A Progressive Latin Grammar and Exercises

Introduction to the origins and structure of Latin:

How to study a language on the Internet and in your head

	Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

	Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

	Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

How do you think about languages as you study them? Typically, you will consider every punctuation mark and letter, all the verbs and nouns, adverbs and adjectives, and study them in order to make connections. Ideally, you will have a teacher to point you in the right direction, and help you make those connections. But when you have no teacher, those connections are left for you to discover. They may be clear or hidden, but either way you will have to make them yourself. As you explore this Wikibook, it will require the skill of critical thinking.

You can never go wrong studying a language if you remember that exposing yourself to a language, even if you stumble in practice, is itself learning it. Looking things up too much can sometimes impede progress. Stretch your memory, read slowly, and re-read. As you will soon discover, you are about to study a language that is rich and full of meaning, the ancestor of the Romance languages, such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian, and an outsized influence on many other languages besides, including English.

So do not assume that...

...Latin is like any other language. Do not assume ancient Roman culture is entirely unlike other cultures, however. The Romans grappled with issues that are universally dealt with.

We, the authors, endorse memorization, and after that, immersion. You must develop Latin muscles, and a willingness to write or type things out, or drill using software, or with a friend. Note the patterns after you have memorized the forms, not before. Allow yourself to be mesmerized by them. Similarly, seek out explanation only after you have memorized forms. Memorize forms, then make sentences, then use your knowledge to speak or to write the language.

Special consideration: How to use a Wikibook when progress may mean inaccuracy

The current rule for dealing with inaccuracy in this book is: if you are skilled enough then simply delete or fix what you don't understand or you think is wrong (but then add a full description before committing your changes) else try to note your level of schooling and your country of origin writing (in the summary box) about what confused you . Also try to use the "revert?" keyword near the confusing text.

In other words, do not tolerate inaccuracy!

Grammatical Introduction to Latin

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 — including Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, and others — 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 in Europe, for more than one and a half thousand years, being eventually replaced by French in the 18th century and English by the middle of the 20th. Latin remains the formal language of the Roman Catholic Church to this day and is the official language of the Vatican.

Romance languages are not derived from Classical Latin, a literary language for writing and oration, 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. Stress refers to the emphasis of pronunciation on syllabic units. Most English nouns not derived from other parts of speech have an emphasis on the first syllable. Foreign loan words in English sometimes retain their original stress, which may be on the second or third syllable, though assimilation into English will usually result in a vowel shift towards emphasis on the first syllable.

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

Here are some current English words which are Latin derivativesː

Video is the Latin verb "I see" which in English is a noun referring to a recording and playback device.
Audio is the Latin verb "I hear" which in English is a noun referring to a sound wave.
Victoria is the Latin noun "victory" which in English is a proper noun and a woman's name.
Carmen is the Latin noun "song" which in English is a proper noun and a woman's name.

Introduction to the Latin Language

Simple and Compound Words

In Latin, words are either:

simple (words that consist of only one part). For example:

Latin	English

eō	I go
ferō	I carry
dō	I give

compound (words that consist of more than one part, for example, a root word combined with a prefix). For example:

Latin	English

abeō	I go away
trānsferō	I carry across
reddō	I give back

Word Parts

Inflected words (i.e., words having ending- or spelling-changes according to their grammatical functions in the sentence) have a stem and a root.

The Stem

The stem is the part of the word to which various suffixes are added. The final suffix determines either the role of the word in the sentence (for example, when a Roman slave wished to address his dominus (master), he used the vocative form domine -- equivalent to "O master" in English) or the person/subject involved in the action (for example, "I dominate" may be expressed as "domin-or", and "they dominate" as "domin-antur"). In these cases, domin- is the stem and -us, -e, -or and -antur are suffixes. The addition of such suffixes is called inflection. This is discussed further in the Summary.

The Root

The root is the part of the word that carries the essential meaning. For example the stem of agitō (I drive onward) is agit-, whose root is ag (do, drive), which is in common to words of similar meaning: agō (I do, drive), agmen (that which is driven, such as a flock), etc. Notice the essential difference between a root and a stem. To the root "ag" has been added a suffix "(i)tō-" which denotes frequency of action (so "agit-" means to do or drive more than once, hence "agit-ō", I agitate, I keep (something) moving, I urge, I impel).

In contrast, English uses word order more than inflection to determine the function of a word within a sentence. English also uses words like pronouns (I, she, etc.) and prepositions (to, at, etc.) where Latin generally prefers inflexions. Thus "dom-ī" (noun -- "at home"), "ag-unt" (verb -- "they do/drive").

Primitives

Primitives occur when both the stem and the root are the same. For example, in the word agere (to do, drive) both the stem and the root are the same: "ag-".

Derivatives

Derivatives occur when the root or stem is modified. For example, the stem flamm- from the noun flamma has the root "flag" ("blaze"), "nōscō" (I know) from the verb "nōscere" has the root "gnō-" ("know").

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 used in Latin

Nouns

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

There are two kinds of nouns: Substantives and Pronouns.

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

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

Nouns have changing endings on the stem (known as declension) and three incidents: number, gender and case. Number concerns whether the thing referred to is singular or plural (and the ending shows this); gender classifies a substantive as masculine, feminine or neuter (this determines how the endings of adjectives and pronouns behave) and case (where the ending must show how the noun fits in to the sentence). Adjectives and Pronouns must agree in all incidents when they refer to a substantive.

Verbs

Verbs (verba) express an action or a state of being, e.g., agō (I do), dīxit (he said), venīs (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 finīta) are inflected and have a subject, e.g., I run, you run, he runs, they drive, the computer is turned on.

2. The infinite verbs (verba infinīta) are not inflected and have 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.

Modifiers

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

2. Adverbs (adverbia) are similar to adjectives, except that they are used to qualify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs, rather than nouns. In practice, they restrict the meaning of the verb or adjective by specifying how or how much. E.g., currō celeriter (I run quickly), pugnat fortiter (he fights bravely), vērē iūcundus est (he's really nice), incrēdibile callida est (she's incredibly clever).

Other

Particles are uninflected words that provide extra meaning.

1. Prepositions (praepositiōnēs) are little words which tell you how one word is behaving in relation to another word ("the duck was near the pond", "she went towards the wood"). In Latin, the noun that follows a preposition takes a particular ending (called a "case"), depending on the nature of the relationship, or on the nature of the preposition itself. E.g., ad (by), in (in), sub (under). What all this means is that a preposition is a sort of adverb, telling you how something is done. For example, "you go" is a simple statement, but "you go in" suggests that you don't just "go", you go so as to enter something, and so you need a noun for the "something". In English, we might say "you go into the house". In Latin, this would be: "in domum inīs". Notice the form "in domum", which means "into" the house -- you're going into it, you're not yet exactly inside it (the ending -um of "domum" is called "accusative"). When you are inside the house, what you do is "in" the house, which is "in domō" (the ending -ō of "domō" is called "ablative").

2. Conjunctions (coniunctiōnēs) join together clauses and sentences. E.g., et (and), atque (as well as), sed (but).

3. Interjections (interiectiōnēs) are exclamations used to express feeling or to gain attention. E.g., ō! (oh!), ēheu! (alas!), ecce! (behold!).

Articles

Latin has no definite article or indefinite article, respectively "the" and "a/an". When translating Latin into English the appropriate article must be added.

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

EXERCISE • Print Version • Questions

1. What is the shared root in the following English words?

actor, reaction, radioactive
transfer, fertile, interference

2. In the following English words, what is the stem and what is the ending?

knights
riding
horses
jumped

3. What parts of speech are each of the English words in (2), as well as the following:

with
and
because
hooray
silently
never

4. Answer the following questions about the Latin language:

In what area of Italy was Latin originally spoken?
Name the two varieties of Latin that existed in antiquity.
What major organization still uses Latin today?

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Questions

1. What is the shared root in the following English words?

act
fer

2. In the following English words, what is the stem and what is the ending?

to be written
to be written
to be written
to be written

3. What parts of speech are each of the English words in (2), as well as the following:

to be written
to be written
to be written
to be written
to be written
to be written

4. Answer the following questions about the Latin language:

Latium
Classical latin and Vulgar latin
Roman Catholic Church

Basic Grammar

Spelling and Pronunciation

The Latin alphabet, on which the English alphabet is based, has mostly the same letters as the English alphabet, except that it has no <k> or <w>, and that in its original form, it lacked <j>, which only some modern texts use, and . Many European languages use the Latin alphabet as the basis for their own alphabet.

Latin pronunciation has varied somewhat over the course of its long history, and there are some differences between Old Latin, spoken in the Roman Republic, Classical Latin, spoken in the Roman Empire, Medieval Latin, spoken in the Middle Ages, and Ecclesiastical Latin, spoken in the Catholic Church. This text focuses on the pronunciation of Classical Latin.

a	/a/, approximately as in English "palm"
ā	/aː/, approximately as in English "father"
ae	/ai̯~ae̯/, as in English "realize", "buy"
au	/au̯/, as in English "brown", "how"
b	/b/, as in English "bit"
c	always /k/, as in English "scan"; never /s/, as in English "suicide"
ch	always /kʰ/, as in English "key"; never /t͡ʃ/, as in English “church”
d	always /d/, as in "dim"; never /ɾ/, as in "medal"
e	usually /ɛ/, as in American English "best”; /æ/, as in English "fact", before <r>; /e/, approximately as in English "letter A", "hay", before another vowel
ē	/eː/, approximately as in English "letter A", "hay"
f	always /f/, as in English "fan"; never /v/, as in English "of"
g	always /g/, as in English "good"; never /ʒ/, as in English "deluge", or /d͡ʒ/, as in English "gel"
gn	/ŋn/, as in English "hangnail", "sing now"; at the beginning of words it may also be pronounced as just /n/, as in English "no" or "gnat"
gu	/gʊ/, as in English "good", before consonants; /gᶣ/, no English equivalent, before <e/ē/i/ī>; /gʷ/, as in English "language", before all other vowels
h	/h/, as in English "ham"
i	usually /ɪ/, as in English "kit"; /j/, as in English "yes", between the start of a word and a vowel; /jː/, as in English "toy yacht", between two vowels; /i/, as in English "tidy", between a consonant and a vowel
ī	/iː/, as in English "letter E", "fleet"
j	used by some in place of Latin <i> when it represents /j/; this Wikibook does not follow this convention
k	not in the Latin alphabet
l	/l/, as in English "leaf" (called l exīlis, "Thin L"); possibly sometimes /ɫ/, as in English "full" (called l plēnus/pinguis, "Thick L"); scholars do not agree on whether l plēnus still existed beyond Old Latin, and if so, where it occurred
ll	always /lː/, as in English "leaf", but pronounced longer; never /ɫ/, as in “full”
m	/m/, as in English "map", unless following a vowel and either before <f> or <s>, or at the end of a word, in which case it's silent and the previous vowel is pronounced as its long form (the one with the macron over it), and is nasalized
n	/n/, as in English "no", unless it's preceding <c>, <g>, or <q>, in which case it's /ŋ/, as in English "hang", or following a vowel and preceding <f> or <s>, or at the end of a word, in which case it's silent and the previous vowel is pronounced as its long form (the one with the macron over it), and is nasalized
o	/ɔ/, approximately as in English "thought” or "God"
ō	/oː/, approximately as in English "letter O", "clover"
oe	/oi̯~oe̯/, approximately as in English "point", "boy"
p	/p/, as in English "spin"
ph	always /pʰ/, as in English "pin"; never /f/, as in English "phone"
q	/k/, only occurs alongside <u>
qu	/kᶣ/, no English equivalent, before <e/ē/i/ī>; /kʷ/, as in English "language”, before all other vowels
r	/r/, like Spanish <rr>
s	always /s/, as in English "see"; never /z/, as in English "ease"
t	always /t/, as in English "steam"; never /ɾ/, as in English "butter", or /ʔ/, as in English "sit"
th	always /tʰ/, as in English "team"; never /θ/, as in English "three" or /ð/, as in English "this"
u	always /ʊ/, as in English "foot", "put"; never /ʌ/, as in English "sun"
ū	always /uː/, as in English "food"; never /ju/, as in English "mute", or /ʊ/, as in English "foot"
v	always /w/, as in English "we"; never /v/, as in English "five"
w	not in the Latin alphabet
x	always /k͡s/, as in English "wicks"; never /g͡z/, as in English "exaggerate", or /z/, as in English "xylophone"
y	/ʏ/, no English equivalent; generally only present in words borrowed from Greek
ȳ	/yː/, as in German "über", no English equivalent; generally only present in words borrowed from Greek
z	/zː/, approximately as in English "his"; generally only present in words borrowed from Greek

Note that Latin, as written by the Romans, did not have <j>, <k>, , <w>, or macrons over vowels (the lines indicating that vowels are long), although they did sometimes mark long vowels with apices (e.g. <ó> for /oː/); macrons are used today as pronunciation guides and do not necessarily need to be written. /w/, /ʊ/, and /uː/ were all represented with <v>. Modern texts often use <v> for /w/, for /ʊ/, and <ū> for /uː/. In some modern texts (this Wikibook not included), <j> is used for /j/.

Declension Tables

The following tables will be both referenced and explained in all of the following sections, and hence are placed here.

Singular Nouns
Declension (Gender)	1st (F)	2nd (M/N)	3rd (M/F/N)	4th (M/N)	5th (F)
Nominative Subject	puella	servus	rēx	gradus	rēs
Genitive Possessive	puellae	servī	rēgis	gradūs	rēī
Dative Indirect Object	puellae	servō	rēgī	graduī	rēī
Accusative Object	puellam	servum	rēgem	gradum	rēm
Ablative Modifies or Limits Verb	puellā	servō	rēge	gradū	rē
Vocative Direct Address	puella	serve	rēx	gradus	rēs

Note that nouns in the 3rd declension nominative can have any ending, hence why none is given in bold.

Plural Nouns
Declension (Gender)	1st (F)	2nd (M/N)	3rd (M/F/N)	4th (M/N)	5th (F)
Nominative	puellae	servī	rēgēs	cornūs	rēs
Genitive	puellārum	servōrum	rēgum	cornuum	rērum
Dative	puellīs	servīs	rēgibus	cornibus	rēbus
Accusative	puellās	servōs	rēgēs	cornūs	rēs
Ablative	puellīs	servīs	rēgibus	cornibus	rēbus
Vocative	puellae	servī	rēgēs	cornūs	rēs

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 to denote these things:

Number (whether the noun is singular or plural)
Case of the noun (role of the noun in the sentence)
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), and 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 word order as it can be in English, but purely by word endings, or "inflection". Indeed, the words in a Latin sentence can appear in almost any order with little change in meaning. Two sentences with the word orders "Sam ate the orange" and "The orange ate Sam" could potentially mean the same thing in Latin, though the spellings of "orange" and "Sam" would have to change slightly to denote which was the subject (the one eating) and which was the object (the one being eaten).

It is important to note here that although the genders of many words make sense (for example, "puella", meaning a girl, is feminine) many are simply assigned and hold no real meaning. Luckily, as you will find, the gender can often be determined by the spelling of the word (words ending in "us" are almost always masculine, and words ending in "a" are almost always feminine). For many words, however, you will simply have to memorize their gender.

Adjectives themselves must match the number, case, and gender of the noun (be it a substantive or a pronoun) they modify. If a noun is nominative singular feminine (see case table below), 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. This will be expanded on in the Adjectives section below. The advantage of this system is that adjectives do not need to be adjacent to their respective nouns, as one would be able to tell which noun they modify by which noun they appear to agree with.

Declension

All substantives are part of one of 5 categories, called declensions. A substantive is a stem, modified by adding a declension suffix. Each declension has a set of standard suffixes that indicate case and number. Usually gender is indicated by the suffix, although there are many exceptions. Therefore, you must memorize the gender of every substantive you learn.

By familiarizing yourself with the above tables, 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. Similar processes happen continually over time, even today.

The above tables allow you to familiarize yourself with the existence of each declension, though by no means are you expected to memorize it now. Nonetheless, you will have to memorize it as you are formally introduced to individual cases and declensions in future lessons. Because of its introductory purpose, it is considerably simplified and incomplete, and therefore should not be used as a reference in the future.

Adjectives are also classed into declensions which must match the declension of the noun they describe:

1st/2nd declension adjectives...
1. ...Use 1st declension suffixes from the substantive declension table when describing feminine nouns.
2. ...Use 2nd declension masculine suffixes from the above table when describing masculine nouns.
3. ...Use 2nd declension neuter suffixes (not found in the above table) when describing neuter nouns.
3rd declension adjectives behave as 'i' stem substantives unless specified. An 'i' stem substantive is one where the stem word ends in the letter 'i.' 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.

Case

Cases (Latin: casus) determine the role of the noun in the sentence in relation to other parts of the sentence.

There are six cases, Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, Ablative, and Vocative. Vocative case (Lesson 3), can be considered a sort of miniature case, generally not being accepted as a true one. Additionally, some nouns have a vocative case, which will be covered later. As nominative and accusative are the most basic, these will be taught first (the rest will be covered in later lessons).

The Use of the Cases (all words in bold are in the case specified in the first column)
Case	Role in sentence	Example (Latin)	Example (English)
Nominative	Subject (performs the verb)	vir lupum vult.	The man wants a wolf.
Genitive	Description and possession	lupus virī est.	It is the man's wolf/It is the wolf of the man.
Dative	Indirect object (receives the direct object)	lupō dedit vir.	The man gave to the wolf.
Accusative	Direct object (receives the action of the verb)	vir lupum videt.	The man sees the wolf.
Ablative	Various (modify or limit nouns by ideas of where, when, how, etc.)	ā quō datum? ā virō.	By whom given? By a man.
Vocative	Direct address (speaking to somebody directly)	salvē, Brute!	Hello, Brutus!

Gender

All substantives, including inanimate objects, have a particular gender (genera), which is either masculine, feminine, or neuter.

For example, Vir, "a man," is 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, and so forth. Logic will give you little help in determining what the genders of inanimate objects are, and with many nouns memorization is required. Luckily, for many nouns, the spelling of the word indicates the gender.

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 (thus the gender will often have to be memorized). 4th declension nouns are usually masculine, sometimes neuter while 5th declension nouns are usually feminine.

Nouns undeclined, words which are not substantives but used as such, sentences used as substantives and the products of trees are generally neuter.

1st/2nd declension adjectives alternate the set of endings depending on the gender of the noun it describes (see the next section below). 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.

Adjectives

As stated above, adjectives must match the gender, number, and case of the noun (be the noun a substantive, or a pronoun) they modify. Similar to the "Sam ate the orange" example above, if the adjective uses the wrong declension it could change the meaning of the sentence. For example, "The girl loves big trees," versus "the big girl loves trees" have different meanings. There are many occasions where logic cannot be used to determine the gender of inanimate objects, as genders are generally arbitrary when the noun has no literal gender. Furthermore, the declension of the noun, often determined by the spelling, can in turn be used to determine the gender, especially for the 1st and 2nd. However, this is never the case for the third declension, as the declension itself is not primarily assigned to any gender and the spelling of the nominative ("default") stem is random, leaving you with no hints.

A noun and its adjective must also be in the same case. Otherwise, it is impossible to tell which nouns pair up to their respective adjectives in a sentence, as the words in a Latin sentence can appear in any order. See the examples below.

Notice how "magna" changes to "magnae" to agree with the pluralized "puellae".
Latin	English
puella (nominative sing., fem.)	Girl
puella magna	The big girl
puellae (nominative pl., fem.)	Girls
puellae magnae	The big girls

Notice how "magna" becomes "magnus" to agree with the masculine word "servus". Also notice that "magnus" changes to "magnum" to agree with the noun it's describing in case, though do not concern yourself with the difference between cases for the time being.
Latin	English
servus (nominative sing, mas.)	Slave
servus magnus	The big slave
servum (accusative sing, mas.)	Slave
servum magnum	The big slave

Notice that "magna" is feminine because "arbor" is feminine, despite that it does not end in "a" like "puella". The word "arbor" is one of the situations where you will simply have to memorize the gender.
Latin	English
arbor (nominative sing, fem.)	Tree
arbor magna	The big tree

Recapitulation

Declensions are used to categorize nouns in groups. There are 5 declensions 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 a 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

EXERCISE • Print Version • Questions

What are the three genders?
What is the number (singular/plural) of the following English words:
1. cow
2. dogs
3. genders
4. adjective
5. children
6. slice
7. mice
8. geese
Describe the relationship between an adjective and the noun which it modifies.
How many declensions are there?
Determine the declension of each Latin word:
- puella (girl)
- ianua (door)
- amīcus (friend)
- ludus (game)
- casa (house)
- rēx (king)
What gender are 1st declension substantives mostly?
What genders are 2nd declension substantives mostly?
What grammatical features of a word that can be determined by looking at its ending?

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Questions

Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter
What is the number (singular/plural) of the following English words:
1. S
2. P
3. P
4. S
5. P
6. S
7. P
8. P
The adjective takes on the number, case and gender (but not always the declension) of the noun it describes
Five
Determine the declension of each Latin word:
1. 1st
2. 1st
3. 2nd
4. 2nd
5. 1st
6. 3rd
Feminine
Masculine and Neuter
It varies slightly from word-to-word; Declension/Case, Number, and sometimes Gender.

Chapter 1: Basic Sentences

The Nominative Case

The Nominative case refers to the subject of a sentence. For example:

The girl is pretty

"The girl" is the subject of this sentence. In its simplest form a sentence will have a subject stated as a noun and will give some further information about the subject. The second part of this sentence tells the reader that the girl is pretty. This is called predicating the noun. This sentence consists of a subject and a predicate. As you know from English, an adjective is a word that denotes some quality, which in this sentence is attractiveness. The noun and adjective are joined together by the word "is", which is called the copula. Note that the copula simply connects the words and gives almost no information about the subject.

The sentence in Latin has the same grammatical elementsː

puella est pulchra

The noun is followed by the predicate. The only difference is the absence of an article which has to be supplied by the translator. Puella can be translated as "girl", "the girl", or "a girl". Can you tell which word is the copula?

Translate the followingː

Rōma est fāma
Rōma est magna
Rōma est in Italia

Which region of Europe was the Roman historian Tacitus referring to as Caledonia in his book Agricola, which records the military campaigns of his father-in-law?

Translate the followingː

Italia est in Eurōpa
Germānia est in Eurōpa
Britannia est in Eurōpa

Note the conjunction given in the Vocabulary, and translate the followingː

Rōma est fāma et magna
Germānia est magna et Britannia est fāma
Germānia et Britannia sunt in Eurōpa

Give the meaning of the complete word on this inscription fragment from Roman Britainː

Vocabulary

Lesson Vocabulary

Latin	English

magna (adj.)	great
bona (adj.)	good
pulchra (adj.)	pretty
fāma (adj.)	famous

puella (f.)	girl
puer (m.)	boy
pater (m.)	father
māter (f.)	mother
domina (f.)	mistress
dominus (m.)	master
lūdus (m.)	school
Rōma (f.)	Rome
Germānia (f.)	Germany
Britannia (f.)	Britain
trīclīnium (n.)	dining couch (room)

Ego sum es est sumus estis sunt	I am you are (sg.) he/she/it is we are you are (pl.) they are

laborat, laborant	(he/she/it is) working, (they are) working
amat, amant	(he/she/it) loves, (they) love

et (conj.)	and

Some second declension masculine end in -r instead of -us in the nominative case — boy is puer, not puer-us. Of the nouns discussed on this page, this rule only applies to puer.

Key to Vocabulary:

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

Latin nouns have gender and are formed into five groups of declension. Feminine nouns ending in "-a" in the Nominative Singular and "-ae" in the Genitive Singular are of the 1st declension. Most Latin names for countries and cities are 1st declension feminine nouns, so they end with "-a" in the Nominative Singular.

sg. = singular
pl. = plural

Overview of Adjectives

An adjective is any word that qualifies a noun. For example:

English	Latin
The good master	dominus bonus

English	Latin
The boy is good	puer bonus est

Adjectives in Latin

Adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe in gender, number, and case.

Adjectives are made to agree with first and second declension nouns by using the -a, -us, -um (feminine, masculine, and neuter) suffixes.

Third declension adjectives are given with the nominative and genitive singular. This, however, is only true for third declension adjectives of one termination. Most third declension adjectives do not have separate masculine and feminine forms. (Neuter adjectives follow the third declension 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). This is because the third declension has no stem assigned to the nominative singular.

Adjectives often come after the word they describe. Since word order is not central to the meaning of a Latin sentence the adjective may appear anywhere in the sentence.

In the following examples the -us is masculine (m.), -a is feminine (f.) and -um is neuter (n.). So magnus is masculine, magna is feminine, and magnum is neuter.

Latin	English
puella bona est	The girl is good
dominus bonus est	The master is good
templum magnum est	The temple is big

Basic verbs

Verbs in Latin work quite differently than those in English. Study the following table then view the examples below.

	English	Latin
Number	In English we use pronouns to denote number when using verbs. Compare "I work" and "we work".	In Latin the ending of the verb changes to denote number. Compare "laboro" (I work) and "laboramus" (we work). The two personal endings are "-o" and "-mus". The archaic "laborao" was eventually replaced by "laboro" to simplify pronunciation.
Tense	Tense refers to past, present and future. Consider these examples: I walked, I am walking, I will walk.	The stem is used to denote the tense, though this will be covered in a future lesson. In this lesson, only the present tense is being taught.
Person	First person refers to the speaker. Second person refers to the person being spoken to. Third person refers to what is being said about someone or something. The vocabulary, starting with sum for I am, clearly illustrates this concept. Note that the 1st person plural is "we".	Latin verbs are conjugated to show person. The verb will undergo changes in the stem and it is these inflections that denote 1st, 2nd or 3rd person singular or plural.

Personal Endings

Latin	English
am-ō	I love
amā-s	you love (sg.)
ama-t	he, she, it loves
amā-mus	we love
amā-tis	you love (pl.)
ama-nt	they love

Archaic

Latin was spoken and written in Europe for over two thousand years and since all languages change gradually this sometimes makes it difficult for beginners to see patterns of change. English has also had a long development that is now divided into three periods called Old English, Middle English and Modern English. Compare the following English verbsː

grindan (OE), grinde (ME), grind (Modern English verb)
climban (OE), climbe (ME), climb (Modern English verb)

The contraction of the archaic "laborao" to "laboro" would have undergone the same gradual process. The archaic "amao" (I love) eventually became "amo". If you look at the Vocabulary you will see that "amat" and "amant" retain the original letter "a" of the stem.

Further Examples

Example 1

Latin	English
templum magnum est	The temple is big

Notes

The adjective magnus -a -um must agree with templum in gender, number, and case, so the correct form is magnum (neuter nominative singular).
Note templum magnus est is incorrect because magn-us does not agree with templ-um.

Example 2

Latin	English
puella pulchra est	The girl is pretty

Notes: In the same way, the adjective pulcher -ra -rum must agree with puella in gender, number, and case, so the correct form is pulchra (agreement with the feminine nominative singular noun of the first declension).

Example 3

Latin	English
puer puellam amat	The boy loves the girl
puella puerum amat	The girl loves the boy

Example 4

Latin	English
lūdī magnī sunt	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).

Third Declension Nouns and Adjectives

Third declension nouns and adjectives follow a different pattern. The nominative singular stem is not defined, and as such, any letter (or letters) can serve as a third declension stem. For example, Māter (mother) is a third declension noun in the nominative case. When pluralized, it becomes Mātrēs. "-ēs" is attached to the end of a third declension noun to pluralize it, as opposed to changing the ending completely, because there is no uniform way to do so.

You may have also noticed that the "e" in "Māter" was dropped when pluralized. This often happens when a stem is attached to a third declension noun of similar spelling (example, "Pater" (father) becomes "Patrēs")

Examples:

Latin	English
māter bona est	The mother is good
mātrēs bonae sunt	The mothers are good
pater magnus est	The father is large
patrēs magnī sunt	The fathers are large
amīcus fortis est	The friend is strong
amīcī fortēs sunt	The friends are strong

Third declension nouns are listed with the nominative case and the genitive case to provide the main stem. For example:

Latin	English

pater, patris	father
oratio, orationis	speech
uxor, uxoris	wife
canis, canis	dog
proelium, -ī	battle
oculus, -ī	eye
amīcus, -ī	friend

All other types of nouns are also generally listed with the genitive

Adjectives with a nominative ending in -is and the same stem in the nominative and in the other cases (eg. fortis) end in -e in the neuter and -ia in the neuter plural.

For example:

dies difficilis = the difficult day
proelium difficile = the difficult battle
proelia difficilia = the difficult battles

Exercises

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translation

Translate the following Latin words into English.
1. dominus bonus
2. lūdus malus
3. puella pulchra
4. trīclīnium est magnum
Translate into Latin.
1. the good boy
2. the large master
3. The temple is large
4. The master is bad

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translation

Translate the following Latin words into English.
1. The good master
2. The bad school
3. The pretty girl
4. The dining room is large
Translate into Latin.
1. puer bonus
2. dominus magnus
3. templum magnum est
4. dominus malus est

Present indicative active construct

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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:

• Principal 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 principal 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 principal verb.

The resurrected Jesus appeared to his disciples.

'resurrected' is a perfect participle (Adjectival) describing Jesus, while 'appeared' is the principal verb in the sentence.

The shocked disciples see Jesus.

'shocked' is a perfect participle (Adjectival) describing the disciples, while 'see' is the principal verb in the sentence.

Exercises

EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer

What is the difference between a principal and adjectival verb?
What constitutes a sentence?
Write a sentence in English, and Latin.
Conjugate the verb 'to be' in the present tense in English and Latin (I am, You are, He is etc.)

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer

The principal verb is the main verb which is found in every sentence. Adjectival verbs are participles, gerunds and gerundives which describe the state of the described noun.
a verb
egō sum, I am
sum, es, est, sumus, estis, sunt

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	English
sum	I am
es	You are
est	(He/she/it) is
sumus	We are
estis	You (all) are
sunt	They are

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 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

EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer

What do the personal pronouns indicate?

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer

Personal pronouns (ego, tu, nos, vos, etc.) add emphasis. They are usually omitted (left out) because they are understood.
Example: [ego] amō patrem meum et matrem meam.

I love my mother and my father. (you don't have to write ego, it is understood)

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

EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer

List the most common moods.
What two moods are we going to learn about in this lesson, and what do they let us construct?

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer

Indicative, subjunctive (or conjunctive) and imperative.
The moods we are going to learn about first are:
Imperative: Which we use when we make orders.
Go away. Fetch me the keys. Do not order me around!

Indicative: Statements which are declarative, and questions concerning facts.
John plays football.

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

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate

What is 'voice'?
What is active voice?
What is passive voice?
Construct a sentence in English using each of these voices.

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate

Voice is how a verb is constructed.
When the subject affects the verb
When the nominative is affected by the verb
Ex.- I carried, I am being carried.

Tense

Tense in Latin comprises 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.

	Time
A S P E C T		Present	Future	Past
	Simple	Present Tense "I walk"	Future Tense "I will walk"	Perfect Tense "I walked"
	Imperfective	Present Tense "I am walking"	Future Tense "I will be walking"	Imperfect Tense "I was walking"
	Perfective	Perfect Tense "I have walked"	Future Perfect Tense "I will have walked"	Pluperfect Tense "I had walked"

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

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate

Copy out the above table.
Study the table.

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate

Vide (see) the table above.

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?

Exercises

Answer these two questions about the infinitive and finite.

EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer

What is the infinitive? Give an example.
What is the finite? Give an example.

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer

The infinitive is the verb-form that simply mean "to (verb)".
To sing, to dance, to drink, to love.
Every verb which is not in the infinitive, is in the finite.
He smells, we plot, she had drunk, he pours.

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.

Exercises

EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer

What is a deponent verb?
What is an irregular verb?
What is a defective verb?

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer

A verb which uses the passive voice in an active sense.
A verb that does not follow the normal rules of conjugation.
A verb missing forms for some tenses or moods.

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

Exercises

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate

What case should the subject (performer) of the verb be in?
What number should the principal verb be?
What person and number is 'ego'?
What person and number is 'I'?
What person and number is 'we'?
What person and number is 'thou'?
What person and number is 'ye'?
What person and number is 'vōs'?
What person and number is 'nōs'?
What person and number is 'tū'?
What person and number is 'boy'?

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate

Nominative case
First person, singular.
First person, singular.
First person, singular.
First person, plural.
Second person, singular.
Second person, plural.
Second person, plural.
First person, plural.
Second person, singular.
Third person, singular.

Principal Parts

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

Present Indicative Active 1st Person	Present Infinitive	Perfect Indicative Active 1st Person	Supine
amō	amāre	amāvi	amātum
Determines whether the vowel is dropped in the 1st person singular present.	Gives the imperfect stem and infinitive	Gives the perfect stem	Allows you to form adjectival forms of the verb (Participles)

Exercises

Answer this question about principal parts.

EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer

What do the principal parts allow you to do?

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer

The principal parts are the verb-forms you find when you look in the dictionary. E.g. if you look for the verb amō (love) in a dictionary you would find:
amō • amāre • amāvi • amātum

These four forms will help you form every Latin verb you want.

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 principal part) and the infinitive is given. Supplementary principal parts are given if the various other principal 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 loves.

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):

porta, carry (1st. Conj)	mone, warn (2nd Conj)	rege, rule (3rd Conj.)	audī, hear (4th Conj)
portō, I carry	moneō, I warn	regō, I rule	audiō, I hear
portās, thou carriest	monēs, thou warnest	regis, thou rulest	audīs, thou hearest
portat, he/she/it carries	monet, he/she/it warns	regit, he/she/it rules	audit, he/she/it hears
portāmus, we carry	monēmus, we warn	regimus, we rule	audīmus, we hear
portātis, ye carry	monētis, ye warn	regitis, ye rule	audītis, ye hear
portant, they carry	monent, they warn	regunt, they rule	audiunt, they hear

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 most common 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)

esto: be
Latin	English	French	Spanish	Italian	Portuguese
sum	I am	je suis	yo soy	sono	eu sou
es	thou art	tu es	tú eres	sei	tu és
est	he/she/it is	il/elle est	él/ella es	è	ele/ela é
sumus	we are	nous sommes	nosotros/-as somos	siamo	nós somos
estis	ye are	vous êtes	vosotros/-as sois	siete	vós sois
sunt	they are	ils/elles sont	ellos/-as son	sono	eles/elas são

The personal endings are the same as in the four regular conjugations.

Exercises

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

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate

What form of the verb 'amō' (hint: amō is conjugated like portō in the table above) would the following words use to become the suffix:

ego (I)
tū (thou)
puer (the boy)
nōs (we)
vōs (ye)
puellae (the girls)

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate

[ego] amō (I love)
[tu] amās (thou lovest pl., you love pl.)
puer amat (the boy loves)
[nos] amāmus (we love)
[vos] amātis (ye love pl., you love pl.)
puellae amant (the girls love)

Imperative Mood

The imperative mood conveys 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

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate Latin verbs.

portāmus
regunt
monēs
estis
audītis
monent
regō
portās
sunt

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate Latin verbs.

we carry
they rule
thou warnest
ye are
ye hear
they warn
I rule
thou carriest
they are

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate sentences into Latin.

I carry my book.
You do not kill.
They hear music.

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate sentences into Latin.

meum lībrum portō.
interficis nōn.
mūsicam audiunt.

Adverbs & Prepositions

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Comparatives and Superlatives of Adjectives (Comparativa et superlativa adjectivorum)

Lesson Vocabulary

Latin	English

fortis, forte	strong, brave
vir	man
long-us, -a, -um	long
ingeniosus, -a, -um	clever, talented
denarius, -i, m.	denarius (unit of currency)
soror, sororis, f.	sister
quam	than
habet	he/she has

There are three types of adjectives: Positive (the 'normal' adjective, eg. the brave man: fortis vir), Comparative (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 for masculine/feminine nouns and -ius for neuter ones (genitive is -ioris) to form the comparative. Append the suffix -issimus to form the superlative. However, the superlatives of adjectives ending in -er (eg. the fair boy: pulcher puer) are formed by adding the suffix -rimus to the Nominative, then we will have pulcherrimus puer (fairest puer).

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.

Adjective: longus (long)
longus	longior	longissimus
long	longer	longest

Adjective: pulcher (fair)
pulcher	pulchrior	pulcherrimus
fair	fairer	fairest

Irregular Adjectives

Fortunately, there are only a few irregular adjectives.

Irregular Adjectives
Meaning	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
good	bonus	melior (better)	optimus (best)
bad	malus	peior (worse)	pessimus (worst)
large, great	magnus	maior	maximus
small	parvus	minor	minimus
many	multus	plus	plurimus

Examples:

Latin	English
Marcus est fortior quam Publius	Marcus is braver than Publius
Publius ingeniosior est quam Marcus	Publius is more clever than Marcus
Marcus plures denarios habet quam Publius	Marcus has more denariuses¹ than Publius
Publius plures sorores habet quam Marcus	Publius has more sisters than Marcus
1: We won't say "Marcus has more money" (pecunia) since plus in the singular takes the genitive case, which will not be covered for a few more lessons

Adverbs

Adverbs are formed usually by replacing the suffix appended to the stem with the -e, or -i and sometimes -um in the first and second declension. For the third declension, usually the suffix appended is replaced by -iter.

Adverbs modify the verb in the clause that contains the adverb. 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.' The following suffixes are appended to form the comparative and superlative forms of adverbs: -ius for comparatives and -issime for superlative.

Examples

Adverbs
verum	verius	verissime
truly	more truly	most truly

Adverbs
fortiter	fortius	fortissime
bravely	more bravely	most bravely

Irregular adjectives form adverbs regularly from the adjective forms.

For example:

melior (better) -> melius
maximus (greatest) -> maxime

Some adverbs do not come from adjectives but rather exist on their own:

diu (for a long time) -> diutius, diutissime
saepe (often) -> saepius, saepissime

Exercise 1

EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer

What is the comparative adverbial form of sol-us, sol-a, sol-um (alone)?
What is the positive adverbial form of laetus? (happy)
What is the positive adjectival form of īrātior? (angrier)
What is the positive adverbial form of certus? (certain)
What is the superlative adjectival form of certus?
What is the superlative adverbial form of certe?
What is the superlative adjectival form of male?
What is the superlative adverbial form of malus?
What is the comparative adjectival form of dēsertus? (deserted)

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer

Solius
Laete
Īrātus
Certe
Certissimus
Certissime
Pessimus
Pessime
Dēsertior

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).

List of Common Conjunctions
Coordinating Conjunctions
atque	and
aut	or
aut...aut^^	either...or
enim (usually placed second in sentence)	for
ergo	and so, therefore
et	and
et...et^	both...and
igitur	therefore
itaque	and so
nam	for
nec/neque	and not, nor
nec/neque...nec/neque^	neither...nor
-que*	and
sed	but
tamen (usually placed second in a sentence	however
Subordinating Conjunctions
cum	when
dum	while, for the time
nisī	unless, except
quamquam	however
quod	because
sī	if
ubi	where, when
ut	as/with result clauses: in order to, so, to

Exercise 2

Latin	English	Notes

virtus, virtutis	virtue, courage

in animo habeo	I have in mind, I intend	Takes an infinitive

ire	to go	The indicative forms (I go, you go, etc) are eo, is, it, imus, itis, eunt

hodie	today	hodie is an adverb, don't try to use it as a noun ("Today is a good day")

domi	at home	*An instance of the locative case, normally used for cities*

ambulat	he/she walks

forum, -i	marketplace

Based upon your reading of the table of conjunctions, how would one translate these sentences?

Aut tu es bonus aut tu es malus ergo dīc mihi vēritātem (tell me the truth).
Cavēte canem quod nec estis fortes nec cum virtūte.
Puer ē forō cum canē ambulat
Et canis et cattus sunt laetī.
In animō habeō īre ad grammaticum hodiē sed habeō labōrem (work) domī.

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.

List of Common Prepositions
Prepositions Taking the Accusative Case
ad	to
ante	before
circum	around
contra	against
extra	outside
in*	into
inter	between, among
per	through
post	after
prope	near
propter	because of
super	above
trans	across
Prepositions Taking The Ablative Case
a/ab**	from
cum	with
de	about, down from
e/ex**	out of
in*	in
pro	for, on behalf of
sine	without
sub	under
*notice the two different meanings of in depending on the case
** Similar to a/an in English, the form with the consonant is used when the following word begins with a vowel or 'h'.

Ablative case forms for nouns and adjectives
Nominative singular	puell-a (1st decl.)	domin-us (2nd decl. m.)	triclini-um (2nd decl. n.)	canis (3rd decl.)
Ablative singular	puell-ā	domin-o	tricilini-o	can-e
Ablative plural	puell-is	domin-is	triclini-is	can-ibus

Exercise 3

Latin	English

ero eris erit erimus eritis erunt	I will be You will be He/she will be We will be You will be They will be
dives, divitis	wealthy
aedificium, -i	building
anima, -ae	mind, soul
venit	he/she comes

Translate the following sentences:

ero domum (Latin omits 'ad' with 'domus,' specific city names, and small islands; e.g. Eunt Romam = They go [to] Rome.)
cum bona fortuna ero dives!
circum agrum est aedificium cum atrio
tu non es vir sine animis.
familia venit cum amore.

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

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Grammar: The Accusative

Lesson Vocabulary

Latin	English

vendit	he/she sells
videt	he/she sees
amat	he/she loves

cist-a -ae (f.)	box
ferox, ferocis (m/f.)	wild
ager (m.)	field
bell-um (n.)	war
serv-us (m.)	slave

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:

Example
English:	The girl	sells	the box.
Latin:	Puella	vendit	cistam.
Explanation:	NOMINATIVE	VERB	ACCUSATIVE

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.

Example
English:	The girl	sells	the big	box.
Latin:	Puella	vendit	magnam	cistam.
Explanation:	NOMINATIVE	VERB	ADJECTIVE ACCUSATIVE	NOUN ACCUSATIVE

Because Latin uses cases to mark the subject and the object of a sentence, word order does not matter. Consider:

puer puellam videt	The boy sees the girl
puerum puella videt	The girl sees the boy
puellam puer videt	The boy sees the girl
puella puerum videt	The girl sees the boy

Examples of Adjectives Agreeing with the Nominative and Accusative Case

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

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.

Exercise 1

EXERCISE • Print Version • Give the accusative singular.

lud-us
magn-us
triclīni-um
bell-um
puell-a
serv-us
ager

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Give the accusative singular.

ludum
magnum
triclīnium
bellum
puellam
servum
agrum

EXERCISE • Print Version • Give the accusative plural.

lud-us
magn-us
triclīni-um
bell-um
puell-a
serv-us
ager

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Give the accusative plural.

ludos
magnos
triclīnia
bella
puellas
servos
agros

EXERCISE • Print Version • Give the nominative singular.

bon-ī
bell-a
triclīni-a
puell-am
agr-ōs
serv-ōs
puell-ae

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Give the nominative singular.

bonus
bellum
triclīnium
puella
ager
servus
puella

Exercise 2

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

Questions:	Does it Agree?
1. magn-us agr-ōs	True/False
2. magn-a puella	True/False
3. poet-a* bon-us	True/False
4. magn-um serv-um	True/False
5. poet-ae* magn-ae	True/False
6. bell-a magn-a	True/False

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

EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer

See table above. Determine whether the adjective (magnus, bonus..) agrees with the substantives (ager, puella, poeta) in both case (nominative, accusative...), gender (masculine, female and neuter) and number (singular and plural).

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer

False. Magnus doesn't agree with agrōs; in number and case.
Magnus: Masculine, singular, nominative.

Agrōs: Masculine, plural, accusative.
True. Magna agrees with puella.
Magna: Feminine, singular, nominative.

Puella: Feminine, singular, nominative.
True. Bonus agrees with poeta.
Bonus: Masculine, singular, nominative.

Poeta: Masculine, singular, nominative.
True. Magnum agrees with servum.
Magnum: Neuter, singular, nominative.

Servum: Neuter, singular, nominative.
False. Magnae doesn't agree with poetae; in gender.
Magnae: Feminine, plural, nominative.

Poetae: Masculine, plural, nominative.
True. Bella agrees with magna.
Bella: Neuter, plural, nominative.

Magna: Neuter, plural, nominative.

Grammar: The Use of the Accusative

Lesson Vocabulary

Latin	English

curri-t	he/she runs
porta-t	he/she carries
specta-t	he/she watches
da-t	he/she gives

fuisse fuī fuistī (puer) fuit fuimus fuistis fuērunt	to have been I have been you have been (the boy) has been we have been you (pl.) have been they have been

Nota Bene: 'fuisse' and all the forms of it, the past tense of 'esse', behaves exactly like the present tense.

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 that they are transitive verbs, 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. Because something happens "to" them, they can't be in nominative.

Grammatical Explanation Using English Sentences

Grammatical Explanation 1
English:	The boy	hits	the car.
Explanation:	NOMINATIVE	VERB	ACCUSATIVE

Grammatical Explanation 2
English:	The girl	hugs	the boy.
Explanation:	NOMINATIVE	VERB	ACCUSATIVE

Grammatical Explanation 3
English:	He who	flees,	deserves	the guillotine.
Explanation:	NOMINATIVE	VERB	VERB	ACCUSATIVE

Exercise 3: Find the Nominative and Accusative

EXERCISE • Print Version • Find the Nominative and Accusative (if present) in each sentence.

The boy is good.
The girl kisses the boy.
The boy gives the book.
The child watches the TV.
Whom it concerns.
To the kitchen I run
I eat the pizza.

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Find the Nominative and Accusative (if present) in each sentence.

The boy {nom} is good {nom}.
Puer {nom} est bonus {nom}.
The girl {nom} kisses the boy {acc}.
Puella {nom} puerum {acc} basiat.
The boy {nom} gives the book {acc}.
Puer {nom} librum {acc} dat.
The child {nom} watches the TV {acc}.
Infans {nom} televisorium {acc} videt.
Whom {acc} it {nom} concerns.
???
To the kitchen {acc} I {nom} run.
Ad culinam {acc} [ego {nom}] curro.
I {nom} eat the pizza {acc}.
Pittam {acc} [ego {nom}] edo.

EXERCISE • Print Version • In the following sentences, identify the accusative and nominative. Then translate.

Puer est bonus.
Puella puerum amat.
Puer cistam portat.
Fīlius virum spectat.
Ad culīnam currit.

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • In the following sentences, identify the accusative and nominative. Then translate.

Puer {nom} est bonus {nom}.
The boy {nom} is good {nom}.
Puella {nom} puerum {acc} amat.
The girl {nom} loves the boy {acc}.
Puer {nom} cistam {acc} portat.
The boy {nom} carries the box {acc}.
Fīlius {nom} virum {acc} spectat.
The son {nom} watches the man (father?) {acc}.
Ad culīnam {acc} currit.
To the kitchen {acc} [he {nom}] runs. (He runs to the kitchen)

Pronouns

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Personal Pronouns in English

Lesson Vocabulary

Latin	English

cibus	food
laborat	he/she works

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

There are three categories of pronouns which are divided up into persons: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. In addition, pronouns can be singular or plural. They are declined like all other nouns.

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	I	we
2nd	you, thou	you (all)
3rd	he/she/it	they

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)

	Singular				Plural
Case	1st Person		2nd Person		1st Person		2nd Person
Nominative	ego	I	tū	you	nōs	we	vōs	you
Genitive	meī	of me	tuī	of you	nostrī(nostrum)	of us	vestrī (vestrum)	of you
Dative	mihi	to me	tibi	to/for you	nōbīs	to us	vōbīs	to/for you
Accusative	mē	me	tē	you	nōs	us	vōs	you
Ablative	mē	from me	tē	from you	nōbīs	from us	vōbīs	from you

Nota Bene: the genitive is used in certain phrases like:

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

For the possessive uses (my sister, your bicycle) sometimes uses the possessive adjectives:

Latin	English
meus, mea, meum	my
tuus, tua, tuum	thy
suus, sua, suum	his/hers, its, their
noster, nostra, nostrum	our
vester, vestra, vestrum	your
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 which they modify. 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 'that (masc.) thing'. Iste and ille are declined in exactly the same way, but there are a slight difference of meaning between them: 'ille' is often used with proper names for marking dignity or worth and 'iste' conveys a contemptuous sense.

Examples:

- Annibal, ille inclytus filius Amilcaris (Hannibal, that renowned Hamilcar's son).

- Iste servus improbus ante te (this bad slave in front of you).

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)

Declension of *ille* (that): Singular
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
	Latin			English
Nominative	ille	illa	illud	he	she	it
Genitive	illius	illius	illius	his	her, hers	its
Dative	illī	illī	illī	to him	to her	to it
Accusative	illum	illam	illud	him	her	it
Ablative	illō	illā	illō	by, with, from him	her	it

Declension of *ille* (that): Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	English
	Latin			English
Nominative	illī	illae	illa	they, those
Genitive	illōrum	illārum	illōrum	their, theirs, of those
Dative	illīs	illīs	illīs	to them, to those
Accusative	illōs	illās	illa	them, those
Ablative	illīs	illis	illīs	by, with, from them, those

Ille is often used as a kind of pronoun. In situations with multiple phrases or sentences, however, it is syntactically different from is, ea, id (see below).

For example: "Canis puero cibum dat. Is laborat in agro." means "The dog gives food to the boy. The dog works in the field".

However: "Canis puero cibum dat. Ille laborat in agro." means "The dog gives food to the boy. The boy works in the field".

Thus, ille, unlike the other pronouns makes a previous object into the subject (and vice versa).

Examples of the Usage of Ille:

Latin	English
Ille est dominus.	He is the master. (ille as pronoun)
Ille dominus est malus.	That master is bad. (ille as adjective)
Illam videt	He sees her. (or 'she sees her' - illam as pronoun)
Illam puellam videt	He (or she) sees that girl (illam as adjective).

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

Singular
Case	Latin			English
	M	F	N	M	F	N
Nominative	is	ea	id	he	she	it
Genitive	ēius			his	her, hers	its
Dative	eī			to him	to her	to it
Accusative	eum	eam	id	him	her	it
Ablative	eō	eā	eō	by/with him	by/with her	by/with it

Plural
Case	Latin			English
	M	F	N	M	F	N
Nominative	ii	eae	ea	they, those
Genitive	eōrum	eārum	eōrum	their, theirs, of those
Dative	eīs, iīs			to them, to those
Accusative	eōs	eās	ea	them, those
Ablative	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

Latin	English
Is est dominus.	He is the master. ("is" as pronoun)
Is dominus est malus.	The master is bad. ("is" as adjective)
Eam videt.	He sees her. (or 'she sees her', "eam" as pronoun)
Eam puellam videt.	He (or she) sees the girl. ("eam" as adjective)

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

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

Plural
	M	F	N	M	N
Nominative	quī	quae	quae	who	which
Genitive	quōrum	quārum	quōrum	whose	of which
Dative	quibus	quibus	quibus	to which
Accusative	quōs	quās	quae	which
Ablative	quibus	quibus	quibus	by which, in which, etc

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

Virum videt (he/she sees) qui servum (servant) habet (he/she has).
He sees the man who has a slave
Ille est vir cujus servus est malus.
That's the man whose slave is bad.
Quis eum videt?
Who sees him?

Declension of hic, haec, hoc (meaning "this")

Singular
	Masculine	Femine	Neuter
Nominative	hic	haec	hoc	this
Genitive	huius
Dative	huic
Accusative	hunc	hanc	hoc
Ablative	hōc	hāc	hōc

Plural
	Masculine	Femine	Neuter
Nominative	hī	hae	haec	these
Genitive	hōrum	hārum	hōrum
Dative	hīs
Accusative	hōs	hās	haec
Ablative	hīs

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

Example of the Usage of Hic

Latin	English
'Hic' servus, non ille, est malus.	This slave, not that one, is bad.

Chapter 1 Verse

Latin I prose

Lesson Vocabulary

Latin	English

fulgeo, -ere	to shine
aperio, -ire	to open
dormio, -ire	to sleep
habeo, -ere	to have
semper	always
tempto, -are	to try
dico, -ere	to speak, say
femina	woman
facio, -ere	to make
ecce!	look!
velle: volo vis vult volumus vultis volunt	to wish, want: I want you want he/she wants we want you want they want
turba	crowd
attonitus	astonished
tantus, -a, -um	so great
susurro, -are	to whisper
patefacio, -ere	to open, disclose
rideo, -ere	to laugh

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 ex 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 respondet, "Quid dicis, amice?"

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

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

Lucius omnia^D turbae^E 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 Me dolet means "makes me suffer".
^D Omnia means "everything".
^E turbae is the dative case of "turba", meaning "to the crowd".

Chapter 2: Complicated Sentences

The Imperfect Tense

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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:

	singular	plural
1^st	-bam	-bamus
2^nd	-bas	-batis
3^rd	-bat	-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:

	singular	plural
1^st	veniebam	veniebamus
2^nd	veniebas	veniebatis
3^rd	veniebat	veniebant

For third conjugation, an example used in some textbooks/study guides is: capere (to capture or seize)

	singular	plural
1^st	capiebam	capiebamus
2^nd	capiebas	capiebatis
3^rd	capiebat	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.

Lesson Vocabulary

Latin	English

amo, amare	to love
moneo, monere	to warn
vinco, vincere	to win, defeat
capio, capere	to capture, seize
pello, pellere	to drive
sedeo, sedere	to sit
lego, legere	to read
adsum, adesse	to be present
emo, emere	to buy
tristis, triste	sad
redeo, redire	to return, go back
cena, -ae	dinner
paratus, -a, -um	ready
mater, matris	mother
paro, parare	to prepare

A few examples:

amabam - I was loving (A-conjugation--1st)
monebatis - You were warning [object/personage] (of something negative) (Pl.) (2nd Conjugation)
vincebamus - 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.)

Conjugation in the Imperfect tense
	1st	2nd	3rd	mixed	4th	Irregular
Infinitive:	amare	sedere	legere	capere	venire	ire	velle	esse
Singular
1st person:	amabam	sedebam	legebam	capiebam	veniebam	ibam	volebam	eram
2nd person:	amabas	sedebas	legebas	capiebas	veniebas	ibas	volebas	eras
3rd person:	amabat	sedebat	legebat	capiebat	veniebat	ibat	volebat	erat
Plural
1st person:	amabamus	sedebamus	legebamus	capiebamus	veniebamus	ibamus	volebamus	eramus
2nd person:	amabatis	sedebatis	legebatis	capiebatis	veniebatis	ibatis	volebatis	eratis
3rd person:	amabant	sedebant	legebant	capiebant	veniebant	ibant	volebant	erant

Exercises

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate from Latin to English.

dum sol fulgebat, puer ambulabat ad forum
in foro multus cibus aderat et femina cibum vendebat
puer cibum emere volebat sed satis pecuniae (enough money) non habebat
puer se vertit (turned (lit. himself) around) et tristis domum redibat
sed ubi domum rediit (returned) cena parata erat quod mater semper cenam parat

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate from Latin to English.

while the sun shone, the boy was walking to the forum
in forum (market) there was much food and a woman was selling food
the boy wanted to buy food but he didn't have enough money
the boy turned around and sadly was returning home
but when he returned home the dinner was prepared, as his mother always prepares the dinner

The Genitive and Dative Cases

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Noun Tables

	1^st declension		2^nd declension
	-a		-us/er		-um (neuter)
	SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR	PLURAL
nominative	puell-a	puell-ae	serv-us/puer	serv-ī	bell-um	bell-a
genitive	puell-ae	puell-ārum	serv-ī	serv-ōrum	bell-ī	bell-ōrum
accusative	puell-am	puell-ās	serv-um	serv-ōs	bell-um	bell-a
dative	puell-ae	puell-īs	serv-ō	serv-īs	bell-ō	bell-īs

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 or Marcus's dog (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)

Quite simply, a word in the genitive case is translated with the preposition "of". Note that Latin does not have a separate form for the possessive genitive (Marcus's dog vs The dog of Marcus), as English does. A word in the genitive case showing possession can be translated either way.

Latin Examples

Latin				English
canis	puerī malī	est	bonus	The dog	of the bad boy	is	good
nominative noun	genitive	verb	nominative adj.	nominative noun	genitive	verb	nominative adj.

Latin				English
canis	puerōrum malōrum	est	bonus	The dog	of the bad boys	is	good
nominative noun	genitive (plural)	verb	nominative adj.	nominative noun	genitive	verb	nominative adj.

Exercise 1

Indicate the word in the genitive:

Flavia's dog is good.
The man has his mother's good taste.

Agreeing with the Adjectives

When adjectives are used to describe nouns in the genitive case, they must have the same case, number, and gender as the noun to which it refers.

Example

A road of beautiful Rome → Via Romae pulchrae.: If we look at the bare necessities, namely nouns, in this phrase, then we get "road of Rome," which is translated as "via Romae." Now, let's look at the adjective: beautiful (pulchra). Its antecedent (the noun it modifies) is Rome. Since Rome is in the genitive case, pulchra also needs to be in the genitive case. Both are already feminine, so we don't need to change that.; To make pulchra in the genitive singular case, we replace the final "-a" with a "-ae," and we get pulchrae.

It's that simple.

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.

Latin does not distinguish between "to" or "for", though this is sometimes the case in English:

I made this car for him. ↔ I made him this car.
I gave this car to him. ↔ I gave him this car.

Example 1

He	made	the desk	for	his friend
nominative noun	verb	accusative	dative prep.	dative

'For' is the preposition indicating a 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

He gave the book to John; He gave to John the book; or 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. Also, the dative is used only for a noun

Latin Examples

Latin			English
Donō	amīcō meō^[1]	donum.	I gave	my friend	a gift.
verb	dative noun/adj. pair	accusative	verb	dative noun/adj. pair	accusative

Latin			English
Feret	mihi^[2]	stylum.	He brought	me	a pen.
verb	dative pronoun	accusative	verb	dative pronoun	accusative

↑ Note how the word "meus" become "meo" in order to agree with "amico".
↑ Note that the pronouns have a dative case as well, which can be reviewed in the chapter on pronouns.

Exercise 2: Translate into English

Latin	English

dō, dāre	to give

reddō, reddĕre	to give back

liber, librī (m.)	book

amīcus, -ī (m.)	friend

scrībō, -ĕre	to write

epistula, -ae (f.)	letter, message

Imperator, Imperatoris (m.)	Emperor

placeo, -ēre (+dat.)	to please, be pleasing to

Note that placeo requires the dative case, as opposed to the accusative case. Verbs such as this are denoted with (+dat.) or similar abbreviations.

EXERCISE • Print Version • Questions

Do librum amico.
Amicus meum librum legit et mihi librum reddit.
Scribo epistulas Imperatori.
Meae epistulae Imperatori placent.

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Questions

I give the book to a friend
The friend read my book and returned the book to me.
I am writing letters to the Emperor.
My letters are pleasing to the 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.

Roman Numeral	Latin Number	English Number	Hindu-Arabic Numeral	Spanish Number	French Number	Italian Number	Portuguese Number
I	ūnus -a -um	one	1	uno	un	uno	um
II	duo -ae	two	2	dos	deux	due	dois
III	trēs, tria	three	3	tres	trois	tre	três
IV	quattuor	four	4	cuatro	quatre	quattro	quatro
V	quinque	five	5	cinco	cinq	cinque	cinco
VI	sēx	six	6	seis	six	sei	seis
VII	septem	seven	7	siete	sept	sette	sete
VIII	octō	eight	8	ocho	huit	otto	oito
IX	novem	nine	9	nueve	neuf	nove	nove
X	decem	ten	10	diez	dix	dieci	dez
XV	quindecim	fifteen	15	quince	quinze	quindici	quinze
XX	viginti	twenty	20	veinte	vingt	venti	vinte
XXV	viginti quinque	twenty-five	25	veinticinco	vingt-cinq	venticinque	vinte e cinco
L	quinquaginta	fifty	50	cincuenta	cinquante	cinquanta	cinquenta
C	centum	one hundred	100	cien	cent	cento	cem
D	quingentī, -ae, -a	five hundred	500	quinientos	cinq cents	cinquecento	quinhentos
M	mille	one thousand	1000	mil	mille	mille	mil

Note the declensions of the first three numbers. Nullus is the Latin equivalent of zero, for example: nullam puellam in agro video means I see no girl in the field.

Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Ablative
nullus	nullum	nullius	nulli	nullo
nulla	nullam	nullius	nulli	nulla
nullum	nullum	nullius	nulli	nullo
unus	unum	unius	uni	uno
una	unam	unius	uni	una
unum	unum	unius	uni	uno
duo	duos	duorum	duobus	duobus
duae	duas	duarum	duabus	duabus
duo	duo	duorum	duobus	duobus
tres	tres	trium	tribus	tribus
tres	tres	trium	tribus	tribus
tria	tria	trium	tribus	tribus

Exercise 3

EXERCISE • Print Version • Write the word form of the numbers in the following sentences in the correct case.

III homines me salutant
magistro II libros reddo
D senatoribus multa (many things) dico
III horas diligenter laboro

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Write the word form of the numbers in the following sentences in the correct case.

tres homines me salutant
magistro duos libros reddo
quingenis senatoribus multa (many things) dico
tres horas diligenter laboro

The Future Tense

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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

	singular	plural
1^st	Ama bo^* I will love	Ama bimus We will love
2^nd	Ama bis You will love	Ama bitis Y'all will love
3^rd	Ama bit He/She/It 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:

	singular	plural
1^st	Veni am I will come	Veni emus We will come
2^nd	Veni es You will come	Veni etis Y'all will come
3^rd	Veni et He/She/It 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.

Conjugation in the Future tense
	1st	2nd	3rd	mixed	4th	Irregular
Infinitive:	amare	sedere	legere	capere	venire	ire	velle	esse
Singular
1st person:	amabo	sedebo	legam	capiam	veniam	ibo	volam	ero
2nd person:	amabis	sedebis	leges	capies	venies	ibis	voles	eris
3rd person:	amabit	sedebit	leget	capiet	veniet	ibit	volet	erit
Plural
1st person:	amabimus	sedebimus	legemus	capiemus	veniemus	ibimus	volemus	erimus
2nd person:	amabitis	sedebitis	legetis	capietis	venietis	ibitis	voletis	eritis
3rd person:	amabunt	sedebunt	legent	capient	venient	ibunt	volent	erunt

The Ablative and Vocative Case

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

The Ablative Case

The ablative case in Latin has 9 main uses:

With certain prepositions, eg. in, cum, sub, ab
Instrumental ablative, expressing the equivalent of English "by", "with" or "using"
Ablative of manner, expressing how an action is done, only when an adjective is used alongside it. Example: Magnā cūrā id scrīpsit: he wrote it with great care.
Ablative of time when or within which. note: not to be mistaken with the accusative of time which indicates for how long a period of time an action occurs.
Locative Ablative, using the ablative by itself to mean "in", locating an action in space or time
Ablative of separation or origin, expressing the equivalent of English "from"
Ablative of comparison; when the first element to be compared was in the nominative or accusative case, quam was often omitted and the second element followed in the ablative case.
Ablative with special deponents, which is technically the instrumental ablative but is used idiomatically with a few deponent verbs, such as ūtor, fruor, fungor, potior, vēscor
Ablative Absolute, which is a type of participial phrase generally consisting of a noun (or pronoun) and a modifying participle in the ablative case; usually set off by commas, the phrase describes some general circumstances under which the action of the sentence occurs.

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

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

'at the 5th hour' is indicating position of time. Thus, it can be put into the ablative case, giving:

adveniam quinta hora

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

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.

Ablative with prepositions

Here are a few prepositions that can take the ablative (for a fuller list, see the lesson on adverbs and prepositions in the previous chapter):

Latin	English
in^[1]	in, on
a/ab	from
de	down from, concerning
e/ex	out of, out from
cum	with
sine	without
pro	on behalf of, in front of
super^[2]	upon, above, beyond
sub^[3]	under, beneath

↑ Means "into" or "against" when used with the accusative
↑ Has static meaning when used with the ablative but connotes motion when used with the accusative
↑ Usually means "up to" or "up to the foot of" when used with the accusative

As a general rule, when motion is implied, use the accusative instead.

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 "camping" or "college campus") 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!

Number	First	Second*	Third	Fourth	Fifth
Singular	a	us->e, ius->i, r->r	--	us	es
Plural**	ae	i	es	us	es

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

Hello, Sextus.(Hello= Salve)*
Salve, Sexte.
Speak, girl! (Speak= dico, dicere, dixi)*
Dic, puella.
Knee, run!*(Knee= genu; run= curro, currere, cucurri)*
Genu, curre!
Oh, heart, why do you lead me? (Oh-o; heart- cor, cordis-f.; lead-duco, ducere;
O, cor! 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 3rd, 4th and 5th declensions

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

3rd, 4th, and 5th Declension Nouns

We have already seen the first two declensions:

	1^st declension		2^nd declension
	-a		-us		-um (neuter)
	SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR	PLURAL
nominative	puell-a	puell-ae	serv-us/ puer	serv-ī	bell-um	bell-a
accusative	puell-am	puell-ās	serv-um	serv-ōs	bell-um	bell-a
genitive	puell-ae	puell-ārum	serv-ī	serv-ōrum	bell-ī	bell-ōrum
dative	puell-ae	puell-īs	serv-ō	serv-īs	bell-ō	bell-īs
ablative	puell-ā	puell-īs	serv-ō	serv-īs	bell-ō	bell-īs

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 Nouns

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 Masculine or Feminine, no i-stem: (each word has a set gender): rēx, m.

3rd Declension	Singular	Plural
nominative	rēx	rēg-ēs
accusative	rēg-em	rēg-ēs
genitive	rēg-is	rēg-um
dative	rēg-ī	rēg-ibus
ablative	rēg-e	rēg-ibus

3rd Declension Neuter, no i-stem: litus

3rd Declension Neuter	Singular	Plural
nominative*	litus	litor-a
accusative	litus	litor-a
genitive	litor-is	litor-um
dative	litor-ī	litor-ibus
ablative	litor-ī	litor-ibus

3rd Declension Masculine or Feminine, 2-consonant base i-stem: (each word has a set gender): ars, artis, f.

i-stem nouns differ from other 3rd declension nouns in that some of the forms have endings changed to include is.

There are two main kinds of masculine/feminine i-stem nouns. The first kind has its usual stem end in two consonants; the example here, for instance, has its base art- end in -rt-. The last consonant of the nominative singular form always ends in either -s or -x.

3rd Declension	Singular	Plural
nominative	ars	art-ēs
accusative	art-em	art-ēs
genitive	art-is	art-ium
dative	art-ī	art-ibus
ablative	art-e	art-ibus

3rd Declension Masculine or Feminine, parisyllabic i-stem: (each word has a set gender): nūbēs, f.

The other kind of masculine/feminine i-stem noun has the property that its nominative and genitive singular forms have the same number of syllables. They are therefore called parisyllabic. All nouns of this form have their nominative singular form end in either -ēs or -is.

3rd Declension	Singular	Plural
nominative	nūbēs	nūb-ēs
genetive	nūb-is	nūb-ium
dative	nūb-es	nūb-es
accusative	nūb-ī	nūb-ibus
ablative	nūb-e	nūb-ibus

3rd Declension Neuter i-stem: mare

Neuter i-stem nouns have their nominative singular forms end with -al, -ar, or -e.

3rd Declension Neuter	Singular	Plural
nominative*	mare	mar-ia
accusative	mare	mar-ia
genitive	mar-is	mar-ium
dative	mar-ī	mar-ibus
ablative	mar-ī	mar-ibus

List of common 3rd declension stem change patterns

Singular Nominative	Main stem	Main gender	Examples
-is	-is	masc/fem	canis, navis, hostis
-s	-is	masc/fem	urbs, rex, matrix
-s	-tis	masc/fem	nox*, mons, pons
-o	-onis	masc/fem	legio, auditio, statio
-en	-inis	neuter	carmen, flumen, examen
-or	-oris	masc/fem	amor, timor
-us	-oris	neuter	litus, corpus
-us	-eris	neuter	genus, vulnus

regs and matrics, respectively, but the gs and cs both compound into x. The c and g stay in the other cases, hence regis and matricis as their genitives. Nox (gen. noctis) works similarly.

4th Declension Nouns

4th Declension Masculine/Feminine (each word has a set gender) gradus, m.

4th Declension	Singular	Plural
nominative	grad-us	grad-ūs
accusative	grad-um	grad-ūs
genitive	grad-ūs	grad-uum
dative	grad-uī	grad-ibus
ablative	grad-ū	grad-ibus

4th Declension Neuter: cornū

4th Declension Neuter	Singular	Plural
nominative	corn-ū	corn-ua
vocative	corn-ū	corn-ua
accusative	corn-ū	corn-ua
genitive	corn-ūs	corn-uum
dative	corn-ū	corn-ibus
ablative	corn-ū	corn-ibus

5th Declension Nouns

The 5th declension has no neuter nouns. The masculine and feminine forms are again indistinguishable.

5th Declension Masculine/Feminine (each word has a set gender; most are feminine): rēs, f.

5th Declension Feminine/Masculine	Singular	Plural
nominative	r-ēs	r-ēs
vocative	r-ēs	r-ēs
accusative	r-ēm	r-ēs
genitive	r-ēī	r-ērum
dative	r-ēī	r-ēbus
ablative	r-ē	r-ēbus

Exercises

Exercise 1

Latin	English	Notes


villa, -ae	farmhouse	1st declension feminine

mittō, -ere, mīsī, missum	send	3rd conjugation

nomen, nominis	name	3rd declension neuter

maledicō, -dicere, -dīxī, -dictum	insult	3rd conjugation

placeō, -ere, placui, placitum + dat	please	*Can be used as an impersonal verb, eg. mihi placet* + inf = it pleases me to...**

quā rē	on account of which

iste, ista, istud	that man/woman/thing	*Declines like ille, illa, illud* (that)**

interficiō, -ficere, -fēci, -fectum	kill	Mixed conjugation

volō, velle, voluī	want, be willing	The present forms are: volo, vis, vult, volumus, vultis, volunt

mandō, mandere, mansī, mansum	chew on	3rd conjugation

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate the following sentence.

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

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate the following sentence.

to be translated in English

EXERCISE • Print Version • Extra credit about previous sentence.

Who in the late Republic might have said such a thing?

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Extra credit about previous sentence.

Catiline.

Exercise 2

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate the following sentence.

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

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate the following sentence.

Alas! The mouse eats my bread. Now I have nothing. Wretched me!

Irregular Verbs & Revision

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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.

Verb	Meaning	ego	tu	is/ea	nos	vos	ei/eae	Imperative sing.	Imp. pl
ire	to go	eo	is	it	imus	itis	eunt	i	ite
esse	to be	sum	es	est	sumus	estis	sunt	es	este
fieri	to become	fio	fis	fit	fimus	fitis	fiunt	fi	fite
velle	to wish	volo	vis	vult	volumus	vultis	volunt	(none)	(none)
malle	to prefer	malo	mavis	mavult	malumus	mavultis	malunt	(none)	(none)
nolle	to be unwilling	nolo	non vis	non vult	nolumus	non vultis	nolunt	noli*	nolite
ferre*	to carry	fero	fers	fert	ferimus	fertis	ferunt	fer	ferte
The imperatives noli and nolite are used to mean "don't", eg. "nolite ire" = "don't go!" Sometimes ferre is considered to be an 'o' stem 3rd conjugation verb. For practical purposes ferre is irregular.

Exercise 1

EXERCISE • Print Version • Copy out previous table and translate from Latin to English.

... from Latin

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Copy out previous table and translate from Latin to English.

... to English

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate the following Latin sentences into English.

fero portam
fers portam
fert portam
ferimus portam
fertis portam
ferunt portam
sum bonus
es bonus
est bonus
sumus bonī
estis bonī
sunt bonī
este bonī!
nolī currāre!

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate the following Latin sentences into English.

to be translated into English
to be translated into English
to be translated into English
to be translated into English
to be translated into English
to be translated into English
to be translated into English
to be translated into English
to be translated into English
to be translated into English
to be translated into English
to be translated into English
to be translated into English
to be translated into English

EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer the following English questions about previous Latin sentences.

What do the irregular verbs have in common with regular verbs?
Why do we use 'boni' in question 10, 11, and 12 but 'bonus' in question 7, 8 and 9?

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer the following English questions about previous Latin sentences.

write answer 1
write answer 2

Exercise 2

1. Decline the following five nouns in both singular and plural number in the five common cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative):

Singular
Nominative	nauta	ātrium	servus	dictātor	rēx	cornū	diēs
Accusative
Genitive
Dative
Ablative
Plural
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.

Latin	English	Notes


heri	yesterday	heri is an adverb. Don't try to use it as a noun ("Yesterday was a good day")

taberna, -ae	shop	1st declension feminine

solea, -ae	sandle	1st declension feminine

sic	so, and so, thus

solus, -a, -um	alone	The adverb form (only) is solum

casa, -ae	house, hut	1st declension feminine

sto, stare, steti, statum	stand	One of the few irregular first conjugation verbs

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

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Using a Dictionary

To find a Latin word in the dictionary can be difficult. Foremost, Latin verbs are listed using the 'present indicative 1st person singular active' construct of the verb. 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 and must be learnt such as 'ferō', I carry.

Nouns are usually much easier to find. They are always given in the nominative singular case. If you see a noun such as 'vōcem', and do not know what it is, don't 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 consonant 'c' usually have the consonant '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

Latin	English	Notes


confessio, -ōnis	confession	3rd declension feminine

liber, libri	book	2nd declension masculine

malus, -a, -um	bad

de + abl.	from, down from, aside; about, concerning

Passage

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate the following Latin excerpt into English.

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.

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate the following Latin excerpt into English.

to be translated into English

Imperfect and Future indicative active constructs

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Imperfect and Future constructs

Warning: Beyond the imperfect, this page is not entirely clear. Do not use it beyond the basic imperfect if you are a first time Latin student. See discussion for my thoughts on this.

Imperfect Active Indicative

The imperfect is a construct like:

I was seeing.

In Latin it would look like this:

Vidēbam.

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 + -bā- + personal ending

The endings for imperfect are:

Sg.

-bam
-bās
-bat

Pl.

-bāmus
-bātis
-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:

veniēbam

veniēbās

veniēbat

veniēbāmus

veniēbātis

veniēbant

For third conjugation -iō stem verbs, the imperfect is like so: capere (to capture or seize)

capiēbam

capiēbās

capiēbat

capiēbāmus

capiēbātis

capiēbant

Note that it is easiest to think of what the endings -ere and ire lack. The imperfect -bā- + the personal ending, which we can call the imperfect conjugation, must be prefixed by -iē-.

A few examples:

amābam - I was loving (A-conjugation--1st)

monēbātis - You were warning [object/personage] (of something negative) (Pl.) (2nd Conjugation)

'vincēbāmus - We were defeating (3rd conjugation)

capiēbant - They were catching (short I-conjugation--3rd conjugation)

pellēbat - 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-iō, and 4th.

For example - "amō, amāre" (1st conjugation) would be

Amābō - I will love

Amābis - You will love

Amābit - He/She/It will love

Amaābimus - We will love

Amābitis - Y'all will love

Amābunt - They will love

NOTE: 1st person singular and 3rd person plural use -bō and -bunt, not -bi-.

NOTE: the B and the BIs - the distinguishing feature of future tense in Latin.

With "veniō, venīre" (4th conjugation), however, the endings are different. In future, this is what they look like:

Veniam - I will come

Veniēs - You will come

Veniet - He/She/It will come

Veniēmus - We will come

Veniētis - Y'all will come

Venient - They will come

[deleted paragraphs go here. deleted to maintain rigorous accuracy, which we will go back to striving for.)

To clarify: venīre, veniō.. we know it is 4th conjugation verb and if we look at its first person singular conjugation, we see that it is an -iō 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 īre, which tells us that it is 4th conjugation, and io because its first person singular ends in io (venio). Because it is -iō, we leave the -i- in. So, when we are asked (as all textbooks should phrase these new questions):

What are the steps to form the future 2nd person conjugation?

We say:

It is better to know more than you need: check the infinitive nominative singular, we now know that it is 4th conjugation io.
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 venīre, in the future tense, in the 2nd person?

The answer is veniēs.

Future conjugation

Example: I will love:

amābō

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

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:

A	E	long I (vincere/3rd conj.)	short I	Consonantic
amā-bo	monē-bo	vinc-am	capi-am	pell-am
ama-bis	mone-bis	vinc-es	capi-es	pell-es
ama-bit	mone-bit	vinc-et	capi-et	pell-et
ama-bimus	mone-bimus	vinc-emus	capi-emus	pell-emus
ama-bitis	mone-bitis	vinc-etis	capi-etis	pell-etis
ama-bunt	mone-bunt	vinc-ent	capi-ent	pell-ent

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 immersion.

capere (3rd conjugation--short ere): to seize, metaphorically or literally [see dictionary for full explanation]

amare (first conjugation -are): to love

Exercises

EXERCISE • Print Version • Can you be your own editor?

monere (what conjugation?)
does it change based on the macron over the first vowel on the ending?
what does it mean?

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Can you be your own editor?

{{{3}}}

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

affectus, -ūs, m., goodwill
confessiō, -ōnis, f., confession
dē, from, about, concerning
liber, librī, m., book
malus -a -um, evil, bad
placeō -ēre + dative, to please (placuīsse is a perfect infinitive)
filia, -ae f., daughter
puella, -ae f., girl

Other Difficulties

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

Passage

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate the following excerpt from Latin to English.

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.

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate the following excerpt from Latin to English.

to be translated into English

Chapter 3: Advanced Sentences

Imperatives

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Imperative

Positive Imperative

English

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

Just Do it!
Stop, hammer time!
Take me out to the ballgame!

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)

↑ 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:

Love me, Octavia! (to love = amo, amare)
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:

Take them, men! (to take = adripio, adripere)
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...!" Some teachers of Latin point out that literally you are saying "Be unwilling to ..." - a very polite way of giving an order!

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 aquaeductum ibi aedificare, milites!

Don't wash the dog, boys!

Nolite, pueri, canem lavare!

Exercises

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate the following sentences from English to Latin.

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

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate the following sentences from English to Latin.

Latin translation
Latin translation
Latin translation
Latin translation

Active v. Passive Verbs

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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.

Personal Active
	Singular	Plural
1st	-ō/-m	-mus
2nd	-s	-tis
3rd	-t	-nt

Personal Passive
	Singular	Plural
1st	-r	-mur
2nd	-ris	-mini
3rd	-tur	-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 oppūgnābātur. (The city was being attacked by the enemies.)

Deponent verbs

Some verbs are always passive in form, even though they have an active meaning. For example:

filius agricolam sequitur - The son follows the farmer
sol ortus est - The sun has risen
agricolae hostes verentur - The farmers fear the enemies
gladio usus sum - I used a sword

Some, called semi-deponent verbs, take on a passive form on only in the perfect. For example:

colono confido - I trust the farmer
colono confisus sum - I trusted the farmer

Note that some deponent and semi-deponent verbs take the accusative case (eg. vereor, vereri, veritus sum = I fear), some the ablative (eg. utor, uti, usus sum = I use) and some the dative (eg. confido, confidere, confisus sum = I trust). When you first encounter such a verb in Latin, be sure to remember the case of the object the verb is taking along with its spelling and meaning.

Indicative Passive Verbs

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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.

Here are the conjugations for the imperfect passive tenses. The basic rules for going to passive are the following ones.

1. In the first person, add -r if the active ending is a vowel, otherwise change the final constant to an -r. Examples:

paro (I prepare) → paror (I am being prepared)

aperiebam (I was opening) → aperiebar (I was being opened)

defendemus (we will defend) → defendemur (we will be defended)

tenebimus (we will hold) → tenebimur (we will be held)

2. In the third person, add -ur. Examples:

parat (he prepares) → paratur (he is being prepared)

aperiebat (he was opening) → aperiebatur (he was being opened)

defendent (they will defend) → defendentur (they will be defended)

tenebunt (they will hold) → tenebuntur (they will be held)

3. In the second person, things get more complicated. For the plural, replace "tis" with "mini". Note the exception in "ferre", where "fertis" becomes "ferimini". In the word "ferre", the "rm" letter combination consistently gets separated (ferimus instead of fermus, ferimur instead of fermur and ferimini instead of fermini). For the singular present, take out the active ending, add the thematic vowel (a from -are, e from -ere, i from -ire and nothing from -re, as in ferre) of the verb's infinitive ending and add -ris. Examples:

paras (you prepare) → pararis (you are being prepared)

tenes (you are holding) → teneris (you are being held)

defendis (you are defending) → defenderis (you are being defended)

audis (you are listening) → audiris (you are being listened to)

defendetis (you will defend) → defendemini (you are being defended)

amabis (you will love) → amaberis (you will be loved)

Note the -eris ending in the future passive. The future active bo, bis, bit, bimus, bitis, bunt looks like the third conjugation so the passive bor, beris, bitur, bimur, bimini, buntur looks like the third conjugation. The imperfect passive is bar, baris, batur, bamur, bamini, bantur.

Conjugation in the Present Passive
	1st	2nd	3rd	mixed	4th	Irregular
Infinitive:	amare	terrere	legere	capere	audire	ferre
Singular
1st person:	amor	terreor	legor	capior	audior	feror
2nd person:	amaris	terreris	legeris	caperis	audiris	ferris
3rd person:	amatur	terretur	legitur	capitur	auditur	fertur
Plural
1st person:	amamur	terremur	legimur	capimur	audimur	ferimur
2nd person:	amamini	terremini	legimini	capimini	audimini	ferimini
3rd person:	amantur	terrentur	leguntur	capiuntur	audiuntur	feruntur

Conjugation in the Imperfect Passive
	1st	2nd	3rd	mixed	4th	Irregular
Infinitive:	amare	terrere	legere	capere	audire	ferre
Singular
1st person:	amabar	terrebar	legebar	capiebar	audiebar	ferebar
2nd person:	amabaris	terrebaris	legebaris	capibaeris	audiebaris	ferebaris
3rd person:	amabatur	terrebatur	legebatur	capiebatur	audiebatur	ferebatur
Plural
1st person:	amabamur	terrebamur	legebamur	capiebamur	audiebamur	ferebamur
2nd person:	amabamini	terrebamini	legebamini	capiebamini	audiebamini	ferebamini
3rd person:	amabantur	terrebantur	legebantur	capiebantur	audiebantur	ferebantur

Conjugation in the Future Passive
	1st	2nd	3rd	mixed	4th	Irregular
Infinitive:	amare	terrere	legere	capere	audire	ferre
Singular
1st person:	amabor	terrebor	legar	capiar	audiar	ferar
2nd person:	amaberis	terreberis	legeris	capieris	audieris	fereris
3rd person:	amabitur	terrebitur	legetur	capietur	audietur	feretur
Plural
1st person:	amabimur	terrebimur	legemur	capiemur	audiemur	feremur
2nd person:	amabimini	terrebimini	legemini	capiemini	audiemini	feremini
3rd person:	amabuntur	terrebuntur	legentur	capientur	audientur	ferentur

Principal Parts

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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, infinitives, 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., fero, ferre, tuli, latum; to bring/carry). 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
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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:

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	-ī (egō)	-imus (nōs)
2nd	-istī (tū)	-istis (vōs)
3rd	-it (is/ea/id)	-ērunt ⁽¹⁾ (eī/eae/ea)

⁽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- + -imus = amāvimus (We have loved.)

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

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

Basically, 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.

Conjugation in the Perfect tense
Conjugation	Perfect First Person Singular			Notes
1st (-are)	-avi	-i	-edi	-avi is used for the overwhelming majority of verbs. Exceptions include iuvare and lavare (iuvi, lavi) and dare (dedi).
2nd (-eo, -ere):	-ui	-i	-si	-ui is the most common but much less so than -avi in the first conjugation. Some verbs, like videre and sedere, become vidi and sedi. . For the -si rule, the letter d at the end of the stem, if present, is dropped and cs and gs compound into x (eg. rideo -> ridsi -> risi).
3rd (-o, -ere):	-i	-si	-idi	Many verbs, like defendere, keep the same perfect stem, so the first person perfect singular becomes defendi. This can create tense ambiguity in the third person singular and first person plural (defendit, defendimus). The -si rule follows the same conventions as the 2nd conjugation(eg. ludere -> ludsi -> lusi, regere -> regsi -> rexi). The -idi rule is used with compounds of dare, which are all third conjugation (eg. reddere -> reddidi, credere -> credidi)
mixed (-io, -ere):	-i	-ivi	-si	For the -i rule, the last vowel in the stem is often changed to e (eg. capere -> cepi, facere -> feci). For the ivi rule, the stem is unchanged (eg. cupere -> cupivi). For the -si rule, just like in the 3rd conjugation, cs and gs compound into x and the changing vowel rule also applies (eg. conspicere -> conspexi).
4th (-io, ire)	-ivi	-ui		Fairly straightforward. eg. audire -> audivi, aperire -> aperui
ire (irreg.)	-ii			All ire compounds (eg. transire, redire, inire) follow this rule.
esse (irreg.)	fui			The perfect of esse is fui, some verbs in the esse family change the perfect slightly (eg. abesse -> afui, posse -> potui)

The Perfect Indicative Passive Verbs

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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)

These participles by themselves can be translated with "having been", eg. amatus = having been loved. Add a present form of sum, and you have the perfect passive, eg. amatus sum = I am having been loved = I have been loved.

Conjugation of Verbs in the Perfect Passive

First Conjugation (amō, to love)

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	amātus(/-a) sum	amātī(/-ae) sumus
2nd	amātus(/-a) es	amātī(/-ae) estis
3rd	amātus(/-a/-um) est	amātī(/-ae/-a) sunt

Second Conjugation (moneō, to warn)

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	monitus sum	monitī sumus
2nd	monitus es	monitī estis
3rd	monitus est	monitī sunt

Third Conjugation (regō, to rule)

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	rectus sum	recti sumus
2nd	rectus es	rectī estis
3rd	rectus est	rectī sunt

Fourth Conjugation (audiō, to hear)

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	audītus sum	audītī sumus
2nd	audītus es	audītī estis
3rd	audītus est	audītī sunt

Notes

Remember that the subject must agree with the passive participle.
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."

Exercises

Convert the following sentences with relative clauses into sentences with the same meaning but using past participles.

eg. Aemilianus vidit urbem quam deleverat -> Aemilianus vidit urbem a se deletam

colonus exit casam quam vendidit
colonus videt nuntium (messenger) quam Romam misit
nuntius colono dedit epistolam quam coloni pater scripserat
colonus gratias egit (gave thanks) nuntio quem saepe viderat

Future and Past Perfect Indicative Tenses

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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:

-erō	-erimus
-eris	-eritis
-erit	-erint

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

↑ -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:

-eram	-erāmus
-erās	-erātis
-erat	-erant

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."

Ablative Absolute and Accusative Infinitive Constructions

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Ablative Absolute

The ablative absolute construction is used in a sentence to provide a background for the main action in the sentence. An ablative absolute is formed with a noun and an adjective or participle in the ablative case.

convivis ingressis ille cenam parat

With the guests having entered, he prepares dinner.

domino convivanti servi diligenter laborabant

With the master feasting, the slaves were working diligently.

omnibus ieiunis multos panes parare debuit

With everyone (being) hungry, he had to prepare lots of bread.

Accusative Infinitive

The accusative infinitive construction is used to indirectly report speech or thoughts. An accusative infinitive construction is formed by taking the indirect clause and putting the subject in the accusative and the verb in the infinitive.

ille credit pueros stultos esse

He believes the boys to be fools = He believes that the boys are fools.

magister parentibus dicit pueros stultos esse

The teacher says to the parents that the boys are fools.

colonus uxori dicit se confectum esse

The farmer says to his wife that he is exhausted.

In this sentence, note how the reflexive se refers to the main subject of the sentence.

colonus uxori dixit se confectum esse

The farmer said to his wife that he was tired.

Note how esse, despite being a present infinitive, is translated into the past tense. This is because the infinitive uses the action of the main verb, in this case dixit as a reference point instead of the present.

But what about sentences such as "the farmer says to his wife that he worked diligently"? For those, you need to use the past infinitive.

Overview of infinitives in all tenses

Tense	Active	Passive	Active	Passive	Active	Passive	Active	Passive
Present	amare	amari	monere	moneri	regere	regi	audire	audiri
Past	amavisse	amatus, -a, -um esse	monuisse	monitus, -a, -um esse	rexisse	rectus, -a, -um esse	audivisse	auditus, -a, -um esse
Future	amaturus, -a, -um esse	amatum iri	moniturus, -a, -um esse	monitum iri	recturus, -a, -um esse	rectum iri	auditurus, -a, -um esse	auditum iri

The sentence "The farmer says to his wife that he worked diligently" would thus translate as:

colonus uxori dicit se diligenter laboravisse

The following examples show how different infinitives with the main verb in the past and present would appear in English:

colonus uxori dixit se diligenter laboravisse = The farmer said to his wife that he had worked diligently.
colonus uxori dixit se diligenter laborare = The farmer said to his wife that he was working diligently.
colonus uxori dixit se diligenter laboraturum esse = The farmer said to his wife that he would work (or was going to work) diligently.
colonus uxori dicit se diligenter laboraturum esse = The farmer said to his wife that he will work (or is going to work) diligently.
nuntius mihi dixit urbem deletam esse = The messenger told me that the city had been destroyed
nuntius mihi dixit urbem deleri = The messenger told me that the city was being destroyed
nuntius mihi dixit urbem deletum iri = The messenger told me that the city would be destroyed (or was going to be destroyed)
nuntius mihi dicit urbem deletum iri = The messenger told me that the city will be destroyed (or is going to be destroyed)

Translation Exercises

EXERCISE • Print Version • Translate the following sentences from Latin to English.

parentis absentibus pueri ludunt
multis hominibus audientibus consul orationem (speech) habet
consule loquente multi homines audiunt
agro vendito colonus Romam ingressus est
Antonius civibus dixit Brutum victum iri
Bruti fautores (supporters) crediderunt eum victurum esse
illi gaudebant Brutum multas legiones habere
sed paucis post mensibus nuntius venit et dixit Brutum victum esse

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Translate the following sentences from Latin to English.

English translation
English translation
English translation
English translation
English translation
English translation
English translation
English translation

Chapter 3 Verse

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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 are a great number of different subjunctive uses.

The subjunctive mainly expresses doubt or potential and what could have been. Whereas the indicative declares "this happened" or "that happened," the imperative is called 'jussive,' which is from 'iubere' - to command, bid.

Examples

"Let me go" and "May I go?" are statements of potential; the speaker is not entirely certain his/her command will be followed.
"Were I a king, I would have a golden throne." -this expresses what could be true, but is not. Speaker is not a king, and so will not get the throne.
"May the force be with you!" expresses the hope/potential that the force (Star Wars) will be with you. The essential word here is 'may' - "May the force 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 incorporates 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.

1st Conjugation	a	becomes	e
2nd Conjugation	e	becomes	ea
3rd Conjugation	e	becomes	a
3rd -io and 4th	i	becomes	ia

Some ways to remember this are in the following collapsed table.

Show

She wears a giant diamond

We beat a liar.

We beat all liars.

We eat a friar

We eat a Fiat

Never Fear a Liar

Let's eat a diaper.

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.

Clem Steams Clams in Siam

Example Conjugation

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

Present Indicative

This is the present active indicative form of portāre, which has already been covered.

	singular	plural
1^st	portō	portāmus
2^nd	portās	portātis
3^rd	portat	portant

Remember the join vowels.

Present Subjunctive

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

	singular	plural
1^st	portem	portēmus
2^nd	portēs	portētis
3^rd	portet	portent

Notice:

The -ā- vowel stem has changed to an -ē-.
The personal endings -m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt are used, as is done for regular indicative verbs.

Present Subjunctive of Esse

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

	singular	plural
1^st	sim	sīmus
2^nd	sīs	sītis
3^rd	sit	sint

Unlike the conjugation of the present active indicative form, the present subjunctive is regular. The same personal endings are affixed to si-.

Present Subjunctive of Posse

	singular	plural
1^st	possim	possīmus
2^nd	possīs	possītis
3^rd	possit	possint

Translates as "May I/you/he/we/you/they be able"

Imperfect Subjunctive

The imperfect subjunctive is formed by adding the personal endings -m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt or the passive endings -r, -ris, -tur, -mur, -mini, -ntur to the present infinitive active (often the second principal part). In other words, for

vocō, vocāre, vocāvī, vocātum

The imperfect subjunctives are formed thus:

	singular	plural
1^st	vocārem	vocārēmus
2^nd	vocārēs	vocārētis
3^rd	vocāret	vocārent

For deponent verbs, whose second principal part is the passive infinitive (e.g., cōnārī, verērī, patī, expedīrī) a pseudo present infinitive is used (e.g, cōnāre, verēre, patere, expedīre; although these forms do not exist as stand-alone infinitives, they actually ARE the singular imperatives for these deponent verbs)

The imperfect subjunctive of the verb to be (sum, esse) is conjugated regularly, as are ALL irregular verbs, e.g.: possem, vellem, nollem, ferrem, irem)

	singular	plural
1^st	essem	essēmus
2^nd	essēs	essētis
3^rd	esset	essent

Uses of the Subjunctive

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

Volitive or Optative Clauses

Subjunctives in independent clauses are often translated as volitive/optative (that is, as a wish). Volitives/optatives show an intention for an action to occur; e.g. "amet" may be translated in volitive/optative context as "may he love"

Hortatory

A suggestion or command in first person (most often plural); e.g. "cedamus" as an hortatory subjunctive is "let us depart"

Jussive

A suggestion or command in third person; e.g. "cedat" as a jussive subjunctive is "let her depart"; "deprehendatur"= "Let him be seized"

Potential

The potential or possibility of something happening, in any person: (Fortasse) te amem. "Perhaps I may love you."

All of these Subjunctive types can be used in an independent (main) clause. Note that all can be translated with "let" or "may"; the differences lie in how English will represent the subjunctive verb:

Volitive (Wish): May we be friends forever!
Hortatory (Suggestion): Let us be friends!
Jussive (Command): Let them be friends!
Potential (Possibility): They may be friends; we may be friends; you may be friends.

Purpose Clauses

A purpose clause is a dependent clause used, as the name shows, 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 would rule." These appear frequently in Latin.

Relative Clauses

A relative clause is an independent clause introduced by a relative pronoun. When the verb of a relative clause is in the subjunctive mood the clause may express result, purpose, or characteristic.

Result: The field is so large that he could not plow it in one day.
Purpose: He sent envoys who would pacify the city.
Characteristic: Who is so ill-prepared who would fight without a shield?

The Uses of the Subjunctive

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

.The subjunctive mood has several uses in Latin, the most notable of which are:

First Person Exhortations
Purpose Clauses
Result Clauses
Indirect Commands

First Person Exhortations (Hortatory Subjunctive)

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 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 se amaret
Quintus gave Scintilla a gift so that she would love him. (The imperfect subjunctive is used after a past main clause verb, i.e. imperfect, perfect or pluperfect, while the present subjunctive is used after a main clause verb in the present, future, future perfect, perfect with 'have', or imperative. The reflexive se is used instead of eum as it refers back to the subject of the main clause — otherwise it means that Quintus gave Scintilla a gift so that she would love someone else, not Quintus.)
Fabius equos domum duxit ne tempestate timerentur
Fabius brought the horses home lest they be frightened by the storm.
Marcus Graeciā 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.

Result clauses are normally recognisable by a signpost word in the main clause:

tam = so (with adjective or adverb) tantus, -a, -um = so big, tot (indecl) = so many talis, -e = such, of such a sort adeo = so much, to such an extent (with verb) ita = so, in such a way (with verb) totiens = so often, so many times (with verb)

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 Galliam oppugnare non 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.

Indirect Commands

Definition, Common Usage and Expression in Latin

An indirect command is a statement like the following: "He ordered her to do x". The English equivalent words are "to" or "that they should" It can also take the form of "I am ordering you to do x", as opposed to the imperative "DO X!". Several verbs in Latin take the subjunctive mood with indirect commands:

rogo, rogare, rogavi, rogatum - to ask
persuadeo, persuadere, persuasi, persuasum - to persuade
impero, imperare, -imperavi, imperatum - to order
peto, petere petivi, petitum - to seek, ask for

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

Examples

Imperator militibus 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 liberis imperavit ne in horto currerent
The mother asked her children not to run in the garden.

Indirect questions

Definition, Common Usage and Expression in Latin

The subjunctive is used in indirect questions. For example, the question 'What are you doing?' is direct, while "He asked what I was doing" is indirect. In Latin, the verb in the clause containing the indirect question must be in the subjunctive.

Examples

Imperator milites rogat si castra ceperent
The general asks the soldiers if they captured the camp.
Eum rogo quid faciat
I am asking him what he is doing.
Magister pueros rogat utrum laborent an ludant
The teacher asks the boys whether they are working or playing.

Notā bene!

↑ 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

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

The conjugation of the subjunctive imperfect active follows a simple rule. The verb in its infinitive form, that is, the second principle part, (amāre, to love, for example) simply has the active personal endings (-m/ō, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt) added:

ego amārem

tu amārēs

is amāret

nos amārēmus

vos amārētis

ei amārent

the passive voice is formed by the addition of passive personal endings (-r, -ris (-re), -tur, -mur, -minī, -ntur) onto the infinitive stem

ego amārer

tu amārēris (-re)

is amārētur

nos amārēmur

vos amārēmini

ei amārentur

Application

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

Because/Cum

One application is in its use with 'cum' in the sense of 'because' as a clause. e.g.

Diutius cum sustinere nostrorum impetus non possent, Helvetii se in montem receperunt.: When(Because) the Helvetis could not sustain/resist our attacks for long, they retreated to the mountains.

The Subjunctive Passive Verbs

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Passive Subjunctive 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).

parer	manear	regar	capiar	audiar
pareris	manearis	regaris	capiaris	audiares
paretur	maneatur	regatur	capiatur	audiatur
paremur	maneamur	regamur	capiamur	audiamur
paremini	maneamini	regamini	capiamini	audiamini
parentur	maneantur	regantur	capiantur	audiantur

Imperfect

The passive endings added to the present active infinitive.

pararer	manerer	regerer	caperer	audirer
parareris	manereris	regereris	capereris	audireris
pararetur	maneretur	regeretur	caperetur	audiretur
pararemur	maneremur	regeremur	caperemur	audiremur
pararemini	maneremini	regeremini	caperemini	audiremini
pararentur	manerentur	regerentur	caperentur	audirentur

The Subjunctive Perfects

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

The conjugation of the perfect subjunctive active consists of: the perfect 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 consists 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

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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 nominative. Remember that the perfect passive verbs require the fourth participle to agree in gender and number!

Exercises

In this section, it is only truly necessary to translate the italicized portion. The rest exists in order to make the subjunctive necessary.

the children were so bad that they have been scolded. (Children- Liberi; To scold- vitupero, vituperare, vituperavi)

He asked how I was tricked.(trick-ludo, ludere, lusi, lusus)

My parents drove to town so that now I have been born in a hospital.(born- cresco, crescere, crevi, cretus; Hospital- valetudinarium, valetudinarii-n.)

Subjunctive Passive Pluperfect

The subjunctive passive pluperfect is very similar to the perfect, with the major difference being the way esse is conjugated. In specific, the word esse is simply given the active endings(m,s,t,mus,tis, nt)

mutavi + isse -->

Singular

mutatus essem I had been changed.

mutatus esses You had been changed.

mutatus esset He had been changed.

Plural*

mutati essemus We had been changed.

mutati essetis You had been changed.

mutati essent They had been changed.

Exercises

In these exercises, only the italicized parts require translation. The rest exist to make the subjunctive necessary. Remember, the subjunctive is not used in any but complex sentences or other rare circumstances.

Ovid wrote so much in the Metamorphoses that his hand had been changed into stone.

The Gerund and Participles

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Participles

Participles are verbs which function grammatically like adjectives. English, aided by auxiliary participles, is able have participle phrases in many tenses. Latin has participles that do not have auxiliary supplementary participles. This limits the usage of the participle in Latin, according to some wiki-scholars of Classical Studies.

*Example 1*
English	(the) walking	man
Latin	ambulans	vir
	Present Participle	Substantive

Present Active Participles

Present participles are formed by adding -ns to the stem of the verb.

Forming the Present Imperfect Participle
1st Conjugation	Infinitive: amare Stem: ama Present Imperfect Participle: amans
2nd Conjugation	Infitive: monere Stem: mone Present Imperfect Participle: monens
3rd Conjugation	Infinitive: regere Stem: rege Present Imperfect Participle: regens
4th Conjugation	Infinitive: audire Stem:audi Present Imperfect Participle:audiens

Present Participles are declined like 3rd declension adjectives. In cases besides the nominative, the -s becomes -t.

Examples:

1. ferens, ferentis 2. capiens, capientis 3. ens, entis

Exercises

Form the Present Participle and translate of the following Latin verbs:

meto, messui, messum, ere
metuo, metum, ui, ere
milito, avi, atum, are
postulo, avi, atum, are
sulco, avi, sulcum, are
iacio, ieci, iactum, ere

Uses

The examples will show participles of the verb amo, amare, amavi, amatum (to love).

present active: base + 'ns.' This forms a two-termination 3rd declension adjective. In the case of amare, the participle is amans, amantis (loving).
perfect passive: fourth principle part, with appropriate first or second declension endings: amatus, -a, -um.
future active: fourth principle part, minus 'm', add 'rus, -a, -um' This forms a 1st-2nd declension adjective: amaturus, -a, -um (about to love).

In deponent verbs, the perfect passive participle is formed in the same way as in regular verbs. However, since the nature of the deponent verb is passive in form and active in meaning, the participle is translated actively.

Remember that participles are adjectives, and therefore must be declined to agree with the noun which they modify in case, number and gender.

Gerund

The gerund is a verbal noun which is used to refer to the action of a verb. For example: ars scribendi = the art of writing. The gerund is declined as a second declension neuter noun. It is formed by taking the present stem and adding -ndum.

Verb	amo, amare	video, videre	rego, regere	capio, capere	audio, audire
Gerund	amandum	videndum	regendum	capiendum	audiendum

Meanings of the gerund

Genitive: ars legendi - The art of reading / to read
Accusative: ad puniendum - to punish, for punishing
Ablative: saepe canendo - through frequently singing; in legendo: while reading
Genitive with causa: puniendi causa - in order to punish

Gerundive

The gerundive is a 1st/2nd declension adjective formed the same way as the gerund, and its function overlaps somewhat with the gerund, but otherwise differs. The literal translation of the gerundive is with "to be", eg. defendendus, -a, -um = "to be defended".

Accusative: ad ludos fruendos - to the games to be enjoyed - to enjoy the games (Note that if this were a gerund construction, it would be ad ludis fruendum since fruor, -i takes the ablative case. In the gerundive construction, both noun and gerundive are governed by the preposition ad)
Gerundive of obligation, which is constructed with the verb 'est' or 'sunt', according to the subject's number: Carthago delenda est - Carthage is to be destroyed - Carthage must be destroyed. Note that if there is an object (eg. Carthage is to be destroyed by us), it goes into the dative case (eg. Carthago delenda nobis est).

Exercises

1. Convert the following subjunctive purpose clauses into gerund or gerundive clauses with the same meaning. For example: militabat ut patriam defenderet → militabat ad patriam defendendum or militabat patriam defendendi causa or militabat ad patriam defendendam. Try to use each construction twice.

casam exit ut patrem adiuvet
mater in casam rediit ut cenam pararet
hostes vincebant ergo scutum abieci (I threw away my shield) ut celerius fugerem
in silvas currimus ut nos celemus
hostes in silvas ineunt ut nos invenirent
Brutus Iulium Caesarem occidit ut Romam liberaret

2. Translate into Latin. For example: I must see the temple -> templum mihi videndum est

We must build a large city.
Julius Caesar must lead an army into Greece.
Scipio (Scipio, -ionis) must defeat Hannibal.

Conditional Clauses

Conditional clauses in English and Latin have the general form:

if (condition clause) (result clause)

Or:

(result clause) if (condition clause)

For example:

If I see anyone, I'll tell you.
If he was sleeping, you should not have knocked.
I cannot hear you if I'm sleeping.
I would have been sad if I had not won.

There are 3 types of conditional clauses in Latin:

Simple Fact (Present or Past)
Contrary to Fact (Present or Past)
Future (More or Less Vivid)

Simple Fact Conditionals

Simple fact conditionals in Latin have the general form:

si (condition clause in the present indicative) (result clause in the present indicative)

Or:

si (condition clause in the imperfect/perfect indicative) (result clause in the imperfect/perfect indicative)

For example:

si diligenter laboras, bonus puer es

If you are working diligently, you are a good boy.

si dominum adiuvabas, bonus servus eras

If you were helping your master, you were a good slave.

Contrary to Fact Conditionals

Contrary to fact conditionals are used if the condition clause is known to be false. For example:

If you weren't playing during class, you would be a good boy (but you were playing, so you aren't a good boy).

Contrary to fact conditionals have the general form:

si (condition clause in the imperfect subjunctive) (result clause in the imperfect subjunctive)

Or:

si (condition clause in the pluperfect subjunctive) (result clause in the pluperfect subjunctive)

For example:

si matrem adiuvaret, cena parata esset

If he were helping his mother, the dinner would be ready.

si patrem adiuvisset, pater matrem adiuvare potuisset

If he had helped his father, his father would have been able to help his mother.

Note how English uses would and would have for result clauses, while Latin uses the same tense as in the condition clauses.

Future Conditionals

Future conditionals are, of course, used to express conditions in the future. For example:

If you help me, I will be done faster.

Future conditionals take the following general form:

si (condition clause in the future or future perfect) (result clause in the future)

Or:

si (condition clause in the present subjunctive) (result clause in the present subjunctive)

For example:

si fortiter pugnaveritis, urbs non delebitur

If you fight bravely, the city will not be destroyed.

Note how English uses the present tense for the condition clause, while Latin uses the future or future perfect.

si diligenter laboretis, vobis meridie domum dimittam

If you were to work diligently, I would dismiss you at noon.

This type of clause, known as the future less vivid (as opposed to the future more vivid which uses the future and future perfect), is used to express more improbable conditions in the future.

Revision

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Passive/Subjunctive Tenses
Passive is used to describe something like an indirect action affects you - an example is "I was being held". In Latin, it is conjugated through six parts - the present set (present, imperfect, future), and the perfect set (perfect, pluperfect, future perfect). Below is a chart you can use for endings and such.

The present tense through future tenses use the present stem. I'm using the word amo, amare, amavi, amatus - to love, so the present stem is "am".

	Present
1st person	amor	amāmur
2nd person	amāris	amāminī
3rd person	amātur	amantur

	Imperfect
1st person	amābar	amābāmur
2nd person	amābāris	amābāminī
3rd person	amābātur	amābantur

	Future
1st person	amābor	amābimur
2nd person	amāberis	amābiminī
3rd person	amābitur	amābuntur

	Perfect
1st person	amātus, a, um sum	amātī, ae, a sumus
2nd person	amātus es	amātī estis
3rd person	amātus est	amātī sunt

	Pluperfect
1st person	amātus, a, um eram	amātī, ae, a erāmus
2nd person	amātus erās	amātī erātis
3rd person	amātus erat	amātī erant

	Future Perfect
1st person	amātus, a, um erō	amātī, ae, a erimus
2nd person	amātus eris	amātī eritis
3rd person	amātus erit	amātī erunt

Hope this is all correct and helps!

Idioms

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

ad unum-to a man
aequo animo-contentedly, resignedly, patiently
aere alieno premi-to be heavily in debt
agere gratias-to thank
alius aliam in partem-one in one direction, another in another
amico aliquo uti-to be on terms of intimacy with some one
animo tenus commoveri-to be moved to the heart
ad astra-to the stars

Translation

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Lesson 20, as a bit of a reward is a little translation exercise from the Gospel of Saint Luke.

Exercise 1

Vocabulary

coming soon, at the moment consult your dictionary

Respondens Simon dixit: "Aestimo quia is, cui plus donavit". At ille dixit ei: "Recte iudicasti". Et conversus ad mulierem, dixit Simoni: "Vides hanc mulierem? Intravi in domum tuam: aquam pedibus meis non dedisti; haec autem lacrimis rigavit pedes meos et capillis suis tersit. Osculum mihi non dedisti haec autem, ex quo intravi non cessavit osculari pedes meos. Oleo caput meum non unxisti; haec autem unguento unxit pedes meos. Propter quod dico tibi: Remissa sunt peccata eius multa, quoniam dilexit multrum: cui autem minus dimittitur, minus diligit." Dixit autem ad illam: "Remissa sunt peccata tua". Et coeperunt, qui simul accumbebant, dicere intra se: "quis est hic, qui etiam peccata dimittit?". Dixit autem ad mulierem: Fides tua te salvam fecit; vade in pace!".

Et factum est deinceps, et ipse iter faciebat per civitatem et castellum praedicans et evangelizans regnum Dei, et Duodecim cum illo, et mulieres aliquae, quae erant curatae ab spiritibus malignis et infirmitatibus, Maria, quae vocatur Magdalene, de qua daemonia septem exierant, et Ioanna uxor Chuza procuratoris Herodis, et Sussanna et aliae multae, quae ministrabant eis de facultatibus suis.

Chapter 4 Verse

Haec est fabula De Faciebus Iani. Ianus, ut dicebatur, erat unus deorum, cui facies duae erant. Altera earum enim in futura et altera in praeterita prospiciebat.

Apollo ei olim sic dixit: "Nonne tibi facies est, qua tempus praesens spectes?" Et paulo post Ianus ita respondit:

"Mundus - orbis terrarum cyclus est similiter ac tempus est cyclicum. Et initium omnium et finem video. Omnia prospicio aeternusque sum, neque opus est porro videre, quae palam iaceant."

Diu cogitavit Apollo de verbis Iani hominesque acutissimā mente in omni orbe terrarum conquaesivit eo consilio, ut ipse tam sapiens ut Ianus fieret. Postea cum quibusdam illustrissimis viris collocutus est, quo sapientior esset. Eo facto tamen unus eorum, cui Minervus nomen, Apollinem monuit, ne summam quaereret sapientiam, quam novisse nullum alium quam Ianum oportebat. Revenit autem Apollo ad Ianum eumque, ut veritatem cognosceret, ea summa rogavit.

"Intellegisne omnino quid roges?" inquit Ianus, "Si dis par fueris, omnibus iuribus privari possis."

Itaque Apollo cognovit sapientissimum omnium fuisse, a quo monitus est.

Translation below:

This is the story of the faces of Janus. Janus, as it used to be said, was one of the gods who had two faces. It was that one spied into the future while the other into the past.

Apollo once had said to him, "Have you not a face with which to see the present?" After a few moments, thus spoke Ianus:

"The world is a circle. Time is a circle. I see both the beginning and end of all living things. I am foreseeing and eternal; therefore, it is not necessary for me to see that which is lying out of sight."

Apollo thought about these words for a very long time, and thus, that he might become wise like Janus, he sought the keenest minds of the land. He then was speaking with some great men that he might become wiser. However, one, whose name was Minervus, warned him not to seek the ultimate/highest truth because it may only be known by Janus. But he returned again to ask Janus that he might obtain the truth.

"Do you even know for what you're asking? If you enter onto the same level (of the Gods), all your rights might be snatched from you," said Janus.

And so Apollo knows now that the same man who had warned him was the wisest of all.

Verse from the Gospels

< Latin

A Verse From the Gospel of St. Luke

Respondens Simon dixit: "Aestimo quia is, cui plus donavit". At ille dixit ei: "Recte iudicasti". Et conversus ad mulierem, dixit Simoni: "Vides hanc mulierem? Intravi in domum tuam: aquam pedibus meis non dedisti; haec autem lacrimis rigavit pedes meos et capillis suis tersit. Osculum mihi non dedisti haec autem, ex quo intravi non cessavit osculari pedes meos. Oleo caput meum non unxisti; haec autem unguento unxit pedes meos. Propter quod dico tibi: Remissa sunt peccata eius multa, quoniam dilexit multum: cui autem minus dimittitur, minus diligit." Dixit autem ad illam: "Remissa sunt peccata tua". Et coeperunt, qui simul accumbebant, dicere intra se: "quis est hic, qui etiam peccata dimittit?". Dixit autem ad mulierem: Fides tua te salvam fecit; vade in pace!".

Chapter 5: Review

Revision

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

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 — including Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, and others — 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 in Europe, for more than one and a half thousand years, being eventually replaced by French in the 18th century and English by the middle of the 20th. Latin remains the formal language of the Roman Catholic Church to this day and is the official language of the Vatican.

Romance languages are not derived from Classical Latin, a literary language for writing and oration, 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. Stress refers to the emphasis of pronunciation on syllabic units. Most English nouns not derived from other parts of speech have an emphasis on the first syllable. Foreign loan words in English sometimes retain their original stress, which may be on the second or third syllable, though assimilation into English will usually result in a vowel shift towards emphasis on the first syllable.

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

Here are some current English words which are Latin derivativesː

Video is the Latin verb "I see" which in English is a noun referring to a recording and playback device.
Audio is the Latin verb "I hear" which in English is a noun referring to a sound wave.
Victoria is the Latin noun "victory" which in English is a proper noun and a woman's name.
Carmen is the Latin noun "song" which in English is a proper noun and a woman's name.

Introduction to the Latin Language

Simple and Compound Words

In Latin, words are either:

simple (words that consist of only one part). For example:

Latin	English

eō	I go
ferō	I carry
dō	I give

compound (words that consist of more than one part, for example, a root word combined with a prefix). For example:

Latin	English

abeō	I go away
trānsferō	I carry across
reddō	I give back

Word Parts

Inflected words (i.e., words having ending- or spelling-changes according to their grammatical functions in the sentence) have a stem and a root.

The Stem

The stem is the part of the word to which various suffixes are added. The final suffix determines either the role of the word in the sentence (for example, when a Roman slave wished to address his dominus (master), he used the vocative form domine -- equivalent to "O master" in English) or the person/subject involved in the action (for example, "I dominate" may be expressed as "domin-or", and "they dominate" as "domin-antur"). In these cases, domin- is the stem and -us, -e, -or and -antur are suffixes. The addition of such suffixes is called inflection. This is discussed further in the Summary.

The Root

The root is the part of the word that carries the essential meaning. For example the stem of agitō (I drive onward) is agit-, whose root is ag (do, drive), which is in common to words of similar meaning: agō (I do, drive), agmen (that which is driven, such as a flock), etc. Notice the essential difference between a root and a stem. To the root "ag" has been added a suffix "(i)tō-" which denotes frequency of action (so "agit-" means to do or drive more than once, hence "agit-ō", I agitate, I keep (something) moving, I urge, I impel).

In contrast, English uses word order more than inflection to determine the function of a word within a sentence. English also uses words like pronouns (I, she, etc.) and prepositions (to, at, etc.) where Latin generally prefers inflexions. Thus "dom-ī" (noun -- "at home"), "ag-unt" (verb -- "they do/drive").

Primitives

Primitives occur when both the stem and the root are the same. For example, in the word agere (to do, drive) both the stem and the root are the same: "ag-".

Derivatives

Derivatives occur when the root or stem is modified. For example, the stem flamm- from the noun flamma has the root "flag" ("blaze"), "nōscō" (I know) from the verb "nōscere" has the root "gnō-" ("know").

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 used in Latin

Nouns

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

There are two kinds of nouns: Substantives and Pronouns.

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

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

Nouns have changing endings on the stem (known as declension) and three incidents: number, gender and case. Number concerns whether the thing referred to is singular or plural (and the ending shows this); gender classifies a substantive as masculine, feminine or neuter (this determines how the endings of adjectives and pronouns behave) and case (where the ending must show how the noun fits in to the sentence). Adjectives and Pronouns must agree in all incidents when they refer to a substantive.

Verbs

Verbs (verba) express an action or a state of being, e.g., agō (I do), dīxit (he said), venīs (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 finīta) are inflected and have a subject, e.g., I run, you run, he runs, they drive, the computer is turned on.

2. The infinite verbs (verba infinīta) are not inflected and have 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.

Modifiers

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

2. Adverbs (adverbia) are similar to adjectives, except that they are used to qualify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs, rather than nouns. In practice, they restrict the meaning of the verb or adjective by specifying how or how much. E.g., currō celeriter (I run quickly), pugnat fortiter (he fights bravely), vērē iūcundus est (he's really nice), incrēdibile callida est (she's incredibly clever).

Other

Particles are uninflected words that provide extra meaning.

1. Prepositions (praepositiōnēs) are little words which tell you how one word is behaving in relation to another word ("the duck was near the pond", "she went towards the wood"). In Latin, the noun that follows a preposition takes a particular ending (called a "case"), depending on the nature of the relationship, or on the nature of the preposition itself. E.g., ad (by), in (in), sub (under). What all this means is that a preposition is a sort of adverb, telling you how something is done. For example, "you go" is a simple statement, but "you go in" suggests that you don't just "go", you go so as to enter something, and so you need a noun for the "something". In English, we might say "you go into the house". In Latin, this would be: "in domum inīs". Notice the form "in domum", which means "into" the house -- you're going into it, you're not yet exactly inside it (the ending -um of "domum" is called "accusative"). When you are inside the house, what you do is "in" the house, which is "in domō" (the ending -ō of "domō" is called "ablative").

2. Conjunctions (coniunctiōnēs) join together clauses and sentences. E.g., et (and), atque (as well as), sed (but).

3. Interjections (interiectiōnēs) are exclamations used to express feeling or to gain attention. E.g., ō! (oh!), ēheu! (alas!), ecce! (behold!).

Articles

Latin has no definite article or indefinite article, respectively "the" and "a/an". When translating Latin into English the appropriate article must be added.

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

EXERCISE • Print Version • Questions

1. What is the shared root in the following English words?

actor, reaction, radioactive
transfer, fertile, interference

2. In the following English words, what is the stem and what is the ending?

knights
riding
horses
jumped

3. What parts of speech are each of the English words in (2), as well as the following:

with
and
because
hooray
silently
never

4. Answer the following questions about the Latin language:

In what area of Italy was Latin originally spoken?
Name the two varieties of Latin that existed in antiquity.
What major organization still uses Latin today?

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Questions

1. What is the shared root in the following English words?

act
fer

2. In the following English words, what is the stem and what is the ending?

to be written
to be written
to be written
to be written

3. What parts of speech are each of the English words in (2), as well as the following:

to be written
to be written
to be written
to be written
to be written
to be written

4. Answer the following questions about the Latin language:

Latium
Classical latin and Vulgar latin
Roman Catholic Church

Revision

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Spelling and Pronunciation

The Latin alphabet, on which the English alphabet is based, has mostly the same letters as the English alphabet, except that it has no <k> or <w>, and that in its original form, it lacked <j>, which only some modern texts use, and . Many European languages use the Latin alphabet as the basis for their own alphabet.

Latin pronunciation has varied somewhat over the course of its long history, and there are some differences between Old Latin, spoken in the Roman Republic, Classical Latin, spoken in the Roman Empire, Medieval Latin, spoken in the Middle Ages, and Ecclesiastical Latin, spoken in the Catholic Church. This text focuses on the pronunciation of Classical Latin.

a	/a/, approximately as in English "palm"
ā	/aː/, approximately as in English "father"
ae	/ai̯~ae̯/, as in English "realize", "buy"
au	/au̯/, as in English "brown", "how"
b	/b/, as in English "bit"
c	always /k/, as in English "scan"; never /s/, as in English "suicide"
ch	always /kʰ/, as in English "key"; never /t͡ʃ/, as in English “church”
d	always /d/, as in "dim"; never /ɾ/, as in "medal"
e	usually /ɛ/, as in American English "best”; /æ/, as in English "fact", before <r>; /e/, approximately as in English "letter A", "hay", before another vowel
ē	/eː/, approximately as in English "letter A", "hay"
f	always /f/, as in English "fan"; never /v/, as in English "of"
g	always /g/, as in English "good"; never /ʒ/, as in English "deluge", or /d͡ʒ/, as in English "gel"
gn	/ŋn/, as in English "hangnail", "sing now"; at the beginning of words it may also be pronounced as just /n/, as in English "no" or "gnat"
gu	/gʊ/, as in English "good", before consonants; /gᶣ/, no English equivalent, before <e/ē/i/ī>; /gʷ/, as in English "language", before all other vowels
h	/h/, as in English "ham"
i	usually /ɪ/, as in English "kit"; /j/, as in English "yes", between the start of a word and a vowel; /jː/, as in English "toy yacht", between two vowels; /i/, as in English "tidy", between a consonant and a vowel
ī	/iː/, as in English "letter E", "fleet"
j	used by some in place of Latin <i> when it represents /j/; this Wikibook does not follow this convention
k	not in the Latin alphabet
l	/l/, as in English "leaf" (called l exīlis, "Thin L"); possibly sometimes /ɫ/, as in English "full" (called l plēnus/pinguis, "Thick L"); scholars do not agree on whether l plēnus still existed beyond Old Latin, and if so, where it occurred
ll	always /lː/, as in English "leaf", but pronounced longer; never /ɫ/, as in “full”
m	/m/, as in English "map", unless following a vowel and either before <f> or <s>, or at the end of a word, in which case it's silent and the previous vowel is pronounced as its long form (the one with the macron over it), and is nasalized
n	/n/, as in English "no", unless it's preceding <c>, <g>, or <q>, in which case it's /ŋ/, as in English "hang", or following a vowel and preceding <f> or <s>, or at the end of a word, in which case it's silent and the previous vowel is pronounced as its long form (the one with the macron over it), and is nasalized
o	/ɔ/, approximately as in English "thought” or "God"
ō	/oː/, approximately as in English "letter O", "clover"
oe	/oi̯~oe̯/, approximately as in English "point", "boy"
p	/p/, as in English "spin"
ph	always /pʰ/, as in English "pin"; never /f/, as in English "phone"
q	/k/, only occurs alongside <u>
qu	/kᶣ/, no English equivalent, before <e/ē/i/ī>; /kʷ/, as in English "language”, before all other vowels
r	/r/, like Spanish <rr>
s	always /s/, as in English "see"; never /z/, as in English "ease"
t	always /t/, as in English "steam"; never /ɾ/, as in English "butter", or /ʔ/, as in English "sit"
th	always /tʰ/, as in English "team"; never /θ/, as in English "three" or /ð/, as in English "this"
u	always /ʊ/, as in English "foot", "put"; never /ʌ/, as in English "sun"
ū	always /uː/, as in English "food"; never /ju/, as in English "mute", or /ʊ/, as in English "foot"
v	always /w/, as in English "we"; never /v/, as in English "five"
w	not in the Latin alphabet
x	always /k͡s/, as in English "wicks"; never /g͡z/, as in English "exaggerate", or /z/, as in English "xylophone"
y	/ʏ/, no English equivalent; generally only present in words borrowed from Greek
ȳ	/yː/, as in German "über", no English equivalent; generally only present in words borrowed from Greek
z	/zː/, approximately as in English "his"; generally only present in words borrowed from Greek

Note that Latin, as written by the Romans, did not have <j>, <k>, , <w>, or macrons over vowels (the lines indicating that vowels are long), although they did sometimes mark long vowels with apices (e.g. <ó> for /oː/); macrons are used today as pronunciation guides and do not necessarily need to be written. /w/, /ʊ/, and /uː/ were all represented with <v>. Modern texts often use <v> for /w/, for /ʊ/, and <ū> for /uː/. In some modern texts (this Wikibook not included), <j> is used for /j/.

Declension Tables

The following tables will be both referenced and explained in all of the following sections, and hence are placed here.

Singular Nouns
Declension (Gender)	1st (F)	2nd (M/N)	3rd (M/F/N)	4th (M/N)	5th (F)
Nominative Subject	puella	servus	rēx	gradus	rēs
Genitive Possessive	puellae	servī	rēgis	gradūs	rēī
Dative Indirect Object	puellae	servō	rēgī	graduī	rēī
Accusative Object	puellam	servum	rēgem	gradum	rēm
Ablative Modifies or Limits Verb	puellā	servō	rēge	gradū	rē
Vocative Direct Address	puella	serve	rēx	gradus	rēs

Note that nouns in the 3rd declension nominative can have any ending, hence why none is given in bold.

Plural Nouns
Declension (Gender)	1st (F)	2nd (M/N)	3rd (M/F/N)	4th (M/N)	5th (F)
Nominative	puellae	servī	rēgēs	cornūs	rēs
Genitive	puellārum	servōrum	rēgum	cornuum	rērum
Dative	puellīs	servīs	rēgibus	cornibus	rēbus
Accusative	puellās	servōs	rēgēs	cornūs	rēs
Ablative	puellīs	servīs	rēgibus	cornibus	rēbus
Vocative	puellae	servī	rēgēs	cornūs	rēs

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 to denote these things:

Number (whether the noun is singular or plural)
Case of the noun (role of the noun in the sentence)
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), and 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 word order as it can be in English, but purely by word endings, or "inflection". Indeed, the words in a Latin sentence can appear in almost any order with little change in meaning. Two sentences with the word orders "Sam ate the orange" and "The orange ate Sam" could potentially mean the same thing in Latin, though the spellings of "orange" and "Sam" would have to change slightly to denote which was the subject (the one eating) and which was the object (the one being eaten).

It is important to note here that although the genders of many words make sense (for example, "puella", meaning a girl, is feminine) many are simply assigned and hold no real meaning. Luckily, as you will find, the gender can often be determined by the spelling of the word (words ending in "us" are almost always masculine, and words ending in "a" are almost always feminine). For many words, however, you will simply have to memorize their gender.

Adjectives themselves must match the number, case, and gender of the noun (be it a substantive or a pronoun) they modify. If a noun is nominative singular feminine (see case table below), 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. This will be expanded on in the Adjectives section below. The advantage of this system is that adjectives do not need to be adjacent to their respective nouns, as one would be able to tell which noun they modify by which noun they appear to agree with.

Declension

All substantives are part of one of 5 categories, called declensions. A substantive is a stem, modified by adding a declension suffix. Each declension has a set of standard suffixes that indicate case and number. Usually gender is indicated by the suffix, although there are many exceptions. Therefore, you must memorize the gender of every substantive you learn.

By familiarizing yourself with the above tables, 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. Similar processes happen continually over time, even today.

The above tables allow you to familiarize yourself with the existence of each declension, though by no means are you expected to memorize it now. Nonetheless, you will have to memorize it as you are formally introduced to individual cases and declensions in future lessons. Because of its introductory purpose, it is considerably simplified and incomplete, and therefore should not be used as a reference in the future.

Adjectives are also classed into declensions which must match the declension of the noun they describe:

1st/2nd declension adjectives...
1. ...Use 1st declension suffixes from the substantive declension table when describing feminine nouns.
2. ...Use 2nd declension masculine suffixes from the above table when describing masculine nouns.
3. ...Use 2nd declension neuter suffixes (not found in the above table) when describing neuter nouns.
3rd declension adjectives behave as 'i' stem substantives unless specified. An 'i' stem substantive is one where the stem word ends in the letter 'i.' 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.

Case

Cases (Latin: casus) determine the role of the noun in the sentence in relation to other parts of the sentence.

There are six cases, Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, Ablative, and Vocative. Vocative case (Lesson 3), can be considered a sort of miniature case, generally not being accepted as a true one. Additionally, some nouns have a vocative case, which will be covered later. As nominative and accusative are the most basic, these will be taught first (the rest will be covered in later lessons).

The Use of the Cases (all words in bold are in the case specified in the first column)
Case	Role in sentence	Example (Latin)	Example (English)
Nominative	Subject (performs the verb)	vir lupum vult.	The man wants a wolf.
Genitive	Description and possession	lupus virī est.	It is the man's wolf/It is the wolf of the man.
Dative	Indirect object (receives the direct object)	lupō dedit vir.	The man gave to the wolf.
Accusative	Direct object (receives the action of the verb)	vir lupum videt.	The man sees the wolf.
Ablative	Various (modify or limit nouns by ideas of where, when, how, etc.)	ā quō datum? ā virō.	By whom given? By a man.
Vocative	Direct address (speaking to somebody directly)	salvē, Brute!	Hello, Brutus!

Gender

All substantives, including inanimate objects, have a particular gender (genera), which is either masculine, feminine, or neuter.

For example, Vir, "a man," is 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, and so forth. Logic will give you little help in determining what the genders of inanimate objects are, and with many nouns memorization is required. Luckily, for many nouns, the spelling of the word indicates the gender.

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 (thus the gender will often have to be memorized). 4th declension nouns are usually masculine, sometimes neuter while 5th declension nouns are usually feminine.

Nouns undeclined, words which are not substantives but used as such, sentences used as substantives and the products of trees are generally neuter.

1st/2nd declension adjectives alternate the set of endings depending on the gender of the noun it describes (see the next section below). 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.

Adjectives

As stated above, adjectives must match the gender, number, and case of the noun (be the noun a substantive, or a pronoun) they modify. Similar to the "Sam ate the orange" example above, if the adjective uses the wrong declension it could change the meaning of the sentence. For example, "The girl loves big trees," versus "the big girl loves trees" have different meanings. There are many occasions where logic cannot be used to determine the gender of inanimate objects, as genders are generally arbitrary when the noun has no literal gender. Furthermore, the declension of the noun, often determined by the spelling, can in turn be used to determine the gender, especially for the 1st and 2nd. However, this is never the case for the third declension, as the declension itself is not primarily assigned to any gender and the spelling of the nominative ("default") stem is random, leaving you with no hints.

A noun and its adjective must also be in the same case. Otherwise, it is impossible to tell which nouns pair up to their respective adjectives in a sentence, as the words in a Latin sentence can appear in any order. See the examples below.

Notice how "magna" changes to "magnae" to agree with the pluralized "puellae".
Latin	English
puella (nominative sing., fem.)	Girl
puella magna	The big girl
puellae (nominative pl., fem.)	Girls
puellae magnae	The big girls

Notice how "magna" becomes "magnus" to agree with the masculine word "servus". Also notice that "magnus" changes to "magnum" to agree with the noun it's describing in case, though do not concern yourself with the difference between cases for the time being.
Latin	English
servus (nominative sing, mas.)	Slave
servus magnus	The big slave
servum (accusative sing, mas.)	Slave
servum magnum	The big slave

Notice that "magna" is feminine because "arbor" is feminine, despite that it does not end in "a" like "puella". The word "arbor" is one of the situations where you will simply have to memorize the gender.
Latin	English
arbor (nominative sing, fem.)	Tree
arbor magna	The big tree

Recapitulation

Declensions are used to categorize nouns in groups. There are 5 declensions 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 a 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

EXERCISE • Print Version • Questions

What are the three genders?
What is the number (singular/plural) of the following English words:
1. cow
2. dogs
3. genders
4. adjective
5. children
6. slice
7. mice
8. geese
Describe the relationship between an adjective and the noun which it modifies.
How many declensions are there?
Determine the declension of each Latin word:
- puella (girl)
- ianua (door)
- amīcus (friend)
- ludus (game)
- casa (house)
- rēx (king)
What gender are 1st declension substantives mostly?
What genders are 2nd declension substantives mostly?
What grammatical features of a word that can be determined by looking at its ending?

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Questions

Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter
What is the number (singular/plural) of the following English words:
1. S
2. P
3. P
4. S
5. P
6. S
7. P
8. P
The adjective takes on the number, case and gender (but not always the declension) of the noun it describes
Five
Determine the declension of each Latin word:
1. 1st
2. 1st
3. 2nd
4. 2nd
5. 1st
6. 3rd
Feminine
Masculine and Neuter
It varies slightly from word-to-word; Declension/Case, Number, and sometimes Gender.

Translation

Latin/Latin/Lesson 1-Nominative

Exercises

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Grammar: The Accusative

Lesson Vocabulary

Latin	English

vendit	he/she sells
videt	he/she sees
amat	he/she loves

cist-a -ae (f.)	box
ferox, ferocis (m/f.)	wild
ager (m.)	field
bell-um (n.)	war
serv-us (m.)	slave

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:

Example
English:	The girl	sells	the box.
Latin:	Puella	vendit	cistam.
Explanation:	NOMINATIVE	VERB	ACCUSATIVE

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.

Example
English:	The girl	sells	the big	box.
Latin:	Puella	vendit	magnam	cistam.
Explanation:	NOMINATIVE	VERB	ADJECTIVE ACCUSATIVE	NOUN ACCUSATIVE

Because Latin uses cases to mark the subject and the object of a sentence, word order does not matter. Consider:

puer puellam videt	The boy sees the girl
puerum puella videt	The girl sees the boy
puellam puer videt	The boy sees the girl
puella puerum videt	The girl sees the boy

Examples of Adjectives Agreeing with the Nominative and Accusative Case

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

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.

Exercise 1

EXERCISE • Print Version • Give the accusative singular.

lud-us
magn-us
triclīni-um
bell-um
puell-a
serv-us
ager

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Give the accusative singular.

ludum
magnum
triclīnium
bellum
puellam
servum
agrum

EXERCISE • Print Version • Give the accusative plural.

lud-us
magn-us
triclīni-um
bell-um
puell-a
serv-us
ager

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Give the accusative plural.

ludos
magnos
triclīnia
bella
puellas
servos
agros

EXERCISE • Print Version • Give the nominative singular.

bon-ī
bell-a
triclīni-a
puell-am
agr-ōs
serv-ōs
puell-ae

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Give the nominative singular.

bonus
bellum
triclīnium
puella
ager
servus
puella

Exercise 2

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

Questions:	Does it Agree?
1. magn-us agr-ōs	True/False
2. magn-a puella	True/False
3. poet-a* bon-us	True/False
4. magn-um serv-um	True/False
5. poet-ae* magn-ae	True/False
6. bell-a magn-a	True/False

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

EXERCISE • Print Version • Answer

See table above. Determine whether the adjective (magnus, bonus..) agrees with the substantives (ager, puella, poeta) in both case (nominative, accusative...), gender (masculine, female and neuter) and number (singular and plural).

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Answer

False. Magnus doesn't agree with agrōs; in number and case.
Magnus: Masculine, singular, nominative.

Agrōs: Masculine, plural, accusative.
True. Magna agrees with puella.
Magna: Feminine, singular, nominative.

Puella: Feminine, singular, nominative.
True. Bonus agrees with poeta.
Bonus: Masculine, singular, nominative.

Poeta: Masculine, singular, nominative.
True. Magnum agrees with servum.
Magnum: Neuter, singular, nominative.

Servum: Neuter, singular, nominative.
False. Magnae doesn't agree with poetae; in gender.
Magnae: Feminine, plural, nominative.

Poetae: Masculine, plural, nominative.
True. Bella agrees with magna.
Bella: Neuter, plural, nominative.

Magna: Neuter, plural, nominative.

Grammar: The Use of the Accusative

Lesson Vocabulary

Latin	English

curri-t	he/she runs
porta-t	he/she carries
specta-t	he/she watches
da-t	he/she gives

fuisse fuī fuistī (puer) fuit fuimus fuistis fuērunt	to have been I have been you have been (the boy) has been we have been you (pl.) have been they have been

Nota Bene: 'fuisse' and all the forms of it, the past tense of 'esse', behaves exactly like the present tense.

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 that they are transitive verbs, 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. Because something happens "to" them, they can't be in nominative.

Grammatical Explanation Using English Sentences

Grammatical Explanation 1
English:	The boy	hits	the car.
Explanation:	NOMINATIVE	VERB	ACCUSATIVE

Grammatical Explanation 2
English:	The girl	hugs	the boy.
Explanation:	NOMINATIVE	VERB	ACCUSATIVE

Grammatical Explanation 3
English:	He who	flees,	deserves	the guillotine.
Explanation:	NOMINATIVE	VERB	VERB	ACCUSATIVE

Exercise 3: Find the Nominative and Accusative

EXERCISE • Print Version • Find the Nominative and Accusative (if present) in each sentence.

The boy is good.
The girl kisses the boy.
The boy gives the book.
The child watches the TV.
Whom it concerns.
To the kitchen I run
I eat the pizza.

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Find the Nominative and Accusative (if present) in each sentence.

The boy {nom} is good {nom}.
Puer {nom} est bonus {nom}.
The girl {nom} kisses the boy {acc}.
Puella {nom} puerum {acc} basiat.
The boy {nom} gives the book {acc}.
Puer {nom} librum {acc} dat.
The child {nom} watches the TV {acc}.
Infans {nom} televisorium {acc} videt.
Whom {acc} it {nom} concerns.
???
To the kitchen {acc} I {nom} run.
Ad culinam {acc} [ego {nom}] curro.
I {nom} eat the pizza {acc}.
Pittam {acc} [ego {nom}] edo.

EXERCISE • Print Version • In the following sentences, identify the accusative and nominative. Then translate.

Puer est bonus.
Puella puerum amat.
Puer cistam portat.
Fīlius virum spectat.
Ad culīnam currit.

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • In the following sentences, identify the accusative and nominative. Then translate.

Puer {nom} est bonus {nom}.
The boy {nom} is good {nom}.
Puella {nom} puerum {acc} amat.
The girl {nom} loves the boy {acc}.
Puer {nom} cistam {acc} portat.
The boy {nom} carries the box {acc}.
Fīlius {nom} virum {acc} spectat.
The son {nom} watches the man (father?) {acc}.
Ad culīnam {acc} currit.
To the kitchen {acc} [he {nom}] runs. (He runs to the kitchen)

Exercises

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Noun Tables

	1^st declension		2^nd declension
	-a		-us/er		-um (neuter)
	SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR	PLURAL
nominative	puell-a	puell-ae	serv-us/puer	serv-ī	bell-um	bell-a
genitive	puell-ae	puell-ārum	serv-ī	serv-ōrum	bell-ī	bell-ōrum
accusative	puell-am	puell-ās	serv-um	serv-ōs	bell-um	bell-a
dative	puell-ae	puell-īs	serv-ō	serv-īs	bell-ō	bell-īs

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 or Marcus's dog (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)

Quite simply, a word in the genitive case is translated with the preposition "of". Note that Latin does not have a separate form for the possessive genitive (Marcus's dog vs The dog of Marcus), as English does. A word in the genitive case showing possession can be translated either way.

Latin Examples

Latin				English
canis	puerī malī	est	bonus	The dog	of the bad boy	is	good
nominative noun	genitive	verb	nominative adj.	nominative noun	genitive	verb	nominative adj.

Latin				English
canis	puerōrum malōrum	est	bonus	The dog	of the bad boys	is	good
nominative noun	genitive (plural)	verb	nominative adj.	nominative noun	genitive	verb	nominative adj.

Exercise 1

Indicate the word in the genitive:

Flavia's dog is good.
The man has his mother's good taste.

Agreeing with the Adjectives

When adjectives are used to describe nouns in the genitive case, they must have the same case, number, and gender as the noun to which it refers.

Example

A road of beautiful Rome → Via Romae pulchrae.: If we look at the bare necessities, namely nouns, in this phrase, then we get "road of Rome," which is translated as "via Romae." Now, let's look at the adjective: beautiful (pulchra). Its antecedent (the noun it modifies) is Rome. Since Rome is in the genitive case, pulchra also needs to be in the genitive case. Both are already feminine, so we don't need to change that.; To make pulchra in the genitive singular case, we replace the final "-a" with a "-ae," and we get pulchrae.

It's that simple.

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.

Latin does not distinguish between "to" or "for", though this is sometimes the case in English:

I made this car for him. ↔ I made him this car.
I gave this car to him. ↔ I gave him this car.

Example 1

He	made	the desk	for	his friend
nominative noun	verb	accusative	dative prep.	dative

'For' is the preposition indicating a 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

He gave the book to John; He gave to John the book; or 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. Also, the dative is used only for a noun

Latin Examples

Latin			English
Donō	amīcō meō^[1]	donum.	I gave	my friend	a gift.
verb	dative noun/adj. pair	accusative	verb	dative noun/adj. pair	accusative

Latin			English
Feret	mihi^[2]	stylum.	He brought	me	a pen.
verb	dative pronoun	accusative	verb	dative pronoun	accusative

↑ Note how the word "meus" become "meo" in order to agree with "amico".
↑ Note that the pronouns have a dative case as well, which can be reviewed in the chapter on pronouns.

Exercise 2: Translate into English

Latin	English

dō, dāre	to give

reddō, reddĕre	to give back

liber, librī (m.)	book

amīcus, -ī (m.)	friend

scrībō, -ĕre	to write

epistula, -ae (f.)	letter, message

Imperator, Imperatoris (m.)	Emperor

placeo, -ēre (+dat.)	to please, be pleasing to

Note that placeo requires the dative case, as opposed to the accusative case. Verbs such as this are denoted with (+dat.) or similar abbreviations.

EXERCISE • Print Version • Questions

Do librum amico.
Amicus meum librum legit et mihi librum reddit.
Scribo epistulas Imperatori.
Meae epistulae Imperatori placent.

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Questions

I give the book to a friend
The friend read my book and returned the book to me.
I am writing letters to the Emperor.
My letters are pleasing to the 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.

Roman Numeral	Latin Number	English Number	Hindu-Arabic Numeral	Spanish Number	French Number	Italian Number	Portuguese Number
I	ūnus -a -um	one	1	uno	un	uno	um
II	duo -ae	two	2	dos	deux	due	dois
III	trēs, tria	three	3	tres	trois	tre	três
IV	quattuor	four	4	cuatro	quatre	quattro	quatro
V	quinque	five	5	cinco	cinq	cinque	cinco
VI	sēx	six	6	seis	six	sei	seis
VII	septem	seven	7	siete	sept	sette	sete
VIII	octō	eight	8	ocho	huit	otto	oito
IX	novem	nine	9	nueve	neuf	nove	nove
X	decem	ten	10	diez	dix	dieci	dez
XV	quindecim	fifteen	15	quince	quinze	quindici	quinze
XX	viginti	twenty	20	veinte	vingt	venti	vinte
XXV	viginti quinque	twenty-five	25	veinticinco	vingt-cinq	venticinque	vinte e cinco
L	quinquaginta	fifty	50	cincuenta	cinquante	cinquanta	cinquenta
C	centum	one hundred	100	cien	cent	cento	cem
D	quingentī, -ae, -a	five hundred	500	quinientos	cinq cents	cinquecento	quinhentos
M	mille	one thousand	1000	mil	mille	mille	mil

Note the declensions of the first three numbers. Nullus is the Latin equivalent of zero, for example: nullam puellam in agro video means I see no girl in the field.

Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Ablative
nullus	nullum	nullius	nulli	nullo
nulla	nullam	nullius	nulli	nulla
nullum	nullum	nullius	nulli	nullo
unus	unum	unius	uni	uno
una	unam	unius	uni	una
unum	unum	unius	uni	uno
duo	duos	duorum	duobus	duobus
duae	duas	duarum	duabus	duabus
duo	duo	duorum	duobus	duobus
tres	tres	trium	tribus	tribus
tres	tres	trium	tribus	tribus
tria	tria	trium	tribus	tribus

Exercise 3

EXERCISE • Print Version • Write the word form of the numbers in the following sentences in the correct case.

III homines me salutant
magistro II libros reddo
D senatoribus multa (many things) dico
III horas diligenter laboro

SOLUTION • Latin/Print Version • Write the word form of the numbers in the following sentences in the correct case.

tres homines me salutant
magistro duos libros reddo
quingenis senatoribus multa (many things) dico
tres horas diligenter laboro

Translation

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

The Ablative Case

The ablative case in Latin has 9 main uses:

With certain prepositions, eg. in, cum, sub, ab
Instrumental ablative, expressing the equivalent of English "by", "with" or "using"
Ablative of manner, expressing how an action is done, only when an adjective is used alongside it. Example: Magnā cūrā id scrīpsit: he wrote it with great care.
Ablative of time when or within which. note: not to be mistaken with the accusative of time which indicates for how long a period of time an action occurs.
Locative Ablative, using the ablative by itself to mean "in", locating an action in space or time
Ablative of separation or origin, expressing the equivalent of English "from"
Ablative of comparison; when the first element to be compared was in the nominative or accusative case, quam was often omitted and the second element followed in the ablative case.
Ablative with special deponents, which is technically the instrumental ablative but is used idiomatically with a few deponent verbs, such as ūtor, fruor, fungor, potior, vēscor
Ablative Absolute, which is a type of participial phrase generally consisting of a noun (or pronoun) and a modifying participle in the ablative case; usually set off by commas, the phrase describes some general circumstances under which the action of the sentence occurs.

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

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

'at the 5th hour' is indicating position of time. Thus, it can be put into the ablative case, giving:

adveniam quinta hora

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

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.

Ablative with prepositions

Here are a few prepositions that can take the ablative (for a fuller list, see the lesson on adverbs and prepositions in the previous chapter):

Latin	English
in^[1]	in, on
a/ab	from
de	down from, concerning
e/ex	out of, out from
cum	with
sine	without
pro	on behalf of, in front of
super^[2]	upon, above, beyond
sub^[3]	under, beneath

↑ Means "into" or "against" when used with the accusative
↑ Has static meaning when used with the ablative but connotes motion when used with the accusative
↑ Usually means "up to" or "up to the foot of" when used with the accusative

As a general rule, when motion is implied, use the accusative instead.

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 "camping" or "college campus") 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!

Number	First	Second*	Third	Fourth	Fifth
Singular	a	us->e, ius->i, r->r	--	us	es
Plural**	ae	i	es	us	es

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

Hello, Sextus.(Hello= Salve)*
Salve, Sexte.
Speak, girl! (Speak= dico, dicere, dixi)*
Dic, puella.
Knee, run!*(Knee= genu; run= curro, currere, cucurri)*
Genu, curre!
Oh, heart, why do you lead me? (Oh-o; heart- cor, cordis-f.; lead-duco, ducere;
O, cor! 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.

Revision

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Personal Pronouns in English

Lesson Vocabulary

Latin	English

cibus	food
laborat	he/she works

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

There are three categories of pronouns which are divided up into persons: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. In addition, pronouns can be singular or plural. They are declined like all other nouns.

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	I	we
2nd	you, thou	you (all)
3rd	he/she/it	they

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)

	Singular				Plural
Case	1st Person		2nd Person		1st Person		2nd Person
Nominative	ego	I	tū	you	nōs	we	vōs	you
Genitive	meī	of me	tuī	of you	nostrī(nostrum)	of us	vestrī (vestrum)	of you
Dative	mihi	to me	tibi	to/for you	nōbīs	to us	vōbīs	to/for you
Accusative	mē	me	tē	you	nōs	us	vōs	you
Ablative	mē	from me	tē	from you	nōbīs	from us	vōbīs	from you

Nota Bene: the genitive is used in certain phrases like:

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

For the possessive uses (my sister, your bicycle) sometimes uses the possessive adjectives:

Latin	English
meus, mea, meum	my
tuus, tua, tuum	thy
suus, sua, suum	his/hers, its, their
noster, nostra, nostrum	our
vester, vestra, vestrum	your
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 which they modify. 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 'that (masc.) thing'. Iste and ille are declined in exactly the same way, but there are a slight difference of meaning between them: 'ille' is often used with proper names for marking dignity or worth and 'iste' conveys a contemptuous sense.

Examples:

- Annibal, ille inclytus filius Amilcaris (Hannibal, that renowned Hamilcar's son).

- Iste servus improbus ante te (this bad slave in front of you).

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)

Declension of *ille* (that): Singular
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
	Latin			English
Nominative	ille	illa	illud	he	she	it
Genitive	illius	illius	illius	his	her, hers	its
Dative	illī	illī	illī	to him	to her	to it
Accusative	illum	illam	illud	him	her	it
Ablative	illō	illā	illō	by, with, from him	her	it

Declension of *ille* (that): Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	English
	Latin			English
Nominative	illī	illae	illa	they, those
Genitive	illōrum	illārum	illōrum	their, theirs, of those
Dative	illīs	illīs	illīs	to them, to those
Accusative	illōs	illās	illa	them, those
Ablative	illīs	illis	illīs	by, with, from them, those

Ille is often used as a kind of pronoun. In situations with multiple phrases or sentences, however, it is syntactically different from is, ea, id (see below).

For example: "Canis puero cibum dat. Is laborat in agro." means "The dog gives food to the boy. The dog works in the field".

However: "Canis puero cibum dat. Ille laborat in agro." means "The dog gives food to the boy. The boy works in the field".

Thus, ille, unlike the other pronouns makes a previous object into the subject (and vice versa).

Examples of the Usage of Ille:

Latin	English
Ille est dominus.	He is the master. (ille as pronoun)
Ille dominus est malus.	That master is bad. (ille as adjective)
Illam videt	He sees her. (or 'she sees her' - illam as pronoun)
Illam puellam videt	He (or she) sees that girl (illam as adjective).

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

Singular
Case	Latin			English
	M	F	N	M	F	N
Nominative	is	ea	id	he	she	it
Genitive	ēius			his	her, hers	its
Dative	eī			to him	to her	to it
Accusative	eum	eam	id	him	her	it
Ablative	eō	eā	eō	by/with him	by/with her	by/with it

Plural
Case	Latin			English
	M	F	N	M	F	N
Nominative	ii	eae	ea	they, those
Genitive	eōrum	eārum	eōrum	their, theirs, of those
Dative	eīs, iīs			to them, to those
Accusative	eōs	eās	ea	them, those
Ablative	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

Latin	English
Is est dominus.	He is the master. ("is" as pronoun)
Is dominus est malus.	The master is bad. ("is" as adjective)
Eam videt.	He sees her. (or 'she sees her', "eam" as pronoun)
Eam puellam videt.	He (or she) sees the girl. ("eam" as adjective)

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

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

Plural
	M	F	N	M	N
Nominative	quī	quae	quae	who	which
Genitive	quōrum	quārum	quōrum	whose	of which
Dative	quibus	quibus	quibus	to which
Accusative	quōs	quās	quae	which
Ablative	quibus	quibus	quibus	by which, in which, etc

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

Virum videt (he/she sees) qui servum (servant) habet (he/she has).
He sees the man who has a slave
Ille est vir cujus servus est malus.
That's the man whose slave is bad.
Quis eum videt?
Who sees him?

Declension of hic, haec, hoc (meaning "this")

Singular
	Masculine	Femine	Neuter
Nominative	hic	haec	hoc	this
Genitive	huius
Dative	huic
Accusative	hunc	hanc	hoc
Ablative	hōc	hāc	hōc

Plural
	Masculine	Femine	Neuter
Nominative	hī	hae	haec	these
Genitive	hōrum	hārum	hōrum
Dative	hīs
Accusative	hōs	hās	haec
Ablative	hīs

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

Example of the Usage of Hic

Latin	English
'Hic' servus, non ille, est malus.	This slave, not that one, is bad.

Chapter 6 Verse

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

Verses are very important. They are exactly like they are in English.

Poem about Latin

Latin
Intro:	1 • 2
Chapter 1	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
Chapter 2	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 3	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8
Chapter 4	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
Chapter 5	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9

A Poem by Catullus

I. ad Cornelium

cui dono lepidum nouum libellum
arida modo pumice expolitum.
Corneli tibi namque tu solebas
meas esse aliquid putare nugas
iam tum cum ausus es unus Italorum
omne aeuum tribus explicare cartis
doctis Iuppiter et laboriosis.
quare habe tibi quidquid hoc libelli
qualecumque quidem est. patroni et ergo
plus uno maneat perenne saeclo.

1. to Cornelius

To whom do I send this fresh little book
of wit, lately polished dry with pumice stone?
To you, Cornelius: since you were accustomed
to consider my trifles worth something
even then, when you alone of Italians
dared to explain all the ages, in three learned
works, by Jupiter, and with the greatest labour.
Then take this little book for your own: whatever
it is, and is worth: virgin Muse, patroness,
let it last, for more lives than one.

Notes

Title: ad Cornelium

Ad is a Preposition meaning "to" and therefore never changes case. The name Cornelius is a second declension masculine noun. Names are declined the same as any other noun. You need only decline the singular since there is only one Cornelius.

Nom. Cornelius
Voc. Corneli
Acc. Cornelium
Gen. Cornelii
Dat. Cornelio
Abl. Cornelio

The translation is "To Cornelius". The Preposition "ad" is only used with the Accusative Case. The Accusative Case is the same as the English Object Case.

Second declension male names ending ‘ius’ have the double ‘ii’ form in the genitive.

Line One: Cui dono lepidum nouum libellum?

[1] Note how the word "meus" become "meo" in order to agree with "amico".

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

[3] Means "into" or "against" when used with the accusative

[4] Has static meaning when used with the ablative but connotes motion when used with the accusative

[5] Usually means "up to" or "up to the foot of" when used with the accusative

[6] 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.

[7] -int as an ending is rare; -erint and sint are two of the most common

[8] 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.

[9] Note how the word "meus" become "meo" in order to agree with "amico".

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

[11] Means "into" or "against" when used with the accusative

[12] Has static meaning when used with the ablative but connotes motion when used with the accusative

[13] Usually means "up to" or "up to the foot of" when used with the accusative

[1]

[2]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[1]

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[1]

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[3]

Latin/Print Version

A Progressive Latin Grammar and Exercises

How to study a language on the Internet and in your head

So do not assume that...

See also

Special consideration: How to use a Wikibook when progress may mean inaccuracy

Grammatical Introduction to Latin

What is Latin?

Introduction to the Latin Language

Simple and Compound Words

Word Parts

Types of Words used in Latin

Nouns

Verbs

Modifiers

Other

Articles

Summary

Exercises

Basic Grammar

Spelling and Pronunciation

Declension Tables

Grammar Part 1: Nouns and Their Role in Sentences

Declension

Case

Gender

Adjectives

Recapitulation

Exercises

Chapter 1: Basic Sentences

The Nominative Case

The Nominative Case

Vocabulary

Overview of Adjectives

Adjectives in Latin

Basic verbs

Personal Endings

Further Examples

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

Third Declension Nouns and Adjectives

Exercises

Present indicative active construct

Grammatical Introduction to Verbs

Examples

Exercises

Personal Endings

Exercises

Moods

Exercises

Voice

Exercises

Tense

Exercises

Infinitive

Exercises

Irregularities

Exercises

Personal Pronouns

Exercises

Principal Parts

Exercises

Using the Dictionary

Verbs: Conjugation in the Present Imperfect

Exercises

Imperative Mood

Exercises

Adverbs & Prepositions

Comparatives and Superlatives of Adjectives (Comparativa et superlativa adjectivorum)

Irregular Adjectives

Adverbs

Examples

Exercise 1

Conjunctions

Exercise 2

Prepositions

Exercise 3

List of Frequent Adverbs, Prepositions, and Conjunctions in Latin