SALVETE
Welcome to the Latin course!
No Articles
There are no articles in Latin! The sentence "Ego vir sum." could mean "I am a man." but also
"I am the man." However, don't forget to use the correct articles when translating into English!
Personal Pronouns
Personal subject pronouns are used for emphasis and can be left out.
Example: Ego vir sum. = Vir sum
Latin English
ego I
tu you (sg)
is, ea* he, she
nos we
Latin English
vos you (pl)
ii, eae* they
*Forms of the demonstrative pronoun is, ea, id
Word Order
Latin is very flexible. The most common structure is SOV (subject - object - verb), especially
in prose, but there are many other possibilities, depending on what you want to emphasize.
Gender
Latin has three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. In this first skill you will only
encounter masculine and feminine nouns.
First declension nouns are (generally) feminine nouns ending in -a in the nominative case.
Examples are femina and puella.
Second declension nouns are (generally) masculine nouns ending in -us and (generally)
neuter nouns ending in -um in the nominative case. Examples are the names Stephanus and
Marcus. Vir and puer are masculine nouns that follow the second declension as well.
To Be
In this skill you will learn the singular forms of the verb to be (esse, sum).
Latin English
sum I am
es you are
est he, she, it is
Pronunciation
This course uses Classical Pronunciation. A few things worth noting:
V sounds like the English W
C always sounds like a K
G is always hard and never J
AE sounds like the English word "eye"
Cases
Latin uses grammatical cases: words change when they get a different function in a sentence.
Nominative
The nominative case is the form of a noun you will find a dictionary. It is used for the subject
of a sentences and for predicates following a form of "to be".
You can find a subject by asking the question "Who/What + verb?"
Example:
The man is sleeping. Who is sleeping? -> The man
I love you. Who loves you? -> I
The predicate is the second part of a sentence following the "X is Y" pattern.
Example:
I am a man. -> a man
These women are engineers. -> engineers
Declension Ending
1st -a
2nd (masc.) -us
2nd (neut.) -um
Translation of Names
A little convention: we will not accept translations of names as alternatives in this course.
Marcus's name is Marcus, not Mark, and Stephanus is not Stephen or Steven.
New Vocabulary
Additional Info (Declension, gender,
Latin English
etc.)
femina woman 1st, fem.
vir man 2nd, masc.
puer boy 2nd, masc.
puella girl 1st, fem.
pater father 3rd, masc.
mater mother 3rd, fem.
soror sister 3rd, fem.
Additional Info (Declension, gender,
Latin English
etc.)
frater brother 3rd, masc.
non not
et and
sed but
quis who?
dormit he, she sleeps
studet he, she
studies
scribit he, she writes
Additional Info (Declension, gender,
Latin English
etc.)
in in the city
urbe
domi at home
Salve(te)!
In Latin, we use salve to greet someone. When you want to say hello to more than one person, you
use salvete.
Ave and avete are more formal greetings.
Vocative
Let's have a look at the following sentence.
Salvete, Stephane et Marce!
Stephanus and Marcus are being addressed in this case; you are saying "salvete" to Stephanus and
Marcus. Most* masculine words ending in -us (2nd declension) will get the ending -e in this situation.
Names ending in -a don't change. (Salve, Livia!)
This is the vocative case, used for people being addressed.
*Words ending in -ius, however, change to -i (not -e)
When translating vocatives to English, we keep the nominative/normal form.
Nomen mihi est
This is the most common way to say "my name is". For now, we will not go too deep into the grammar
of this construction, but it is a useful phrase to know. Remember that Latin has no strict word order.
Latin English
Nomen mihi est Marcus. My name is Marcus.
Tibi nomen est Livia. Your name is Livia.
Nomen ei Lucius est. His name is Lucius.
Nomen ei est Lesbia. Her name is Lesbia.
How are you?
You will learn two ways to ask how someone is doing in this skill.
1) Quid + ago? -> Quid agis?
Literally, this means "What are you doing?"
Subject Verb
ego ago
tu agis
is, ea agit
2) Quomodo + se + habeo? -> Quomodo te habes?
Literally, this means "How do you have yourself/How do you feel?"
Subject Verb
ego habeo
tu habes
is, ea habet
Se is the reflexive pronoun. (-self in English)
Subject Pronoun Reflexive Pronoun English
ego me myself
tu te yourself
is, ea se himself/herself
Adverbs
Bene (well) and male (badly) are adverbs. Adverbs are words that give more information about
verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. In English these forms usually get -ly added, while in Latin
adverbs of 1st and 2nd declension adjectives end in -e.
Bene dormio. - I sleep well. (and not "I sleep good.")
-ne
You stick the suffix -ne to the first word of a sentence to indicate that it is a yes/no question. The -ne
is not mandatory and can be omitted.
Latin English Potential answers
Estne Roma in Italia? Is Rome in Italy? (Yes, it is./No, it is not.)
Roma in Italia est? Is Rome in Italy? (Yes, it is./No, it is not.)
First conjugation (-are)
Habitare/habito (to live somewhere, to reside) is a verb that follows the first conjugation. You can
recognize these verbs by the -a- in the verb stem. (The -a- merges with the -o for the first person
singular.)
Subject Habitare Amare (to love) Stare (to stand)
ego habito amo sto
tu habitas amas stas
is, ea habitat ama t stat
New Vocabulary
Latin English Additional Info
nomen name 3rd, neut.
Italia Italy 1st, fem.
Roma Rome 1st, fem.
Romae in Rome
habito I live, I reside (habitare, 1st conj.)
me habeo I feel, I am doing (well/poorly/...) (se habere, 2nd conj.)
ago I do, I act (agere, 3rd conj.)
salve(te) hello
Latin English Additional Info
quid what
quomodo how
ubi where
bene well
male badly, poorly
ita yes, so
minime no, not at all
Adjectives
Just like nouns, adjectives follow declensions. The adjective solus (masc.), sola (fem.),
solum (neut.) follow the first and second declension, and get the same endings as nouns:
discipulus - femina - Eboracum.
Have a look at how the ending of the adjective changes:
Latin English Gender
discipulus novus a new student masculine
familia nova a new family feminine
civitas nova a new state feminine
Novum Eboracum New York neuter
nomen novum a new name neuter
When using sum, you also need to make sure the adjective agrees with the noun.
Latin English
Marcus est Romanus. Marcus is Roman.
Livia Americana est. Livia is American.
Latin English
Nomen est novum. The name is new.
Ego solus sum. I am alone. (masculine)
Ego sola sum. I am alone. (feminine)
Locative
The locative case is a special case which indicates a location used for cities.
Some general rules:
-a (first declension) becomes -ae
-us and -um (second declension) become -i
Nominative Locative English (loc.)
Roma Romae in Rome
Novum Eboracum Novi Eboraci in New York
Nominative Locative English (loc.)
Corinthus Corinthi in Corinth
Other locations will generally get a preposition (in + ablative, we will deal with the ablative
later in the course).
Latin English
in Italia in Italy
in urbe in the city
Domi (at home) is an exception!
Num
The particle num indicates that the speaker expects a negative answer; the speaker would be
surprised if someone answered yes.
Compare the following sentences.
Expected
Latin English
Answer
Num Romae Surely he doesn't live in Negative
habitat? Rome?
Habitatne Romae? Does he live in Rome? - (neutral)
-tas
The suffix -(i)tas is the equivalent of the English -(i)ty. These nouns follow the third declension
and are feminine.
Latin English
universitas university
libertas liberty, freedom
difficultas difficulty, trouble
New Vocabulary
Latin English Additional Info
familia family 1st, fem.
Bostonia Boston 1st, fem.
Philadelphia Philadelphia 1st, fem.
Novum Eboracum New York 2nd, neut.
iuvenis young man 3rd, masc.
urbs city 3rd, fem.
civitas state 3rd, fem.
universitas university 3rd, fem.
Latin English Additional Info
solus alone -us, -a, -um
novus new -us, -a, -um
natus born -us, -a, -um
meus my -us, -a, -um
Americanus American -us, -a, -um
multi many -i, -ae, -a (plural)
quid what, which 3rd, neut.
quot how many
Plural Nouns
Nominative plurals:
Declension Singular Plural
1st filia filiae
2nd (masc.) filius filii
2nd (neut.) donum dona
3rd soror sorores
3rd frater fratres
Note that the stem of 3rd declension nouns can change.
words ending in -er generally turn into -r
examples are mater -> matres, pater -> patres
Plural verbs
Subject Esse (to be) Habitare
ego sum habito
tu es habita-s
is, ea est habita-t
nos sumus habita-mus
vos estis habita-tis
ii, eae sunt habita-nt
Second conjugation (-ere, -eo)
Studere/studeo (to study) is a verb that follows the second conjugation. You can recognize
these verbs by the -e- at the end of the verb stem.
Subject Studere Habere (to have)
ego stude-o habe-o
tu stude-s habe-s
is, ea stude-t habe-t
nos stude-mus habe-mus
vos stude-tis habe-tis
ii, eae stude-nt habe-nt
Fourth conjugation (-ire, -io)
Dormire/dormio (to sleep) is a verb that follows the fourth conjugation. You can recognize
these verbs by the -i- at the end of the verb stem.
Subject Dormire
ego dormi-o
tu dormi-s
is, ea dormi-t
nos dormi-mus
vos dormi-tis
ii, eae dormi-u-nt
New Vocabulary
Latin English Additional Info
duo two duo, duae, duo (plural)
tres three tres, tres, tria (plural)
quattuor four indeclinable
quinque five indeclinable
quot how many indeclinable
