0.2.3 Diphthongs
A diphthong is a combination of two vowels. Diphthongs regularly count as one long syllable. The most common examples in Latin are:
ae pronounced like the i in blind, e.g., terrae
au pronounced like the ou in couch, e.g., aurum
oe pronounced like the oi in foil, e.g., proelium.
Latin, like English, has a stress accent. In words of more than two syllables (polysyllables) the stress falls on the second last syllable (penultimate) if that is long, e.g., conféctus, or on the third last syllable (antepenultimate) if the penultimate is short, e.g., confício. In words of two syllables the accent falls on the first syllable, e.g., régo. A syllable may be long if it contains a naturally long vowel, e.g., dōnum, or a diphthong, e.g., causa, or if it contains a short vowel followed by two or more consonants (except r, where the syllable can be either long or short), e.g., in the penultimate syllable in confectus, but not always, as in the first syllable of apri.
CHAPTER 1
Chapter Contents
1.1 INFLECTED LANGUAGE
1.2 NOUNS 1.2.1 Vocabulary Lists
1.2.2 First Declension Nouns Declension of Poēta, -ae
1.3 VERBS 1.3.1 First Conjugation: Present Indicative Active
1.3.2 Irregular Verbs
1.4 PRONOUNS: HIC, HAEC, HOC
1.5 PREPOSITIONS
1.6 ADVERBS
1.7 CONJUNCTIONS
Vocabulary to Learn Nouns; Pronouns
Verbs
Adverbs; Prepositions; Conjunctions
FIGURE 1.1 Romano-British mosaic of the wolf and twins. Shortly after the birth of the twins, Romulus and Remus, their uncle, who had usurped power, had them exposed so that they would not be able to challenge his rule. However, the boys were found by a shepherd and given to a she-wolf who raised them. When they grew to manhood, they established the city of Rome. © Leeds Museums and Galleries (Discovery Centre)
1.1 Inflected Language
Latin is an inflected language. In effect this means that the sense of a sentence is determined to a large extent not by word order (as is usually the case in English) but by word endings (inflections).
HINT!
Note that English also has examples of inflection such as: I (subject); me (object); who (subject); whom (object); friend (singular); friends (plural); friend's (singular, possessive); friends' (plural, possessive).
The ending of a Latin noun changes depending, for example, on whether it is the subject of a verb or its object, and the ending of a Latin verb also changes to reflect, for example, person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) and number (singular or plural).
Consider the following:
Our men (subject) swiftly (adverb) took up (verb) the weapons (object).
and
The weapons (subject) swiftly (adverb) took up (verb) our men (object).
When the word order is changed in English, the sense also changes and, as shown in this example, may become nonsense. However, in Latin, Caesar (Caesar De Bello Gallico 3.28.4) writes the following: nostrī (subject: “our men”) celeriter (adverb: “swiftly”) arma (object: “the weapons”) cēpērunt (verb: “took up”); he could also have written arma (object) nostrī (subject) celeriter (adverb) cēpērunt (verb) and the meaning would have been virtually the same. Notice that the endings of the words are the same in both sentences: word endings, not word order, determine the sense. Note also that Latin has neither a definite article (the) nor an indefinite article (a, an).
1.2 Nouns
The function of a Latin noun in a sentence is determined by its case and each case has a specific ending (in the example above the object of the verb has the ending -a). In Latin there are six cases and each case has certain uses. The names and basic uses of cases are as follows:
Nominative – used for the subject of the sentence
Genitive – used to show possession
Dative – used for the indirect object of the sentence
Accusative – used for the direct object of the sentence
Ablative – used with the meanings “by,” “with,” “from,” “in,” or “on”
Vocative – used to address someone or something directly.
Latin nouns are said to decline: that is they change their forms for each of the cases in the order that they are listed above. Latin nouns belong to different declensions (there are five declensions in all, but in this chapter only one of these will be introduced). Latin nouns also have number (singular or plural) and gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter).
1.2.1 Vocabulary Lists
In vocabulary lists and dictionaries Latin nouns are presented as follows:
vīta, -ae (f.) – life. The first two items are called the principal parts and these are (1) the nominative singular and (2) the genitive singular; next comes the gender – in this case vīta is feminine (f. = feminine, m. = masculine, and n. = neuter); finally, the meaning of the word (here it should be noted that some Latin words have more than one English equivalent). The second principal part is regularly abbreviated, as in the example above. In full the principal parts for this noun are: vīta, vītae.
1.2.2 First Declension Nouns
As noted above, Latin has five different declensions: nouns that decline in the same way (that is, have the same case endings) belong to the same declension. The declension to which a noun belongs (and, hence, its case endings) is identified by the genitive singular (the second principal part of the noun in the vocabulary lists). For vīta, the genitive singular ends in -ae. This indicates that the noun belongs to the so-called first declension: all nouns with a genitive singular ending in -ae belong to the first declension. In order to decline a noun in full, it is necessary to establish the stem and this is done by removing the ending from the second principal part. A noun is declined by adding the case endings to the stem. The stem of vīta, vītae is vīt- and the noun is declined as follows:
SINGULAR PLURAL
Nom. vīt-a vīt-ae
Gen. vīt-ae vīt-ārum
Dat. vīt-ae vīt-īs
Acc. vīt-am vīt-ās
Abl. vīt-ā vīt-īs
Voc. vīt-a vīt-ae
The difference between the nominative singular and ablative singular is in the pronunciation. The ablative singular ends in long ā, whereas the nominative and vocative singular end in a short a.
Almost all nouns of the first declension are feminine; there are a few masculine nouns of the first declension, but they decline in precisely the same way as the feminine nouns of this declension; there are no neuter nouns in the first declension. An example of a masculine first declension noun is poēta, -ae (m.) – poet (here oe is not a diphthong). It is worth pointing out here that although nouns may belong to different declensions and have different case endings, the uses of the cases remain the same. It is also important to note that the rule for forming the cases (stem + endings) is the same as for all declensions and that the stem is found by removing the ending from the second principal part.
Declension of Poēta, -ae
SINGULAR PLURAL
Nom. poēt-a poēt-ae
Gen. poēt-ae poēt-ārum
Dat. poēt-ae poēt-īs
Acc. poēt-am poēt-ās
Abl. poēt-ā poēt-īs
Voc. poēt-a poēt-ae
Notice that poēta, although masculine in gender, has the same endings as vīta. Both have genitive singular ending -ae and so both belong to the first declension.
All first declension masculine nouns decline in this way. As will be obvious, some cases have exactly the same form but usually this does not present a problem as the context makes the sense (and accordingly the case) clear. Notice that the nominative and vocative, both singular and plural, are exactly the same in form. This is true for all first declension nouns.
Try This
Identify the following noun forms, giving all the possible answers:
e.g., puellae – genitive singular, dative singular, or nominative plural of puella –g
irl
Remember that vowel lengths are not normally printed in Latin texts; so the form agricola could be either nominative, ablative, or vocative singular of agricola, -ae – farmer.
(i) fortuna (vi) vitae
(ii) poetarum (vii) puellis
(iii) Galliae (viii) poetas
(iv) gloriam (ix) poenarum
(v) fama (x) pecunia
1.3 Verbs
Like nouns, verbs also change their endings to reflect their use in a Latin sentence. The main verb in a Latin sentence or clause is usually a finite verb. Finite verbs are defined as having five qualities: person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), number (singular, plural), tense (present, future, perfect, future perfect, imperfect, pluperfect), mood (indicative, subjunctive, imperative), and voice (active, passive). We begin with the present indicative active: simply stated the indicative is the mood used to express a fact; active voice is used when the subject is performing the action of the verb.
Whereas nouns are said to decline, verbs are said to conjugate. To conjugate simply means to list the forms of a verb in all persons, singular and plural. Latin verbs belong to different conjugations (there are five conjugations in all, but in this chapter only one will be introduced).
HINT!
Note that English verbs also have principal parts: sing, sang, sung.
Like nouns, verbs also have principal parts. For regular verbs, these are four in number; just as is true for nouns, so the principal parts of Latin verbs offer much in the way of information. First though, it is important to define the principal parts of a Latin verb. For the verb amō: its principal parts are amō, amāre, amāvī, amātum. The first principal part is the first person singular present indicative active (I love, I am loving, I do love); the second is the present infinitive active (to love); the third is the 1st person singular perfect indicative active (I loved, I did love, I have loved); the fourth is called the supine (English does not have a supine; its use in Latin is explained in Chapter 15). For the moment we will be using only the first two principal parts; however, it is worthwhile to memorize the principal parts of all verbs in the learning vocabularies now in order to save time later. Generally (for example, in dictionaries) principal parts are given in abbreviated form: amō, -āre, -āvī, -ātum. In the first 12 chapters of this text principal parts of verbs are written out in full; however, most first conjugation verbs follow the pattern -ō, -āre, -āvī, -ātum; from Chapter 13 on and in the consolidated vocabulary at the end of the text only the first two principal parts of regular first conjugation verbs are given.
Why do we need to know principal parts? They are important because it is possible to create all Latin verb forms from the principal parts of each verb. The first principal part gives the present stem on which the forms of the present, imperfect, and future tenses are built. The second principal part defines the conjugation to which a verb belongs: all verbs whose second principal part ends -āre belong to the first conjugation (as noted above there are five conjugations in all), and all first conjugation verbs conjugate in the same way. The third principal part provides the stem for all active forms of the perfect tenses. More detail about the use of the perfect stem and uses of the fourth principal part will be explained in later chapters.
1.3.1 First Conjugation: Present Indicative Active
In order to conjugate a verb of the first conjugation in the present indicative active, the simplest method is to remove the -ō from the first principal part (the 1st person singular) then add the following endings: -ō, -ās, -at, -āmus, -ātis, -ant.
HINT!
In effect the personal endings -ō,-s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt are added to the characteristic a-stem of the first conjugation. Notice that the letter a, called the connecting vowel, is sometimes long (marked with a macron), sometimes short. Look for this in other conjugations.
So for the verb amō:
SINGULAR PLURAL
1st person am-ō – I love, am loving, do love am-āmus – we love, etc.
2nd person am-ās – you love, etc. am-ātis – you love, etc.
3rd person am-at – he, she, it loves, etc. am-ant – they love, etc.
Notice the following points: there is no need for the pronoun subject as in English (I, you, he, etc.); rather the subject of the verb in Latin is denoted by the ending. The subject of the 3rd person singular may be “he,” “she,” or “it” – the context usually will make clear which is appropriate; all regular verbs of the first conjugation form the present indicative active in this way.
1.3.2 Irregular Verbs
Latin has very few irregular verbs; most follow a set pattern depending on the conjugation to which they belong and their tense, mood, and voice. The most important and common of the irregular verbs is the linking or copulative verb “to be”: sum – I am; esse – to be. The present indicative is conjugated as follows:
SINGULAR PLURAL
1st person sum – I am sumus – we are
2nd person es – you are estis – you are
3rd person est – he, she, it, there is sunt – they, there are
Related to the verb sum is the verb possum – I am able; I can; posse – to be able. The present indicative conjugates as follows:
SINGULAR PLURAL
1st person possum – I am able possumus – we are able
2nd person potes – you are able potestis – you are able
3rd person potest – he, she, it is able possunt – they are able
Notice that the endings are -sum, -es, -est, -sumus, -estis, -sunt (that is the present of the verb sum); po-t + endings for the endings beginning with a vowel and po-s for endings beginning with the letter “s.”
Possum is frequently followed by an infinitive in Latin:
sed ea … dissimulāre nōn possum (Cicero In Catilinam 4.14): but I cannot/am unable to conceal these things.
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The Bigger Picture
In Catilinam (Against Catiline), delivered in four parts by Cicero in 63 bc against the senatorial candidate for the following year, Lucius Sergius Catilina, accusing him of a plot aimed at the seizure of government and the cancellation of debts. Parts I and IV of the speech were delivered before the senate and parts II and III before the assembly of the people. As a result of his speeches before the senate the city was in effect placed under martial law and Cicero, as consul, had the conspirators, including Catiline, executed in summary fashion.
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Dissimulāre is called a complementary infinitive because it complements or completes the meaning of the verb possum. There are a number of verbs in Latin that are followed by a complementary infinitive.
FYI
For a list of some verbs followed by a complementary infinitive see Appendix 1.
Try This
Identify (i.e., give person, number, tense, mood, and (where appropriate) voice) and translate the following verb forms, giving all the possible answers:
e.g., potes – present indicative 2nd person singular (active – see FYI) – you can; you are able
Remember that the present indicative of most verbs can be translated into English in three ways, so the form sperant could mean they hope, they are hoping, or they do hope.
HINT!
Technically the verbs sum and possum are neither active nor passive. Try putting the verb “to be” into the passive in English (= I am been). Is this correct English?
(i) es (vi) exspectant
(ii) possumus (vii) superatis
(iii) paras (viii) pugnamus
(iv) spero (ix) portat
(v) dat (x) amas
1.4 Pronouns: HIC, HAEC, HOC
Of the pronouns in Latin three of the most common are the demonstrative pronouns hic, haec, hoc – this, ille, illa, illud – that (introduced in Chapter 3), and the rather weaker demonstrative is, ea, id – this; that; he; she; it, which is introduced in the next chapter. Each has a slightly irregular declension (and none has a vocative case). Hic is declined as follows:
Note the use of the accusative neuter singular and plural of pronouns such as haec = these things (as in haec dant – they are giving these things). You do not need a word for “things.” The singular is also used in this way: hoc dant – they give this (thing).
1.5 Prepositions
Latin has a number of prepositions, which, you will be pleased to learn, neither decline nor conjugate – their forms do not change! In general, prepositions are followed by the accusative or ablative case. Some prepositions that take the accusative case only are: ad – to; ante – before; post – after; the following take the ablative case only: ab – from; by; cum – with. The prepositions in and sub take the accusative when they are used to express motion and the ablative when there is no motion involved: in (+ acc.) – into: in Ītaliam contendit (Caesar De Bello Gallico 1.10.3): he is marching into Italy; sub (+ acc.) – under: exercitum sub iugum [mittit] (Caesar De Bello Gallico 1.12.6): he [Caesar] sends the army under the yoke; in (+ abl.) – in (on): castra in Ītaliā sunt (Cicero In Catilinam 1.5): there is a camp in Italy; sub (+ abl.) – under; beneath: sub monte consēdit (Caesar De Bello Gallico 1.48.2): he halted beneath/at the foot of a mountain.
FIGURE 1.2 Casa dei Cervi (House of the Stags – named for a statue found in the garden of the house), Herculaneum. An ancient Roman looking out from this vantage point would have been able to see the sea. Herculaneum, along with Pompeii, was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mt Vesuvius in ad 79. Source: courtesy Sally Baume
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