      quae     quae      who       who        which
Genitive   quorum   quarum   quorum   whose 
Dative     quibus   quibus   quibus     to whom, to which 
Accusative quos     quas     quae  whom      whom       which
Ablative   quibus   quibus   quibus   by, with, from whom, which  

Notice that the same forms are used to ask a question, with the following exceptions:

            M:       F:       N:
Nominative quis     quis     quid     who       which      what
Accusative quem     quam     quid     whom      which      what

Uses of the Relative Pronoun

The 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

1. Virum videt (he/she sees) qui servum (servant) habet (he/she has).

   He sees the man who has a slave

2. Ille est vir cujus servus est malus.

   That's the man whose slave is bad.

3. Quis eum videt?

   Who sees him?

Declension of hic, haec, hoc (meaning this)

Singular

            M:       F:       N:
Nominative hic      haec     hoc       this
Genitive   huius    huius    huius      
Dative     huic     huic     huic 
Accusative hunc     hanc     hoc               
Ablative   hōc      hāc      hōc         
 

Plural

Nominative hī       hae      haec      these  
Genitive   hōrum    hārum    hōrum      
Dative     hīs      hīs      hīs
Accusative hōs      hās      haec                 
Ablative   hīs      hīs      hīs        

N.B. Hic as an adverb means 'here'. N.B. Hic can also be used as a pronoun.

Example of the Usage of Hic

hic servus, non ille, est malus: This slave, not that one, is bad.

Exercises

Give a suitable LATIN translation for the following:

1. To him
2. To her
3. For her
4. For him
5. To it
6. I
7. You
8. Ye
9. of You
10. of him
11. We
12. Thou
13. of thee
14. in him
15. in her

Give a suitable ENGLISH translation for the following:

1. meus
2. meī
3. ille
4. illud
5. huic
6. hī
7. hoc
8. nōs
9. nostrī
10. vōs
11. vestrum

Chapter 1 Verse

Latin I prose

The following is a nice easy short story for the Latin novice:

Lucius ad forum it

Sol fulget. Lucius oculos aperit. Videt uxorem suam, Octaviam. Octavia dormit. Ergo, Lucius ad forum it.

Lucius multos amicos habet. Unus de 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 respondit, "Quid dicis, amice?"

Claudius est attonitus. Dicit, "Te non video, mi Luci..."

Lucius respondet, "hominem non necavi! Cur tanta dicis?" Claudius surssurat, "Volo videri^B fortissimus, amice. Feminae te amant. Me dolet."

Lucius omnia^C civibus patefacit.

Multae feminae ad Claudium misserimum rident. Mox, etiam Claudius ad se ridet.

• ^A Necavit is the perfect form of necare, meaning "he killed." For more, check out the next chapter.

• ^B Videri means "to appear," (or more literally, "to be seen") and is the passive infinitive of video. There is more on that in chapters 2-4.

• ^C Omnia means "everything".

Chapter 2: Complicated Sentences

The Imperfect Tense

Imperfect Active Indicative

The imperfect is a construct like:
I was seeing.
In Latin it would look like this:
Videbam.

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.
1. -bam
2. -bas
3. -bat
Pl.
1. -bamus
2. -batis
3. -bant

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)
monebatis - You were warning [object/personage] (of something negative) (Pl.) (2nd Conjugation)
vinciebamus - We were defeating (long I-conjugation--3rd conjugation)
capiebant - They were catching (short I-conjugation--3rd conjugation)
pellebat - She/he/it was propelling (drive something (not a vehicle), propel something) (consonantic conjugation)

(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.)

The Genitive and Dative Cases

Noun Tables

The Genitive

The genitive case is a descriptive case. The genitive case describes the following features of the described noun:

• Possession e.g. The Dog of Marcus (Canis Marcī)
• Origin e.g. Marcus of Rome (Marcus Romae)
• Relation e.g. A thing of beauty (Rēs pulchrae)
• Quantity e.g. A gallon of water
• Quality e.g. Day of wrath (Diēs irae)

Latin Examples

Exercise 6

Indicate the genitive:

1. Flavia's dog is good.
2. The man has athlete's foot.
3. Māter Flāviae est domina.

Adjectives which describe genitive nouns must have suffixes which are in the genitive case, matching the number, and gender.

The Dative

The dative case, also known as the indirect object case indicates:

• For whom, e.g., I made this car for him
• To whom, e.g., I gave this car to him
• Of whom (Possessive Dative)
• Predicative Dative (which shall be dealt with later).

Example 1

Demonstration: The Dative in Use

'he' is in the nominative, 'made' is the verb, 'the desk' is the accusative, 'for' is the preposition indicating a dative^, 'his friend' is the 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 2

Demonstration: The Dative in Use

He gave the book to John or; He gave to John the book; 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

I gave my friend a gift. Ego dono amico meo donum.

• Note how the word "meus" become "meo" in order to agree with "amico".

He brought me a pen.

Feret mihi stylum.

• Note that the pronouns have a dative case as well, which can be reviewed in the chapter on pronouns.

Exercise 8: Translate into English

1. Do librum amico.(Dare-to give;Librum-book;amicus-friend)

1. Scribo litteras Imperatori.(Scribere-to write; Litteras-Letter/Letters(This is a word which can mean both the letter of an alphabet in the singular, or in the plural either an individual letter, as in message, or many letters.) Imperator, imperatoris-m.-General/Emperor.)

Roman Numerals

The 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.

The Future Tense

Future I, Active

Future 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
* Ama bis - You will love
Ama bit - He/She/It will love
Ama bimus - We will love
Ama bitis - Y'all will love
Ama bunt - They will love
*

• 1st person singular and 3rd person plural use bo and bunt, not bi.

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
Veni es - You will come
Veni et - He/She/It will come
Veni emus - We will come
Veni etis - Y'all will come
Veni ent - They 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 Case

The Ablative Case

The ablative is the Modal case (Wikipedia) (or to define it more clearly the case of Circumstances which modify the predication adverbially). Besides its proper ablative functions (taken in Greek by the Genitive), it comprises those of the Primitive Instrumental (partly taken in Greek by the Dative) and most functions of the Locative Case.

Its uses may be conveniently taken in the following order:

1. Instrumental ablative: comprising Cause; Instrument; Agent; Price; Matter
2. Locative Ablative: comprising Respect; Difference; Manner; Condition; Quality; Time When; Place Where and by Which.
3. Ablative Proper: comprising Place Whence; Separation; Origin; Thing Compared.

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 Case

Ablative 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 Means

Exercise

How would you translate "I made the toga by hand"?

• Hint: You would not (and should not) use the genitive. The case you are studying right now can be used by itself for this goal.
• Hint: Remember that you won't need to use the pronoun "I," since Latin is based not on word order, but on the endings!
• Glossary:

  "to make" - Facio ("I make"), facere ("to make"), feci ("I made"), factus ("made")

  "toga" - Toga, togae feminine

  "hand" - Manus, manus feminine (This is fourth declension)

Answer

Answer: Togam manu feci.

In this case, the word "manu" is in the ablative (see fourth declension list) and thus means "by hand."

Exercise

I have my wisdom by means of my teacher.

• 'Glossary:

  "wisdom" - Sapientia, sapientiae feminine

  "to have" - Habeo ("I have"), habere ("to have"), habui ("I had"), habitus ("had")

  "teacher" - Magister, magistri masculine (This is a second declension word, despite the 'r' at the end, like puer.)

Answer

Answer: Habeo sapientiam magistro.

Ablative of Time

Exercise

How would you say: I will arrive at the 5th hour.

'at the 5th hour' is indicating position of time. 'the 5th hour' is extraneous. You could say 'I will arrive' as its own clause (it stands by itself). The ablative tells us that the concept to which the ablative case refers (the 5th hour) is outside, and different from the (accusative) direct object or the (nominative) subject.

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!)

Answer

Answer: 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 Place Where

Naves 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.

Here are a few prepositions that can take the ablative:

1. ↑ Means "into" or "against" when it governs the accusative
2. ↑ Has static meaning when it governs the ablative but connotes motion when it governs the accusative
3. ↑ Usually means "up to" or "up to the foot of" when it governs the accusative

As a general rule, when motion is implied, use the accusative, but when location is implied

Example 3

Servus ex agris venit.

"The slave came from the fields."

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 "college campus" or "Champs-Elysees") means "open field." The Campus Martius was a large field in Rome used for military training.

The Vocative Case

While 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.

Each declension has its own form of the vocative singular and plural. They are listed in the table below.

Furthermore, in all but the second declension, the nominative and vocative are exactly the same!

• In the second declension singular, there are three separate possibilities for the vocative, depending on its nominative ending. Hence, if it is a us word, it will become an e and so forth.

Examples for different declensions in the second declension

• -us:

  Lupus ->Lupe (given name, wolf)

• -ius:

  Filius -> Fili (son)

  Horatius-> Horati (given name)

• -r:

  Puer-> Puer (boy)

In all cases, the plural vocative is exactly the same as the plural nominative. This extends to those words which are neuter, which always have an 'a' for the nominative and vocative.

Examples

1. Hello, Sextus.(Hello= Salve)*

   Salve, Sexte.

2. Speak, girl! (Speak= dico, dicere, dixi)*

   Dic, puella.

3. Knee, run!*(Knee= genu; run= curro, currere, cucurri)*

   Genu, curre!

4. Oh, heart, why do you lead me? (Oh-o; heart- cors, cordis-f.; lead-duco, ducere;

   O, cors! Cur ducis tu me?

• Note that the first three also require use of the imperative. The imperative is used when ordering or telling someone what to do, e.g.- "Stop," or "Get away from me."

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 Vocative Case

3rd, 4th, and 5th Declension Nouns

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

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.

Exercises

Exercise 1

Translate the following:

Hodiē militēs ad villam meī amīcī mittō. Meō amicō, Marcō Tulliō nomine, mē in Senatū maledicere placet, quā rē istum interficere volō.

Vocabulary:

• villa -ae f., farmhouse
• mittō mittere mīsī missus, to send
• nomen nominis n., name
• maledicō -dicere -dīxī -dictum, to insult
• placet placēre placuit placitus + dative, it pleases
• quā rē, on account of which
• iste ista istud, that damn (man/woman/thing)
• interficiō -ficere -fēcī -fectus, to kill
• volō velle voluī --, to want

For extra credit, who in the late Republic might have said such a thing?

Exercise 2

Translate the following:

Eheu! Mūs meum pānem mandit. Nunc nihil habeō. Me miserum!

Vocabulary:

• mando mandere mansi mansus, to chew on

Irregular Verbs & Revision

Irregular Verbs

Irregular 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 1

1. 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 2

Exercises:

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.

Vocabulary:

heri: yesterday

taberna (1st declension feminine): tavern, shop

ad (+ accusative): to, at

solea (1st declension feminine): sandle

sic: and so

sōlus -a -um, alone (solum in this case functions as an abverb, modifying the verb)

casa, -ae: house, hut

quod: because

stō, stāre: to stand

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 Dictionary

To 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 1

Vocabulary

1. confessio -ōnis - confession
2. liber, libri - book
3. et - and
4. malus -a, -um - evil, bad
5. dē - from, down from, aside; about, concerning

Passage

Translate 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

Warning: 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)

Imperfect Active Indicative

The imperfect is a construct like:
I was seeing.
In Latin it would look like this:
Videbam.

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.
1. -bam
2. -bas
3. -bat
Pl.
1. -bamus
2. -batis
3. -bant

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)
monebatis - You were warning [object/personage] (of something negative) (Pl.) (2nd Conjugation)
'vinciebamus - We were defeating (long I-conjugation--3rd conjugation)
capiebant - They were catching (short I-conjugation--3rd conjugation)
pellebat - She/he/it was propelling (drive something (not a vehicle), propel something) (consonantic conjugation)

(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, Active

Future 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
* Ama bis - You will love
Ama bit - He/She/It will love
Ama bimus - We will love
Ama bitis - Y'all will love
Ama bunt - They will love
*

• 1st person singular and 3rd person plural use bo and bunt, not bi.

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
Veni es - You will come
Veni et - He/She/It will come
Veni emus - We will come
Veni etis - Y'all will come
Veni ent - They 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 conjugation

Example: I will love:
amabo

The table at the end of this page tries to sumamrize the future tense, with both sets of personal endings. As the warning notes, this summary may confuse some.

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 Verse

Using a Dictionary

Foremost, 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 1

Vocabulary

1. affectus, -ūs, m., goodwill
2. confessiō, -ōnis, f., confession
3. dē, from, about, concerning
4. liber, librī, m., book
5. malus -a -um, evil, bad
6. placeō -ēre + dative, to please (placuīsse is a perfect infinitive)

Other Difficulties

1. quod ad mē attinet, as far as I'm concerned
2. cum scriberentur, when they were written (imperfect passive subjuntive)
3. quid sentiant, what they think (present subjunctive in indirect question)
4. ipsī viderint, (loosely) they will see in their own way (future perfect)
5. eōs placēre sciō, accusative-infinitive construction for indirect statement: "I know they [the books] please"

Passage

Translate 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 Sentences

Imperatives

Imperative

Positive Imperative

English

In English (and in Latin), the positive imperative is a command. For example:

• Do it!
• Stop, in the name of love!
• Take out the garbage!

Latin

In 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!

Curre, puer!^[1] (from curro, currere; to run)

Go!

I! (from eo, ire; to go)

Seize the day!

Carpe diem! (from carpo, carpere; to pluck)

1. ↑ In many cases, the vocative will be used with the imperative, unless the imperative is used in a conversation or at a reader, as in a letter or guide.

Questions

Write out:

1. Love me, Octavia! (to love = amo, amare)
2. Come to Rome! (to come = venio, venire; Rome = Roma, Romae, f.)

Plural

To 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!

Ite domum, pueri.

Stay, all of you!

Manete, omnes!

Exercises

Write out:

1. Take them, men! (to take = adripio, adripere)
2. Fear me, children! (to fear = timeo, timere; children = liberi)

Negative Imperative

English

In English, we use the word "don't" for prohibitions, or negative imperatives. For example:

• Don't do it!

• Don't say that!

Latin

Similarly, 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.

Examples

Do not fear me!

Noli me timere!

Don't build the aqueduct there, soldiers!

Nolite aquaductum ibi aedificare, milites!

Don't wash the dog, boys!

Nolite, pueri, canem lavare!

Exercises

Translate:

1. Don't cry, daughter! (to cry = fleo, flere)
2. Don't hurt me, friends! (to hurt = vulnero, vulnerare)
3. Don't go into the water, boys!
4. Don't hurt them, soldiers! (them = use eos, masculine accusative plural of is, ea, id)

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:

• Active: Puella puerum videt. (The girl sees the boy.)

• Passive: Puer ā puellā vidētur. (The boy is seen by the girl.)

Puella takes ā and the ablative, as it is a personal agent.

• Active: Timor virum capit. (Fear seizes the man.)

• Passive: Vir timore capitur. (The man is seized by fear.)

Timore is ablative of cause.

• Active: Hostēs urbem oppugnābant. (The enemies were attacking the city.)

• Passive: Urbs ab hostibus oppugnābatur. (The city was being attacked by the enemies.)

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.

Principal Parts

Principal Parts

All 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, hi gerunds and the like.

Examples of principal parts from verbs of each conjugation:

1st: ambulō, ambulāre, ambulāvī, ambulātum (to walk)

2nd: doceō, docēre, docuī, doctum (to teach)

3rd: mittō, mittere, mīsī, mīssum (to send)

4th: audiō, audīre, audīvī, audītum (to hear)

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).

• Deponent verbs have only three principal parts:

patior, patī, passus sum (to suffer)

ūtor, ūtī, ūsus sum (to use)

• Likewise, semi-deponent verbs have only three:

audeō, audēre, ausus sum (to dare)

gaudeō, gaudēre, gavīsus sum (to rejoice)

Some verbs lack fourth principal parts (e.g., timeō, timēre, timuī, —; to be afraid); others, less commonly, lack a third in addition (e.g., feriō, ferīre, —, —; to beat). 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 Tense

The 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.

• To conjugate the perfect present, attach the personal ending to the perfect stem.

Example

• amō, amāre, amāvī, amātum; to love, like

Note that amāvī is the first person singular perfect active indicative. Drop the -ī to get the stem, which is amāv-, then add personal endings.

Singular:

amāv- + -ī = amāvī (I have loved.)

amāv- + -istī = amāvistī (You have loved.)

amāv- + -it = amāvit (He/She/It has loved.)

Plural:

amāv- + -īmus = amāvīmus (We have loved.)

amāv- + -istis = amāvistis (You have loved.)

amāv- + -ērunt = amāvērunt (They have loved.)

basicaly the Perfect indicative active is the perfect tense under a flash name

Rules for Finding the Perfect Stem

The 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 Latin

In 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.

• In its neuter nominative form, the perfect passive participle is identical to the nominative supine (a fourth-declension noun whose morphology and usage are very restricted). Be careful not to confuse the two.

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)

Now add a present form of sum, and you have the perfect passive.

Conjugation of Verbs in the Perfect Passive

First Conjugation (amō, to love)

Second Conjugation (moneō, to warn)

Third Conjugation (regō, to rule)

Fourth Conjugation (audiō, to hear)

Notes

1. Remember that the subject must agree with the passive participle.
2. Passive verbs do not take an object. Instead they have an agent or instrument, indicated by the ablative case.

Examples

Regina ā milite interfecta est.

"The queen was killed by the soldier."

Rex ad proelium est ā servīs portātus.

"The king was carried to the battle by his slaves."

Numquam enim ā Pomponiā nostrā certior sum factus esse cuī dare litterās possem. (Cicero, Ad Atticum 1.5)

"For I was never made aware by our Pomponia that there was someone to whom I could give a letter."

Future and Past Perfect Indicative Tenses

Future perfect

The 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

1. ↑ -int as an ending is rare; -erint and sint are two of the most common

Pluperfect

The 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

Examples

De Acutiliano autem negotio quod mihi mandaras (mandaveras), ut primum a tuo digressu Romam veni, confeceram. (Cicero, Ad Atticum 1.5)

"But as to the business of Acutilius that you had entrusted with me, I had already taken care of it when I came to Rome first thing after your departure." Note the relationship of the pluperfect verbs mandaras (-aras is a common contraction for -averas) and confeceram to the perfect verb veni.

Ego certe meum officium praestitero. (Caesar, De Bello Gallico IV)

"I certainly will have prevailed in my duty."

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.

Cui dono lepidum novum libellum

arida modo pumice expolitum?

Corneli, tibi: namque tu solebas

meas esse aliquid putare nugas.

Iam tum, cum ausus es unus Italorum

omne aevum tribus explicare cartis...

Doctis, Iuppiter, et laboriosis!

Quare habe tibi quidquid hoc libelli—

qualecumque, quod, o patrona virgo,

plus uno maneat perenne saeclo!

Chapter 4: The Subjunctive Mood and Complex Sentences

The Subjunctive Mood

Subjunctives

The 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 is 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.

Example: "Let me go" and "May I go?" are statements of potential; the speaker is not entirely certain his/her command will be followed. Example: "Were I a king, I would have a golden toilet" expresses what could be but in fact, what is not. Speaker is not a king, and so will not get the toilet. Example: "Fortune be with you" expresses the hope/potential that Fortune will favor you. The unstated but essential word here is 'may' - "[May] Fortune be with you."

"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 incorporate an element of doubt.

The Present Subjunctive

The present subjunctive is similar to the present indicative, except marked by a change of the theme vowel.

present stem + theme vowel change + ending

Form

In 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:

We beat a liar.

We beat all liars.

We eat a friar

Never Fear a Liar

Let's eat caviar.

She wears a diamond.

We eat caviar

We Fear a liar

She Wears a tiara

We beat a giant.

She reads a diary.

She wears a diamond tiara.

Let's beat that giant.

Few Fear Fat Friars.

Her Breasts are giant.

Example Conjugation

porto, portare, portavi, portatum (1st conjugation - to carry)

Present Indicative

This is the present active indicative form of portare.

Present Subjunctive

The present active subjunctive of portare would be conjugated as follows:

Present Subjunctive, Sum

The present active subjunctive of sum, the verb to be, is conjugated as follows:

Imperfect Subjunctive

The imperfect subjunctive is formed by adding the personal endings -m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt to the present infinitive (or second principal part). 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., noli, pati) a pseudo present infinitive is used (e.g, nolere)

The imperfect subjunctive of the verb to be (sum, esse) is conjugated regularly, as follows:

Uses of the Subjunctive

Verbs in the subjunctive mood may assume special meaning in specific constructions.

Volitive Clauses

Subjunctives in independent clauses are often translated as volitive. Volitives show an intention for an action to occur; e.g. "amet" may be translated in volitive context as "may he love," or equally "let him love."

Hortatory

The volitive in first person(most often plural); e.g. "cedam" as an hortatory subjunctive is "may I depart."

Jussive

The volitive in second or third person; e.g. "canat" as a jussive subjunctive is "let her sing."

Purpose Clauses

A purpose clause is a dependent clause used, of course, 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 might rule."these appear frequently in latin.

The Uses of the Subjunctive

• First Person Exhortations
• Purpose Clauses
• Result Clauses
• Indirect Commands

First Person Exhortations

Definition, Common Usage and Expression in Latin

An 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.

Examples

Festinemus 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 Clauses

Definition, Common Usage and Expression in Latin

A 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 the 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.

Examples

Quintus donum Scintillae dedit ut eum amet - Quintus gave Scintilla a gift so that she would love him.

Fabius equos domum duxit ne tempestate timerentur - Fabius brought the horses home lest they be frightened by the storm.

Marcus Graeciam fugit ut matrem suam Romae inveniret - Marcus fled Greece to find his mother in Rome.

Result Clauses

Definition, Common Usage and Expression in Latin

Result 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.

Examples

Sextus 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 non Galliam oppugnare 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.

Tua mater tam obesa est ut cum X amiculum gereret, helicopterum temptaret super tergum suum appellere - Your mother is so fat that when she wore an X coat, a helicopter tried to land on her back.

Indirect Commands

Definition, Common Usage and Expression in Latin

1. Rogo, -are, -avi, -atum - to ask
2. Persuadeo, -ere, -suasi, persuasum - to persuade
3. Impero, -are, -avi, -atum - to order

These verbs use an ut/ne + the subjunctive construction.

Examples

Imperator milites 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 liberos imperavit ne in horto currerent - The mother asked her children not to run in the garden.

Notā bene!

1. ↑ Note that in si... (if...) clauses, the future perfect is often used where the present is in English. "I shall dine with you if I finish my work" would be "I shall dine with you if I shall have finished my work": Tecum cenam si laborem perfecero.

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

the passive voice is formed by the addition of passive voice endings onto the infinitive stem

ego amarer

tu amareris

is amaretur

nos amaremur

vos amaremini

ei amarentur

N.B. that the imperfect subjunctive is only used for complex syntactic contructions; cum clauses and indirect questions and the like. Rarely, if ever, does it stand alone.

The Subjunctive Passive Verbs

Passive Subjunctive Present System

Having examined Lessons 15 and 23, forming the passive subjunctive should be quite simple.

Present

Modify the verb stem appropriately with a vowel change (as learned in Lesson 15), then add the present passive endings (Lesson 23).

Imperfect

The passive endings added to the present active infinitive.

The Subjunctive Perfects

The conjugation of the perfect subjunctive active consists of: theperfect 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:
parāverim
parāverīs
parāverit
parāverīmus
parāverītis
parāverint

The conjugation of the pluperfect subjunctive active consits of: the perfect stem + "isse" + the standard active endings. An example conjugation of the first conjugation verb paro, parāre is as follows:
parāvissem
parāvissēs
parāvisset
parāvissēmus
parāvissētis
parāvissent

The Subjunctive Perfect Passive Verbs

Subjunctive Passive Verbs

Subjunctive Passive Perfect

Subjunctive 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.

This is an example of the Subjunctive Passive in the perfect tense. muto, mutare, mutavi, mutatum -- to change

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.

• Note well that in the plural, the word "mutatus" becomes "mutati," thus taking on the plural nominitive. Remember that the perfect passive verbs require the fourth participle to agree in gender and number!

Exercises