#1 Worksheet - Declining

Latin For Children

Chapter Maxim: In prïncipiö erat Verbum
(In the beginning was the Word—John 1:1)

New Chant: 1st Conjugation Verb

Vocabulary:
----------------singular-----------plural

1st person -----amö------------- amämus
2nd person ----amäs ------------amätis
3rd person ----amat------------ amant

Vocabulary:
---------Latin--------------------------------------------- English
verbs
amö, amäre, amävï, amätum-------------------- I love, to love, I loved, loved
dö, dare, dedï, datum---------------------------- I give, to give, I gave, given
intrö, inträre, inträvï, inträtum------------------ I enter, to enter, I entered, entered
labörö, laböräre, labörävï, labörätum ------------I work, to work, I worked, worked
narrö, närräre, närrävï, närrätum--------------- I tell, to tell, I told, told

nouns
aqua, aquae ------------------------------------water
fäbula, fäbulae ---------------------------------story
porta, portae----------------------------------- gate
silva, silvae------------------------------------ forest
terra, terrae----------------------------------- earth

VERBS = show action
NOUNS = a person, place or thing


CHAPTER 1: GRAMMAR PAGE ---------------------------UNIT 1

VERBS: ACTION WORDS
In this first chapter you will learn five verbs and five nouns. The first five words on
your vocabulary list are verbs. Verbs are words that show action. For example,
in the phrase “I work in the forest,” which word is the action word? Well, “work”
of course! The way we say “I work” in Latin is labörö—so labörö is a verb, a Latin
action word. Sometimes verbs can also show a “state of being” too, but we will teach
you that later.

LATIN: FEWER WORDS THAN ENGLISH, BUT MANY WORD-ENDINGS

We have a lot of words in English, but they rarely have different endings. For
example, the verb “love” stays the same whether we say “I love,” “we love” or
“they love.” Sometimes we do add an ending, like when we say “he loves,” or “we
loved.” In Latin, though, the verb for love (amö) changes its ending very often! We
will learn the various endings that come with Latin verbs (and nouns) so that we
can know what they mean and how to translate them. (To translate a Latin word,
by the way, means to write out [or tell] what a Latin word means in English! The
translation of amö is “I love.”) Now you know that Latin is a language of many
endings but fewer words than English!

Look at the chart above. It shows you one of the most common
words in Latin (the verb “love”) with all of its endings—six endings in all. When we
list a verb with all of its endings, that is called conjugating a verb.

You can also see that a Latin verb like amö actually contains two words in English!
The word amö means “I love” so it contains not only the word “love” but also the
word “I”. The ending of the verb (“o” in this case) tells you that it is “I” who is
doing the loving. Words like “I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” “it,” “we,” and “they” are all
little words called pronouns that tell you who is doing the action of the verb. The
ending of a Latin verb tells you which pronoun to use! We will study these endings
next week, so don’t fret too much about them now. The chart below, however,
shows you how the verb endings change:

-------------------singular -------------------------plural
1st person ------amö: I love------------------amämus: we love
2nd person -----amäs: you love --------------amätis: you all love
3rd person----- amat: he, she or it loves -----amant: they love

CHAPTER 1: GRAMMAR PAGE CONT. ----------------------UNIT 1

A Verb in Four Parts – The Four Principal Parts
Each Latin verb has four different forms (amö, amäre, amävï, amätum). We call each form a principal part. Why do we call each form a principal part? Because each part is an important form that shows us how to make other forms of the verb. It is a principal part because it is an
important part to know. No need to worry about the other forms that come from
these principal parts—you will learn those later in good time. Learning the principal
parts now, however, will be fun and save you a lot of time later!
Here are the names for each of the four principal parts:

amö ------------amäre--------------- amävï------------------ amätum

Present------- Infinitive------------- Perfect------Passive Participle or Supine


Nouns

You will learn five nouns in this chapter too (aqua, fäbula, porta, silva, terra).
Nouns are used to name a person, place or thing (or sometimes an idea). You
can see that nouns, like verbs, also have endings. For example, aqua,
aquae are both forms for the word water—one form ends with “a”
(aqua) and the other form ends with “ae” (aquae). Don’t worry now
about the endings for nouns—you will learn these in Chapters 3 and 4.

Pronouns are words that fill in for nouns. For example, instead of saying
“Titus wins” we could say “He wins.”
“I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” “it,” “we” and “they” are all pronouns.


CHAPTER 1: WORKSHEET

A. TRANSLATION:
1. amö ______________________
2. intrö______________________
3. dö________________________
4. labörö_____________________
5. fäbula _ ___________________
6. In prïncipiö erat Verbum __________________________________
7. aqua_ _____________________
8. porta______________________
9. närrö______________________
10. silva______________________
11. terra_____________________

B. CHANT:
Conjugate the verb amö.
See if you can remember how to fill in the boxes.

C. GRAMMAR:
1. In Latin, both __________ and __________ have endings.
2. Latin is a language of fewer ___________ but many __________.
3. What kind of word names the action or state of being in a sentence?
4. To ____________ a verb is to ___________ all of its ___________.

D. DERIVATIVES:
1. Aesop is famous for his ______________. (fäbula)
2. Reward will follow hard _____________. (labörö)




CHAPTER 1: QUIZ
A. Vocabulary:
---------Latin-------------------------------------English
amö, amäre, amävï, amätum
dö, dare, dedï, datum
intrö, inträre, inträvï, inträtum
labörö, laböräre, labörävï, labörätum
närrö, närräre, närrävï, närrätum
aqua, aquae
fäbula, fäbulae
porta, portae
silva, silvae
terra, terrae

B. CHANT:
Conjugate the verb amö.
See if you can remember .


C. GRAMMAR:
Define the following words.
1. Conjugation: ______________________________________________________
2. Verb: ____________________________________________________________
3. List the four principal parts: _________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________



Nomen: ________________________ datum: ______________________

Declining Worksheet

1. Choose 6 nouns from chapter(s) __________.
2. Find the stem of each noun.
3. Decline the noun.
4. Translate the box marked *.

1. stem:

CASE----------- SINGULAR ---------PLURAL
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________

2. stem:

CASE----------- SINGULAR ---------PLURAL
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________

3. stem:

CASE----------- SINGULAR ---------PLURAL
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________

Flash Dash Latin Game

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Chapter 1/Lesson 2-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:

Explanation- The good boy loves the wild dog.
Latin:	puer	bonus	amat(1)	canem(2) (acc)	ferocem(3) (acc).
English:	[The] boy	good	[he] loves	[the] dog	wild.

• ⁽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:

Explanation- The good boys love the wild dogs.
Latin:	Pueri (plur)	boni (plur)	amant (plur)	canes (plur, acc)	feroces (plur, acc).
English:	[The] boys	good	[they] love	[the] dogs	wild.

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:

Explanation- The good girl loves the good boy.
Latin:	Puella	bona	amat	puerum (acc)	bonum (acc).
English:	[The] girl	good	[she] loves	[the] boy	good.

Bonus must become bona in order to modify puella, which is feminine.

Finally, if the girl isn't good, but rather wild:

Explanation- The wild girl loves the good boy.
Latin:	Puella	ferox	amat	puerum (acc)	bonum (acc).
English:	[The] girl	wild	[she] loves	[the] boy	good.

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

EXERCISE • Lesson 2-Adjectives • Translate

1. est bonus. • sum ferox. • estis boni. • sunt bonae.

SOLUTION • Latin/Lesson 2-Adjectives • Translate

1. He is good. • I am wild. • You (pl.) are good. • They are good.

Lessons in this series:

• Chapter 1/Lesson 1-Nominative
• Chapter 1/Lesson 2-Adjectives
• Chapter 1/Lesson 3-Present Verbs
• Chapter 1/Lesson 4-Adverbs and Prepositions
• Chapter 1/Lesson 5-Accusative
• Chapter 1/Lesson 6-Pronouns
  

Chapter 1/Lesson 1-Nominative

From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection

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.

Lesson Vocabulary
Latin	English
magn-us -a -um	big
bon-us -a -um	good
mal-us -a -um	bad
puell-a -ae f.	girl
puer m.	boy
domin-a f.	mistress
domin-us m.	master
lūd-us m.	school
triclīni-um n.	dining room
esse (ego) sum (tū) es [lūd-us] est (nōs) sumus (vōs) estis [lūd-ī] sunt	to be I am you (singular) are [the school] is* we are you (plural) are [the schools] are
nōn	An adverb placed before a verb meaning 'not' thus negating the verb.
Some second declension masculine end in -r instead of -us in the nominative case — boy is puer, not puer-us.

Grammar: Pluralizing Nominatives

Number	First declension feminine	Second declension masculine	Second declension neuter
Singular	puell-a	lūd-us	triclīni-um
Plural	puell-ae	lūd-ī	triclīni-a

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

Latin English puell-a est bon-a The girl is good. And to pluralize: puell-ae sunt bon-ae The girls are good.	Latin English poēt-a est bon-us The poet is good. And to pluralize: poēt-ae sunt bon-ī The poets are good.
Latin English triclīni-um est magn-um The dining room is large. And to pluralize: triclīni-a sunt magn-a The dining rooms are large.	Latin English sum magn-us I am big. And to pluralize: sumus magn-ī We are big.
Latin English es bon-us You (sing.) are good. And to pluralize: estis bon-ī You (pl.) are good.

Further Examples

Example 1

Latin	English
triclīnium est magnum	The dining room is big.

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 est magnus, 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

Latin	English
puella est magna	The girl is big.

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).

Example 3

Latin	English
lūdus est magnus	The school is big.

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

Latin	English
lūdī sunt magnī	The schools are big.

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

Translate the following Latin words into English.

1. dominus bonus • ludus malus • puella magna
2. triclinium est magnum • ego sum magna¹ • es bonus²

SOLUTION • Latin/Lesson 1-Nominative/Exercise 1 • Translate

1. [the] good master • [the] bad game • [the] big,large,great girl
2. The dining room is big,large,great • I am big,large,great¹ • You are good²
   

¹ Here the speaker is female because "magna" is a feminine adjective.
² Here the speaker is referring to a male, because "bonus" is a masculine adjective.

Lessons in this series:

• Chapter 1/Lesson 1-Nominative
• Chapter 1/Lesson 2-Adjectives
• Chapter 1/Lesson 3-Present Verbs
• Chapter 1/Lesson 4-Adverbs and Prepositions
• Chapter 1/Lesson 5-Accusative
• Chapter 1/Lesson 6-Pronouns
  

#2 Introduction-Pronunciation

From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection

Youtube Latin lesson: pronounciation

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 "you". 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".

The Use of the Cases (all words underlined are in the case specified in the first column)
CASE	Answers the Question	Example (Latin)	Example (English)
NOMINATIVE	Who or what?	Quis dedit? Vir.	Who gave? A man.
GENITIVE	Whose or whereof?	Cuius donum? Virī.	Whose gift? A man's.
DATIVE	To or for whom or what	Cui dedit? Virō.	To whom given? To a man.
ACCUSATIVE	Whom or what?	Quem videō? Puerum.	Whom do I see? A boy.
ABLATIVE	By,with, from in, (depends on preposition) whom or what	Ā quō datum? Ā virō.	By whom given? By a man.
VOCATIVE	Person called or addressed	O, Cornēlī!	Oh, Cornelius!

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 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 memorise the gender associated with each individual substantive.

Certain rules may be utilised 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 learnt. 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).

Table of Declensions for Substantives Each substantive in this table is known as a model substantive. Any noun belonging to a particular gender would use the suffixes associated with that declension. Some declensions may use variants of the suffixes for different genders. The genders given for each declension are there as a guide only, there are always exceptions to the rule.
Declension: Gender	1st Feminine	2nd Masculine/Neuter	3rd Masc & Fem./Neut.	4th Masculine/Neuter	5th Feminine
All are in singular. (This table is only there to familiarise yourself with the existence of different declensions, not for you to memorise. Thus displaying the plural is redundant).
NOMINATIVE Subject	puella	servus/bellum	rēx/mare	gradus/cornū	rēs
VOCATIVE	o puella!	o serve!/o bellum!	o rēx!/o mare!	o gradus!/o cornū!	o rēs!
ACCUSATIVE Object	puellam	servum/bellum	rēgem/mare	gradum/cornū	rēm
GENITIVE Possessive	puellae	servī/bellī	rēgis/maris	gradūs/cornūs	rēī
DATIVE Indirect Object	puellae	servō/bellō	rēgī/marī	graduī/cornū	rēī
ABLATIVE	puellā	servō/bellō	rēge/marī	gradū/cornū	rē
Notae	These substantives are known as 'a' stem substantives because the stem of the substantives end with the letter 'a'. These substantives evolved into the feminine 'a' substantives of the modern Romance languages. Pronunciation Tips: The nominative singular has a short final 'a', while the ablative singular has a long 'a'. 'ae' is pronounced like i in 'bite'.	These substantives are known as 'o' stem substantives because the stem (more visible in archaic Latin) ended with 'o'. These evolved into the masculine 'o' nouns of modern Romance languages. Pronunciation Tips: The final 'um' is pronounced like a nasalised 'o'. The 'u' sound is not strong, like the 'u' in 4th declension nouns.	Most of these substantives are known as consonantal stem substantives. A few are 'i' stems.	These are known as 'u' stem substantives.	These are known as 'e' stem

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 memorised.

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 Lesson 3, 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.

#1 Introduction

From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection

What is Latin?

Parts of this introduction were taken from The Latin Language on the Wikipedia.

Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around the city of Rome called Latium. It gained great importance as the formal language of the Roman Empire.

All Romance languages descend from a Latin parent, and many words in English and other languages today are based on Latin roots. Moreover, Latin was a lingua franca, the learned language for scientific and political affairs, for more than a thousand years, being eventually replaced by French in the 18th century and English in the late 19th. Latin remains the formal language of the Roman Catholic Church to this day, and as such is the official national language of the Vatican.

Romance languages are not derived from Classical Latin, the language spoken by Caesar and Cicero, but rather from Vulgar Latin, the language spoken by the common people, or vulgus, of Rome. Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin (Romance) differ (for example) in that Romance had distinctive stress whereas Classical had distinctive length of vowels. In Italian and Sardo logudorese, there is distinctive length of consonants and stress, in Spanish only distinctive stress, and in French even stress is no longer distinctive.

Another major distinction between Classical and Romance is that modern Romance languages, excluding Romanian, have lost their case endings in most words (some pronouns being exceptions). Romanian is still equipped with several cases (though some, notably the ablative, are no longer represented).

It is also important to note that Latin is, for the most part, an inflected language — meaning that the endings change to show how the word is being used in the sentence.

Introduction to the Latin Language

Simple and Compound Words

In Latin, words are either:

• compound (words that consist of more than one part, for example, a root word combined with a prefix) or
• simple (words that consist of only one part).

Word Parts

Inflected words have a stem and a root.

The Root

The root is the most primitive part of the word that has meaning. For example the stem of agitoagit-, whose root is ag, which is in common to words of similar meaning: agoagmen (that which is driven, such as a flock), etc. (I drive onward) is (I do, drive),

The Stem

The stem is the part of the word to which suffixes are added. These suffixes determine the role of the word in the sentence. For example, when a Roman slave wished to address his dominusdomine. This vocative ending is equivalent to "O master" in English. In this case domin- is the stem and -us and -e are suffixes. The addition of such a suffix is called inflection. This is discussed further in the Summary. (master), he used the vocative form

In contrast, English uses word order more than inflection to determine the function of a word within a sentence.

Primitives

Primitives occur when both the stem and the root are the same. For example, the word agereag- and the root ag. (to do, drive) has the stem

Derivatives

Derivatives occur when the stem is different from the root. For example, the stem flamm- from the word flamma has the root "flag."

Suffixes

Latin attaches suffixes ("endings") to stems to turn them into words (most stems and roots cannot be used in sentences without an ending). This inflection is essential to forming Latin sentences. The various suffixes and their translations will be learned in the later lessons.

Types of Words

Nouns

A noun (Latin: nomen) is "something perceived or conceived by the mind."

There are three kinds of nouns: Substantives, Adjectives, and Pronouns. Nouns have changing endings on the stem (known as declension) and three accidents: number (singular or plural, determined by the ending), gender (masculine, feminine or neuter: almost never changes for substantives, determined by the ending for adjectives and pronouns) and case (determined by the ending). Adjectives and Pronouns, when attributing a substantive must agree in all accidents.

1. Substantive (nomen substantivum) is a name simply denoting something perceived or conceived: psittacus - the parrot, nix - the snow, virtus - virtue.

2. Pronoun (pronomen) is a word used in place of an adiectivum and substantivum, usually when the substantivum is already known: ea - she, ille - that man

Verbs

Verbs (verba) express an action or a state of being, e.g., ago (I do), dixit (he said), venis (you come). "Conjugation" is the term for adding inflections to verb stems to indicate person (first, second or third), number (singular or plural), tense (present, future, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect or future perfect), voice (active or passive), and mood (indicative, subjunctive or imperative).

A verb can be either finite or infinite:

1. Finite verbs (verba finita) are inflected and have a subject, e.g., I run, you run, he runs, they drive, the computer is turned on.

2. The infinitive (verbum infinitum) is not inflected and has no subject, e.g. to run, to drive, to turn on, to have drawn. Participles, which are inflected as substantives rather than as verbs, may also be considered infinite, e.g., the running boy.

[edit] Modifiers

1. Adjectives (nomen adiectivum) are used to describe nouns. They indicate a quality perceived or conceived as inherent in something denoted. E.g., vir magnus (the great man), puella pulchra (the fair girl)

2. Adverbs are similar to adjectives, except that they are used to qualify verbs, rather than nouns. E.g., curro celeriter (I run quickly), pugnat fortiter (he fights bravely)

Other

Particles are uninflected words that provide extra meaning.

1. Prepositions (praepositiones) are used in conjunction with a substantive to define position or relation to another substantive. In Latin, the noun combined with the preposition takes the accusative, ablative or (rarely) genitive case, depending on the nature of the relationship, or on the nature of the preposition itself. E.g., ad, in, sub

2. Conjunctions (coniunctiones) join together clauses and sentences. E.g., et, atque, sed

3. Interjections (interiectiones) are exclamations used to express feeling or to gain attention. E.g., o! (oh!) eheu! (alas!) ecce! (behold!)

Articles

Latin has NO articles (words for 'the' and 'a'). When translating Latin into English, insert a 'the' or 'a' when appropriate.

Summary

Parts of Speech
Inflected	Uninflected
Substantives: things perceived or conceived	Adverbs: describe adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs
Adjectives: indicate a quality perceived or conceived as inherent of something in the substantive	Prepositions: help nouns define their relations to other nouns
Pronouns: nouns used in place of substantives and adjectives	Conjunctions: Join clauses and sentences
Verbs: mark the beginning of an independent clause. The verb in Latin is inflected so that we know the subject ("I learn"), and its tense (to what general or specific time the clause relates to). We call the inflection of a verb conjugation	Interjection: exclamation

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?