‘It has to be said that you won’t be able to tell the time in Latin, or sing a comic song. But you will have bashed up a couple of hundred thousand Gauls with arrows, and prepared a good many tables for the master. What’s more, your brain will have do so many somersaults and press-ups that you will find anything else you turn to laughably easy by comparison.’
– Oulton. N.R.R. 2010. So You Really Want To Learn Latin Book I Tenterden, Great Britain: Galore Park Publishing (1999) p. 1
Source: Oulton. N.R.R. 2010. So You Really Want To Learn Latin Book I Tenterden, Great Britain: Galore Park Publishing (1999).
Chapter IV & V – Nouns of the 2nd declension
Nouns like: “annus, annī, m. = Year”
Singular
Nominative – annus – [Year (subject)]
Vocative – anne – [O year! (addressing)]
Accusative – annum – [Year (object)]
Genitive – annī – [Of a year]
Dative – annō – [To or for a year]
Ablative – annō – [By, with or from a year]
Plural
Nominative – annī – [Years (subject)]
Vocative – annī – [O years! (addressing)]
Accusative – annōs – [Years (object)]
Genitive – annōrum – [Of the years]
Dative – annīs – [To or for the years]
Ablative – annīs – [By, with or from the years]
The other main type of 2nd declension noun goes like bellum = war. Nouns that end in -um go like bellum and are neuter, i.e. neither masculine nor feminine. The main difficulty with neuter nouns is that there is no difference between their nominative, vocative and accusative cases, so working out whether a noun is the subject or the object is that much more difficult.
Nouns like: “bellum, bellī, n. = War”
Singular
Nominative – bellum – [War (subject)]
Vocative – bellum – [O war! (addressing)]
Accusative – bellum – [War (object)]
Genitive – bellī – [Of a war]
Dative – bellō – [To or for a war]
Ablative – bellō – [By, with or from a war]
Plural
Nominative – bella – [Wars (subject)]
Vocative – bella – [O wars! (addressing)]
Accusative – bella – [Wars (object)]
Genitive – bellōrum – [Of the wars]
Dative – bellīs – [To or for the wars]
Ablative – bellīs – [By, with or from the wars]
So how do we cope then? We see the ending -um but can no longer be sure that this is an accusative singular ending (as it would be for annus type nouns). Again, we fall back on common sense and, of course, obeying the rules of translation carefully.
There are two more types of the 2nd declension nouns, both very similar.
Nouns like: “puer, puerī, m. = Boy”
Singular
Nominative – puer – [Boy (subject)]
Vocative – puer – [O boy! (addressing)]
Accusative – puerum – [Boy (object)]
Genitive – puerī – [Of a boy]
Dative – puerō – [To or for a boy]
Ablative – puerō – [By, with or from a boy]
Plural
Nominative – puerī – [Boys (subject)]
Vocative – puerī – [O boys! (addressing)]
Accusative – puerōs – [Boys (object)]
Genitive – puerōrum – [Of the boys]
Dative – puerīs – [To or for the boys]
Ablative – puerīs – [By, with or from the boys]
Nouns like: “magister, magisterī, m. = Master”
Singular
Nominative – magister – [Master (subject)]
Vocative – magister – [O master! (addressing)]
Accusative – magistrum – [Master (object)]
Genitive – magistrī – [Of a master]
Dative – magistrō – [To or for a master]
Ablative – magistrō – [By, with or from a master]
Plural
Nominative – magistrī – [Masters (subject)]
Vocative – magistrī – [O master! (addressing)]
Accusative – magistrōs – [Masters (object)]
Genitive – magistrōrum – [Of the masters]
Dative – magistrīs – [To or for the masters]
Ablative – magistrīs – [By, with or from the masters]
These nouns use identical endings to annus except in the nominative and vocative singular. The difference between the two is that nouns like puer ‘keep their e’ whereas nouns like magister ‘drop their e’.
The Six Cases (Repetition)
N.B. Latin has no definite or indefinite article. Thus mēnsa = table or the table or a table – the choice is yours.
Source: Oulton. N.R.R. 2010. So You Really Want To Learn Latin Book I Tenterden, Great Britain: Galore Park Publishing (1999).
Chapter IV – Verbs: the 2nd conjugation
Example verb: “moneō, monēre, monuī, monitum = I warn / advise”
The Present Tense
– tells us what is happening now.
moneō – I warn – [1st person singular]
monēs – You (sing.) warn – [2nd person singular]
monet – He/she/it warns – [3rd person singular]
monēmus – We warn – [1st person plural]
monētis – You (pl.) warn – [2nd person plural]
monent – They warn – [3rd person plural]
N.B. the Latin present tense in English can be love, am loving, or do love.
The Future Tense
– tells us what will or shall be happening in the future.
monēbō – I shall warn, will warn
monēbis – You (sing.) shall warn, will warn
monēbit – He/she/it shall warn, will warn
monēbimus – We shall warn, will warn
monēbitis – You (pl.) shall warn, will warn
monēbunt – They shall warn, will warn
The Imperfect Tense
– tells us what was happening or used to happen in the past.
monēbam – I was warning, used to warn
monēbās – You (sing.) were warning, used to warn
monēbat – He/she/it was warning, used to warn
monēbāmus – We were warning, used to warn
monēbātis – You (pl.) were warning, used to warn
monēbant – They were warning, used to warn
The Perfect Tense
– tells us what has happened in the past.
monuī – I have warned
monuistī – You (sing.) have warned
monuit – He/she/it has warned
monuimus – We have warned
monuistis – You (pl.) have warned
monuērunt – They have warned
‘Rome quickly filled up with all Romulus’ shepherd friends and a group of criminals, who came seeking sanctuary from the law in their own cities. Bet there weren’t many women. In fact there weren’t any.
Romulus invited girls from the neighbouring tribes to come to Rome but, as you might imagine, their fathers weren’t too keen. So he devised a cunning plan. He organised a festival in the city at which there was to be feasting and games and invited all the neighbouring people to come and watch. Eager to see the new city and to partake in the festivities, hundreds of men, particularly from the nearby Sabine tribe, came to Rome, bringing with them their wives and daughters. At a given signal, Romulus’ men seized the women and carried them off to make them their wives. The men, who had come unarmed, were forced to flee.’
– Oulton. N.R.R. 2010. So You Really Want To Learn Latin Book I Tenterden, Great Britain: Galore Park Publishing (1999) p. 44
Source: Oulton. N.R.R. 2010. So You Really Want To Learn Latin Book I Tenterden, Great Britain: Galore Park Publishing (1999).
In Latin the preposition ‘governs’ (i.e. is followed by) a particular case, either accusative or the ablative. Some prepositions govern the accusative, some govern the ablative.
Using these prepositions, we can write:
‘Towards the table’ = ad mēnsam.
‘Under the tables’ = sub mēnsīs.
Particular care needs to be taken with the Latin preposition in. When it is followed by the accusative it means into or on to, but when it is followed by the ablative it means in or on.
E.g. in mēnsam = ‘onto the table’
E.g. in mēnsā = ‘on the table’
Prepositions + accusative
ad – [towards / to {1}]
ante – [before]
circum – [around]
contrā – [against]
in – [into / on to]
inter – [among]
per – [through / along]
post – [after]
prope – [near]
Prepositions + ablative
ā / ab {2} – [by / from]
cum – [with {3}]
dē – [down from / concerning]
ē / ex {4} – [out of]
in – [in / on]
sine – [without]
sub – [under]
‘You will remember that Romulus and Remus drove the wicked king Amulius from the throne and put their old grand-father, Numitor, in his place. After this little excitement they felt they needed a kingdom of their own. They set off to the place where Faustulus had first found them in the she-wolf’s cave. This would make a good place for a new city, they thought, but who should be king? The two twins looked around at the seven hills, rising above them. Then, deciding to rely on augury (a form of fortune-telling, using signs or omens from the natural world) for the answer to their problem, Romulus climbed the Palatine Hill and Remus climbed the Aventine, There they waited to see what the birds would tell them.
After a while Remus got all excited when he saw six vultures, flying across the sky above him. Taking this to be a good omen, he ran down the hill and up the Palatine to tell his brother. However, when he got there Romulus said the he had seen twelve vultures and so it was decided that the city should be called Rome after its first king, Romulus.
A few days later, Remus, who was quite sulky about the outcome of the birdwatching spree, jumped over a wall which was in the process of being built around the city. His brother was not impressed and killed Remus with the words ‘truth perish anyone who jumps over my walls!’
– Oulton. N.R.R. 2010. So You Really Want To Learn Latin Book I Tenterden, Great Britain: Galore Park Publishing (1999) p. 34
Source: Oulton. N.R.R. 2010. So You Really Want To Learn Latin Book I Tenterden, Great Britain: Galore Park Publishing (1999).
Chapter II – Nouns of the 1st declension
Nouns like: “mēnsa, mensae, f. = Table”
In the same way that verbs in Latin have endings to show who is doing the verb, and when, nouns in Latin have endings to show what part the noun is playing in the sentence. As with verbs, nouns are divided up into groups, and these are called declensions. Noun of the first declension decline like mēnsa:
Singular
Nominative – mēnsa – [Table (subject)]
Vocative – mēnsa – [O table! (addressing)]
Accusative – mēnsam – [Table (object)]
Genitive – mēnsae – [Of a table]
Dative – mēnsae – [To or for a table]
Ablative – mēnsā – [By, with or from a table]
Plural
Nominative – mēnsae – [Tables (subject)]
Vocative – mēnsae – [O tables! (addressing)]
Accusative – mēnsās – [Tables (object)]
Genitive – mēnsārum – [Of the tables]
Dative – mēnsīs – [To or for the tables]
Ablative – mēnsīs – [By, with or from the tables]
The Six Cases
N.B. Latin has no definite or indefinite article. Thus mēnsa = table or the table or a table – the choice is yours.
Aeneas’ son Ascanius left Lavinium to build his own city, Alba Longa. Many generations later the king of Alba Longa, Proca, died leaving two sons, Numitor and Amulius. The younger son, Amulius, seized the throne from Numitor and locked up his brother’s daughter, Rhea Silvia, forcing her to become a Vestal Virgin. Vestal Virgins were not allowed to marry.
According to legend, the god Mars took pity on Rhea Silvia and ‘visited’ her. Nine months later twin boys, Romulus and Remus, were born, but the babies were immediately discovered and thrown into the river Tiber.
Romulus and Remus, with the She-wolf
However, it so happened that the river was flooded at the time and when the flood subsided, Romulus and Remus were washed up on the river bank where they found by a she-wolf. A few days later the boys were found in the she-wolf’s cave by a shepherd called Faustulus, who brought the boys up as his own and trained them to be shepherds.
Some years later, as in all good stories, Romulus and Remus were recognised by their old grandfather Numitor. This was because the twins became involved in a dispute between shepherds working for King Amulius and those working for their grandfather, Numitor. Some of Numitor’s men dragged Remus before Numitor, accusing him of having stolen some sheep. Numitor thought he recognised the boy, and when Romulus arrived to rescue his brother, and Numitor saw the twins together, he knew that these were his long lost grandsons. He told the twins the story of their birth, and how he himself had been dispossessed by his wicked younger brother. Romulus and Remus were outraged and together they drove Amulius from the kingdom and restored Numitor to the throne.
– Oulton. N.R.R. 2010. So You Really Want To Learn Latin Book I Tenterden, Great Britain: Galore Park Publishing (1999) p. 24
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