Wikibooks

Latin

Latin is a featured book on Wikibooks because it contains substantial content, it is well-formatted, and the Wikibooks community has decided to feature it on the main page or in other places. Please continue to improve it and thanks for the great work so far! You can edit its advertisement template.

A printable version of Latin is available. (edit it)

A PDF version is available. (info)

Wikipedia has related information at Latin

Look up Index:Latin in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

See also the Latin Wikibooks
See also the less formal Latin Wikiversity course

This is an elementary Latin course accompanied with a detailed grammar based upon Kennedy's Public School Latin Grammar designed to introduce one to the world of classical languages. A basic understanding of grammatical terminology would be helpful; however, it is not required. Basic definitions of terms will be explained in Lessons 1 and 2, and later elaborated as needed.

For detailed explanations and examples of English grammatical terms, please consult the English Grammar textbook. However, Latin grammar is quite different from that of English, and thus it requires different grammatical terms to explain the concepts. These will be taught as needed.

Preface

edit
 
The latin poet Horace recites his verses.

This book will attempt to teach the reader about Latin from the ground up. Please read the Introduction to the origins and structure of Latin carefully, as it introduces the concept of a stem. As is typical in many other languages, the infinitive stem (present tense, active voice) is used for conjugating verbs. [The introduction of additional information in parentheses is done simply to avoid confusing a student who has already had exposure to Latin.]

Advice

edit

Parts of this book may have been edited by people who do not speak English as their first language. All Wikibooks are written in the particular English dialect of the writer, which may not be standard usage. If you see something particularly unclear, please feel free to correct it, but please alter this article in a constructive manner.

If something doesn't make sense to you, delete or preferably fix it if you are skilled enough; otherwise, try to emphasize that text marking it with some keyword, e.g., "grade 12 [grade] American [system] revert?" reporting that thing in the Talk page of the book. The "revert" keyword allows your editors to know that you are not a skilled editor but that you are just trying to learn, and you are confused. Your changes are not permanent.

In any case, please, edit this book responsibly.

  • As this is a textbook, readers will want denotational indication of macrons. If you do not know how to do this in HTML, please refer to Wikipedia's article on the topic.
  • Nouns should be given in the nominative and genitive singular following the standard practice of Latin dictionaries. If it is necessary to indicate the case of the declension then the abbreviations "nom." and "gen." may be used. Different pages may use their own layout rules, but they should be left-justified and clear to the student.
  • Check with other commercial textbooks and study guides to see if what you are doing is factually accurate and pedagogically sound. Wikibooks trusts you to make that judgment on your own, but this is a book - not an article. A person who is either bold or rash might make an error or mistake in layout or explanation that will take a long time to find and correct, so, please, be very careful in what you do.

A Progressive Latin Grammar and Exercises

edit

Introduction to the origins and structure of Latin

edit
  1. How to study a language on the Internet and in your head
  2. Special consideration: How to use a Wikibook when progress may mean inaccuracy
  3. Grammatical Introduction to Latin The origin and structure of Latin
  4. Basic Grammar Grammatical introduction.
 
Bust of Cato the Elder

Chapter 1: Basic Sentences

edit
  1. The Nominative Case Create basic Latin sentences, with adjectives and the verb "to be"
  2. Adjectives A short introduction to adjectives
  3. Present indicative active construct An introduction to verbs, and the present tense of regular verbs.
  4. Adverbs & Prepositions More on adjectives, and an overview of adverbs and prepositions.
  5. The Accusative Case Learn to create sentences with transitive verbs.
  6. Pronouns Summary of Pronouns
  7. Chapter 1 Verse

Chapter 2: Complex Sentences

edit
  1. The Imperfect Tense The imperfect tense, working in the past.
  2. The Genitive and Dative Cases Indicate indirect objects and possession.
  3. The Future Tense Verbs in the Future
  4. The Ablative and Vocative Case Indicate an ablative construct / directly address someone
  5. The 3rd, 4th and 5th declensions All remaining categories of nouns
  6. Irregular Verbs & Revision Review of all five declensions and the conjugation of present imperfect indicative active verbs.
  7. Translation Exercise Translate a passage.
  8. Imperfect and Future indicative active constructs
  9. Chapter 2 Verse
 
Bust of Gaius Julius Caesar

Chapter 3: Advanced Sentences

edit
  1. Imperatives Ordering or Telling People What to Do.
  2. Active vs. Passive Verbs
  3. Indicative Passive Verbs Present, imperfect, and future passives.
  4. Principal Parts Principal verb parts and verb conjugation.
  5. The Perfect Indicative Tense The uses and formation of the perfect indicative tense.
  6. The Perfect Indicative Passive Verbs Use the perfect with the passives.
  7. Future and Past Perfect Indicative Tenses
  8. Ablative Absolute and Accusative Infinitive Constructions
  9. Chapter 3 Verse

Chapter 4: The Subjunctive Mood and Complex Sentences

edit
  1. The Subjunctive Mood Subjunctive vs. Indicative moods, conjugate the Subjunctive present.
  2. The Uses of the Subjunctive
  3. The Subjunctive Imperfect Conjugation and uses of the imperfect subjunctive.
  4. The Subjunctive Passive Verbs Conjugate the present and imperfect subjunctives.
  5. The Subjunctive Perfects The perfect endings for the Subjunctive.
  6. The Subjunctive Perfect Passive Verbs Perfect auxiliary verbs for the subjunctive passives.
  7. The Gerund and Participles Verbal Nouns.
  8. Conditional Clauses Conditional sentences in the indicative and subjunctive mood
  9. Revision Review of all five declensions and the conjugation of the active subjunctive verbs.
  10. Idioms An overview of idiomatic phrases used in Latin.
  11. Translation Translate a passage from the Vulgate Bible.
  12. Chapter 4 Verse
  13. Verse from the Gospels
 
Bust of poet Catullus

Chapter 5: Review

edit
  1. Revision Review of all five noun and adjective declensions.
  2. Revision Revise work on all verb conjugations and learned forms.
  3. Translation Translate a passage from Catullus.
  4. Exercises Review of subjunctive forms.
  5. Exercises Review of passive forms.
  6. Translation
  7. Revision Ideas and memory tools for language patterns in conjugation and declining.
  8. Chapter 5 Verse
  9. Poem about Latin

Spoken Latin

edit
An episode from a Latin podcast
A recitation of the German speaker

This is a test chapter to teach those who wish to learn Latin which they can use in their daily lives.

  1. Spoken Latin Wikibook

Appendices

edit
 
Horace, Virgil and Varius at the house of Maecenas
Verb Synopsis
List of Declensions
Phonology of Latin (pronunciation)
Accents and Scansion
Morphology of Latin
Ecclesiastical & Medieval Latin
Latin Grammatical Definitions
Latin Dictionary
Latin Mottos and Phrases (used nowadays)
Latin Abbreviations (used nowadays)
Common phrases
Latin Resources
Library of Graded Latin Texts for Translation
Spoken Latin
Words and their Flexion
Prefixes and Suffixes
Stylistic Features of Latin Verse and Prose

About the Book

edit
  1. Authors

Please leave ideas for additional chapters on the talk page.

See also

edit

Cultural insights in other wiki books / wiki articles.

edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Latin&oldid=4453751"