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Parts of Speech
Latin does not have an article (the, a, an), but otherwise has the same parts of speech as English.
A preposition connects a noun or pronoun to another word in the sentence and shows a relationship between the two - from, into, with, by
A conjunction connects words or groups of words - and, but, if, when
Each of the different parts of speech just listed has a function in the sentence.
What Words Do (Function)
The subject of a sentence is the person or thing the sentence is about. To identify the subject, use the verb of the sentence and ask “who/what s?” – the answer will be the subject. It is usually a noun or pronoun.
The verb of a sentence expresses an action or occurrence. The same term, “verb,” names both the part of speech and its function.
The direct object of a sentence is the person or thing that receives the action of the verb directly. Like the subject, it is usually a noun or pronoun.
Sentence Patterns - Intransitive Transitive
The verb sets the pattern for a sentence. The meaning of the verb determines what items are necessary to complete the action it expresses, and this allows you to know what other core items to expect.
1) Intransitive * subject * verb - The intransitive pattern requires only a subject and a verb to express a complete
2) Transitive * subject * verb * direct object (in the accusative case) - The transitive pattern requires a direct object to complete the action of the verb. Verbs that take a direct object are called transitive verbs.
The Verb -
Present Active Indicative, Present Active Infinitive
Verbs in Latin fall into four regular groups, called conjugations. Each conjugation has a common set of endings, which are added to the stem of the verb. The verb stem carries the meaning of the verb and a characteristic vowel.
The endings are called personal endings because they carry information about who the subject of the verb is. These endings are traditionally identified by person (first, second, or third) and number (singular or plural)
Verb forms with personal endings are called finite forms (from the Latin for “limit,” fīnis) because they are limited by identifying the subject. Verbs are also identified by:
Tense - when an action happens (e.g., present, future)
Voice - whether the subject is doing the action (active) or receiving the action (passive)
Mood - whether the verb is a simple statement or question (indicative), or a command (imperative), etc.
Present active indicative
Notice that the personal endings are the same for both conjugations ( 1 and 2) and are added directly to the stem of the verb in each form. In the “I” form (first person singular) of the first conjugation, the stem vowel -a- contracts with the personal ending to produce the form amō rather than amaō.
The present tense can be translated “I love,” “I am loving,” or “I do love.”
Latin expresses simple statements and simple questions by using the indicative mood
Because the ending on the verb tells you who the subject is, Latin does not have to use a separate word for the subject as we do in English: vident = they see
Present active infinitive
The infinitive is a verbal noun, a form of the verb that is not limited (infinitus) by a personal ending. To find the present stem of a verb, drop the -re from the present active infinitive. The vowel on the verb stem will show what conjugation the verb belongs. The infinitive ends in -re. It means to do something.
Principal Parts
The first person singular indicative form (I love) and the present infinitive form (to love) are called principal parts because they contain the verb stems on which all other forms are built.
Indicative Uses: Statements and Questions
Indicative verb forms are used to make simple statements and to ask simple questions.
Notice that Latin does not require any change of word order to signal a question. Often the enclitic -ne (§F) is added on the end of the first word of a question.
Infinitive Use: Complementary
Infinitives have properties of both verbs and nouns, and have several different uses. One of the most common is to complete the meaning of another verb. This use of the infinitive is called the complementary infinitive:
Latin cases
Instead of using word order to identify subjects and other elements in a sentence, Latin uses forms, called cases, which provide information about what each noun, pronoun, or adjective is doing in a sentence.
The nominative case is used for the subject of a finite verb. The accusative case is the direct object.
Nouns
Nouns are made up of the stem of the noun, which carries the meaning of the noun. In order to find the stem of the noun, drop the genitive singular ending. The ending shows the case of the noun, and whether it is singular or plural. Nouns are gendered. The easiest way to identify declension is to drop the genitive singular ending.
Latin nouns are also identified by gender (masculine, feminine or neuter).
Most first declension nouns are feminine.
The common exceptions are often remembered as the “PAIN” words, which are all masculine.
Most second declension nouns with a nominative in -us or -er are masculine.
Second declension nouns with a nominative in -um are neuter.
The conjunction
Latin uses “coordinating” conjunctions (words like and, but, or) just as English does, to connect words, phrases and sentences. The most important thing to notice is that the words being connected always have the same function (e.g., 2 subjects, 2 verbs; never a subject and a verb, or a subject and direct object.)
As in English, conjunctions in Latin are commonly placed between the words or phrases they connect. An exception to this is the enclitic (a word pronounced with so little emphasis that it is shortened and forms part of the preceding word, for example n’t in can’t.) -que, which is added to the second item of those being connected.
A coordinating conjunction should lead you to expect another word or phrase with the same function as that in the first item. If two subjects are joined by a conjunction, the verb will usually be plural.
The Imperative
To indicate a direct command, Latin uses a mood called the imperative, which usually appears in the second person (singular or plural) and present tense.
The singular form is usually the same as the present stem, found by dropping -re from the present active infinitive.
The plural form adds -te to the present stem.
These are positive commands.
The vocative case
The vocative case in Latin is used to address a person (or thing) directly.
Its form is identical to the nominative in both the singular and the plural of all declensions - except for the singular of 2nd declension nouns ending in -us or -ius .
2nd declension nouns in -us use the vocative singular ending -e ; those ending in -ius use the ending -ī :
Sometimes the vocative case is preceded by an ō and in modern texts is often set off by a comma. The vocative can appear in statements or questions but is most common in commands.
The genitive case (chap 3)
The genitive case is usually best translated “of ______” and can indicate several common relationships between a noun and another word.
Two of the most common uses of the genitive are to show:
Possession
Of the whole (partitive) - the genitive expresses the whole of which a part is mentioned. E.g - a crowd of men, no one of the women (none of the women)
The dative case
The dative singular forms have different endings in the first and second declensions,
but the dative plural forms are the same in both declensions:
The dative case is usually best translated “to ______” or “ for ______” and, like the genitive, has a number of different uses. Two of the most common uses are to show:
Indirect object - e.g he gives the gift to the girl
Reference (interest) - the person to whom the statement refers or is of interest e.g he is working for the master
The adverb (chap 4)
Adverbs give information on such things as time, manner, degree or place, they also answer questions such as when? where? how? how much? to what extent? They usually modify verbs, although they may sometimes modify adjectives or even other adverbs, or even a whole sentence.
Examples of adverbs include, almost, there very quickly. Unlike nouns, adverbs are not declined. They usually end in -ter or -ē.
The preposition (chap 4)
Like adverbs, prepositions are not declined. They never appear alone in a sentence, and appear with a noun or pronoun which is then called the object of the preposition. It is usually in the accusative or ablative case. Like adverbs, they give information about where, why and with whom the action of the verb occurs.
Prepositions come with a case which should be memorised, but some prepositions can be used in any case.
The ablative case (chap 4)
The ablative case always ends in one vowel, usually long. In the first and second declension, in the singular and the nominative, the ending are the same.
The ablative has many many meanings, but the most common ones can be summed up - by, with, from, in or at. One of the most important uses of the ablative without a preposition is to show
Means - the thing by which something is used to be done - I see with my eyes.
Expressions of place
Latin uses prepositional phrases to indicate where or in which direction an action happens.
Preposition with accusative
(motion towards) - She carries the water to the men
Preposition with ablative
(place where) - the farmer works in the field,
(place from which (walking away, motion from)) the girl walks away from the crowd
Notice that either place from where or place to which, you should expect a verb of motion in the sentence.
Word order
Word order in Latin is much more variable, and generally, the first and last words are the most important - so an author may put in those places words they tend to emphasise. If no special emphasis is wanted, usually the subject will appear first and the verb last.
Adverbial modification
Adverbial modifications modify a verb, adjective or adverb, but not a noun. The new items mentioned (adverbs, prepositional phrases, ablative of means) and the dative of reference from chapter 3 all work as adverbial modifiers. These modifiers are not part of the core sentence. While subject, the direct object and the verb are needed for the sentence, the adverbial modifiers are not. Examples of adverbial modifiers are:
The boy runs quickly
The boy runs into the house
The boy runs on his feet
The adjective - first and second declension
An adjective is a word naming an attribute of a noun, such as sweet, red, or technical.
Adjectives look like nouns and also have the same endings. Unlike nouns, which only have 1 gender, adjectives have forms in the feminine, masculine and neuter. Adjectives fall into two groups, one using the endings of the first and second declension, and one using the third. There are no adjectives in the fourth or fifth declension.
Some adjectives follow the pattern of puer:
liber libera liberum liberī liberae liberī
Notice that the stem of these adjectives can be found by dropping the nominative feminine or neuter singular ending
līber (a) līber (um) nostr (a) nostr (um)
Agreement
Adjectives agree with nouns in case, number and gender. This does not mean they are from the same declension, or that their endings will be the same. Because Latin adjectives agree with the noun in case, number and gender, they do not need to be next to each other in word order. You can expect a variable word order, but lightly, an adjective might precede the word it seeks to modify.