Latin stream/Intro to Latin
From Wikiversity
This course is designed to provide you with the foundational skills necessary to begin reading and writing in Latin. This course will cover Classical Latin, which means that Medieval and Ecclesiastical Latin will not be covered in these course materials (although they are similar).
It is hoped that during this course, you will learn:
- The basic structure of Latin grammar
- How to decline a noun
- How to conjugate a verb
- How to form an adjective
Contents |
[edit] Study Tips and Resources
Andrew Reinhard has recently published a well-researched article ( “From Slate to Tablet PC: Using New Technologies to Teach and Learn Latin and Greek") listing on-line resources for students studying Ancient Greek and Latin, in Classical Journal Online: [1]
Tips
Learning Latin is easier if you are willing to develop your capacity to memorize. Use any mnemonic device you can to memorize vocabulary and grammatical charts. The grammar charts are designed to be compact enough to fit into your memory, but memorizing the charts is not quite enough in itself--you have to think about what each chart means. Grammar is simply an efficient way to break down language into meaningful categories.
[edit] The Very Basics of Case Structure
Latin can be a challenging language to learn, especially at the outset. The number of forms may seem daunting but a lot of them are the same and everything follows a set pattern, so don't worry. The first thing to learn about Latin is its case system. In English, the sentence 'I kick the bucket' is made up of three parts. 'I' is the subject of the sentence. The subject performs the action. 'Kick' is the verb. The verb is the action which is performed by the subject. 'The bucket' is the object of the sentence. The object receives the action performed by the subject.
Synopsis:
- Subject: The one performing the action. e.g. The cow kicks me; I want that; this meal is delicious. In Latin, the subject is referred to as the nominative subject.
- Verb: The action being performed. e.g. The cow kicks me; I want that; this meal is delicious.
- Object: The one receiving the action. e.g. The cow kicks me; I want that; There is no object in the third example. In Latin, the object is referred to as the accusative direct object.
Fairly clear so far, right? In English, the difference between the nominative subject and the accusative direct object is determined by their order in the sentence. For example, the sentence 'The sailor loves the girl' has a different meaning than 'the girl loves the sailor'. In Latin, however, the meaning of a sentence is instead determined by endings added to the words, called "inflections".
To illustrate this better, let's introduce some basic vocabulary. The form for these examples is Nominative, Genitive, Gender. Translation.
- puella, puellae, f. girl
- nauta, nautae, m. sailor
For now, let's look at the nominative nouns, puella and nauta. If the word is being used as the nominative subject, it will keep its -a ending. When it's used as the accusative direct object, it has an -am ending. Because the order of the nouns make no difference, 'Puella amat nautam' and 'Nautam amat puella' both mean 'the girl loves the sailor'. Puella has the nominative -a ending, and nautam has the accusative -am ending. To reverse the meaning, reverse the endings. 'Puellam amat nauta' means 'the sailor loves the girl'.
NB: Just because word order is irrelevant in determining the meaning of the sentence does not mean that it is to be ignored. Most Latin sentences have the accusative object at the beginning of the sentence, then the verb, then the subject. Also, prepositions are usually placed near their objects.
By this point we know the nominative (subject) case and the accusative (direct object) case. Latin has five cases in all, each with a different purpose in the sentence. In the examples below, the singular and plural endings are given next to name of the case. An ā indicates that the letter is long, and would be pronounced differently than the short -a of the nominative case.
| Nominative (a/ae) | The subject of the sentence. The boy has a book. |
| Genitive (ae/ārum) | Expresses posession. The book of the boy. (The boy's book) |
| Dative (ae/is) | The indirect object. I give the book to the boy. |
| Accusative (am/ās) | The direct object. I write the book. |
| Ablative (ā/is) | The means by which the action is completed. I write the book by means of a pen (with a pen) |
Ideas in Latin can be expressed succinctly using these five cases. To say 'I give the book to the girl' the latin would use puellae instead of to the puellam. (The sentence would read Do librum puellae.)
[edit] Exercises in Case Structure
Vocabulary for exercises:
The first three words, amat, dat, and terret are forms of verbs. We'll learn verb conjugations in a later lesson; but for now, use the third person verbs given.
- Amat, he/she/it loves
- Dat, he/she/it gives
- Terret, he/she/it frightens
- Insula, insulae f. island
- Nauta, nautae m. sailor
- Puella, puellae f. girl
- Taeda, taedae f. torch
In this exercise, give the number (singular or plural) and case of the noun. A number next to the word indicates the number of correct answers.
Example: Puellae (3). Nominative plural; Genitive singular; Dative singular.
1. Puella
2. Nautae*
3. Insulis*
4. Nautā
5. Puellārum
6. Insulam
Translate these sentences into English.
Example: Insulam dat nautae puella. The girl gives the island to the sailor.
1. Nauta insulam puellis dat.
2. Nauta insulam puellārum amat.
3. Puella nautam taedae terret.
4. Puella taedās dat nautis.
5. Puella nautās insulārum amat.
[edit] Declensions
Now, all the nouns we used above are referred to as first declension nouns --i.e., nouns that end in -a (e.g., insula, puella) and form their genitive with -ae (e.g., nautae, puellae). There are five declensions in Latin: the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth. Nouns belonging to the first, second, and third declensions are seen most often.
Gender
Like other Romance languages, all nouns in Latin display gender. First declension nouns tend to be feminine, second declension nouns are masculine (mostly) or neuter ("neither"). But just because a noun is in the first declension, do not assume that its gender is feminine. "Sailor", nauta, is a masculine first declension noun. Since adjectives are determined by gender, make note of a noun's gender when you learn it.
Dictionary Entry
The dictionary entry provides the least information necessary to fully recognize a noun. This means you must learn to read concise dictionary entries. The dictionary entry of a noun begins with its nominative and genitive singular forms, and its gender. From these three items (1) a noun's declension can be determined, and (2) any adjectives modifying it can be detected.
Since the five noun declensions all display the genitive singular form differently, the genitive singular form is a sure determinant of a noun's declension. This is why the genitive singular form is included in the dictionary entry. Furthermore, as mentioned above, any adjectives describing a noun will share its gender, and this is indicated in the dictionary entry by m., f., or n.
[edit] Verbs
A verb is the most complex element in a sentence.
In Latin, a verb alone is sufficient to make a sentence, while English standardly includes the subject noun ("I go," but cf. "Go!"). A Latin verb is marked by its subject noun: the two must reflect the same number (i.e., singular vs. plural) and person (e.g., I, you, they). A verb also reflects whether the subject noun is actively doing the action or passively suffering it (voice). A verb's tense is its most complex characteristic, and reflects not only when the action occurred, but also how (e.g., Was it finished? Is it ongoing?). A verb's fifth and final characteristic points to the attitude of the speaker: Is the speaker stating a fact or asking a question? Is the speaker making a wish or giving a command? Latin answers these questions with a verb's mood or "mode".
Person, Number, Tense, Voice, and Mood - - These are the five elements of a verb:
1. Person
Indicates subject noun, from the speaker's point of view. If the speaker is referring to himself or herself (pronouns "I", "we"), the verb will show first person endings; if the speaker is referring to someone spoken to ("you"), the verb will show second person endings; if the speaker is referring to someone or something spoken about ("he/she/it", "they"), the verb will show third person endings.
2. Number
Indicates whether the subject noun is a single person or thing (singular) or multiple (plural)
Verb charts graph person and number. English pronouns fill in this chart:
Singular Plural
1st Person___________________I_____________________________We____________________
2nd Person_________________You________________________You (Y'all)____________________
3rd Person_______________He/She/It _______________________They____________________
A separate verb chart like the one above can be used to display the unique endings that characterize any combination of these final three verb qualities:
3. Tense
Combines time relative to the speaker (Past, Present, Future) and aspect (Simple Aorist, Ongoing/Repeated Imperfect, Completed Perfect). This would naturally yield nine tenses (i.e. a Past Aorist, Present Aorist, Future Aorist; Past Imperfect, Present Imperfect, Future Imperfect; Past Perfect, Present Perfect, Future Perfect), but Latin in fact has only six. The Present, Future, and Perfect Tenses are ambiguous, and can each be translated with two combinations of time and aspect, as shown in the following chart:
Past Present Future
Aorist ___________________Perfect Tense______________Present Tense_________________Future Tense
Imperfect _______________Imperfect Tense_____________Present Tense_________________Future Tense
Perfect ________________Pluperfect Tense_____________Perfect Tense_______________Future Perfect Tense
As you can see from the chart above, Latin makes no distinction between the Present and Future Aorists and Imperfects. It also generally makes no distinction between the Present Perfect and the Past Aorist. You may also notice that of the six tenses, only the "Future Perfect" has a helpfully descriptive name. The Imperfect tense, for example, would more properly be called the "Past Imperfect", since it is always a Past tense.
The following chart gives sample English translations to reflect the combinations of time and aspect:
Past Present Future
Aorist ______________________I walked_____________________I walk______________________I shall walk
Imperfect __________________I was walking_______________I am walking________________I shall be walking
Perfect ___________________I had walked________________I have walked_______________I shall have walked
4. Voice
Intransitive verbs that show a state of being (e.g., "I am") are Active in voice. Transitive verbs that show the subject performing an action on a direct object (e.g., "I see you") are also Active in voice. Transitive verbs that show the subject receiving the action from an agent (e.g., "You are seen by me") are Passive in voice.
5. Mood
Mood can be thought of as reflecting the speaker's attitude to the reality of the action:
The Indicative mood is used for statements or questions of fact (reality). The Imperative mood is used for issuing commands (soon to be reality). The Subjunctive mood is used for wishes, unreal "if, then" clauses, potential, etc. (removed from reality).
