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Why Grammar? D o you realize that the book and writing is the only form of communication we have that allows people to communicate sophisticated thought across centuries and millennia? Think about it, cds and dvds degrade, radio waves are there and then they aren’t. The technology goes in and out of style so quickly that we would be hardpressed to play a record pressed 30 years ago. We know about the Greeks and the Romans because we can read their thoughts, the record of their activities, their entertainment, their feelings. But in order to understand these thoughts, we need to understand not just the meaning of the words, but how those words fit together to make a complete thought. is to give you a summary of the elements of the Latin language to which you can refer and review as you learn more about how the elements of this language work to convey ideas across the centuries. The purpose of this manual This is an interactive manual. To help solidify your understanding of the language, you should review this book often, continue to drill vocabulary and forms, and take advantage of the online flash cards that help you review concepts and constructions. I’ve used icons throughout the book to help you identify what you should do to learn the grammatical element we’re discussing. Completing and reviewing this book and the recommended activities herein will soon make you into a Latin pro! Anatomy of Language Latin and English are both made up of parts that work together to communicate ideas. L atin and English both have seven primary parts. These are called “Parts of Speech.” These parts of speech work together to form sentences. Not all parts of speech will be used in any given sentence; however, there are some building blocks without which a sentence does not exist. These parts of speech include: 1. Nouns 2. Pronouns 3. Adjectives 4. Verbs 5. Adverbs 6. Prepositions 7. Conjunctions In this manual, we will be reviewing how these parts fit together to communicate thoughts. Nouns, adjectives, verbs, and prepositional phrases are such vital elements of a sentence that they each get their own section. You should fill in all of the missing pieces to make this a resource that you can use throughout your Latin (and English!) career. Anatomy of a Sentence Sentences are made up of subjects and verbs (at the very least). In addition, they can have objects, phrases, and clauses to help flesh out the meaning. Some definitions might help: Sentence – A complete thought made up of at least one clause containing a subject and a verb. Clause – A complete thought that can be combined with other clauses within a single sentence. Independent Clause – A complete thought that can form a sentence by itself. Dependent Clause – A complete thought introduced by a conditional or temporal word such as “when”and “if”that must be joined with an independent clause to form a sentence. Phrase – A group of words that work together but do not include a subject or verb. An example of a phrase is a prepositional phrase. Phrases must be combined with a clause to make up a sentence. NOTE: Clauses don’t need phrases, but phrases need clauses! Words – Words are the building block of the sentence! In English, the meaning of a group of words comes from the order in which those words appear. For example: A word about word order. Sally bites the dog. is very different than The dog bites Sally. In Latin, however, the meaning of a group of words comes from the form of each word. The words themselves have an “expected” order, but since the word order does not affect the literal meaning of the sentence, that order is flexible. Therefore, we will spend a lot of time discussing how word forms can change and how those changes affect the word’s meaning in the following pages. Nouns Nouns are people, places, things, and ideas. N ons are the same in both English and Latin. Among other things, they tell us who or what is involved, where it happens, or the cause of an action. In Latin, nouns have certain characteristics that help us understand their meaning in a sentence and how they relate to other words. These characteristics are gender, number, and case. There are five patterns for how these characteristics manifest themselves. Think of it like a body part. Eyes are eyes are eyes, but they come in blue, green, brown, hazel, or even purple, yellow, or red with special contacts! Nouns are nouns are nouns, but their characteristics (gender, number, and case) will look different depending on which pattern they belong to. Each pattern in Latin is called a declension. Whoever named the declensions would not have won any marketing prizes. He simply called them the 1st declension, 2nd declension, 3rd declension, 4th declension, and 5th declension. Creative! In Latin, we often use just one or two words from a declension to show how all of the other words in that declension change to show different numbers and cases. We call these example words paradigms. An Interesting Factoid: The Greek word for “example” is paradeigmatos which has come into our English vocabularies as “paradigm”. Gender, Number, and Case GENDER We are all familiar with human gender and wth animal gender. But noun gender? Yes, it really does exist! This is a concept we call “grammatical gender”. It’s an artificial construct that we use to help categorize and explain why certain patterns use certain letters. The Phoenicians and Hebrews considered writing a magical art and associated certain letters with certain properties. Aleph (alpha or “a”) was associated with women, bet (beta or “b”) was associated with men. In Latin, nouns that are characterized by –a in the endings are called “feminine” nouns. Once we started categorizing –a nouns as “feminine”, it made sense to categorize other nouns as “masculine”, right? Well, it turns out that our “mystical letters” don’t apply to all cases, but they at least help us understand how the categories started. There are two other genders in Latin: masculine and neuter nouns. “Neuter” in Latin means “neither”, btw. As it turns out, we are able to draw some rough generalizations about gender and declenions. 1st declension nouns are feminine about 99% of the time. 2nd declension nouns are either masculine or neuter 100%. The third declension is a “mixed” declension. The nouns look like each other, but they can be any of the three genders. 4th declension nouns are usually masculine and 5th declension nouns are usually feminine. For 3rd declension nouns, you just have to memorize the gender! NUMBER When we talk about number, we are talking about whether a noun is singular (just one) or plural (more than one). CASE The case of the noun tells us how the noun functions in a sentence, clause, or phrase. There are six cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, and vocative). We will discuss the uses of each of these cases in detail throughout this chapter. NOTES: Most of the nouns in the 1st declension are Masculine Feminine Neuter (circle one). 99% of nouns that end in –a in the nominative sing belong to the 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th (circle one) declension. The lexical form, i.e., forms that are listed in dictionaries, of 1st declension nouns is ______________________ (nom sg form, genitive sg ending, first letter of gender). To find the stem of any 1st declension noun, drop the ________________ (gender and number) ending. For example, puella puell- femina femin- 2 N D DECLENSION NOTES: All of the nouns in the 2nd declension are Masculine Feminine Neuter (circle two). Refer to the chart above to answer this question. Which forms are always identical for neuter nouns? Nominative and Genitive Genitive and Accusative Nominative and Accusative Genitive and Dative The lexical form, i.e., forms that are listed in dictionaries, of 2nd declension nouns is ______________________ (nom sg form, genitive sg ending, first letter of gender). To find the stem of any 2nd declension noun, drop the ________________ (gender and number) ending. For example, servi serv- pueri puer- agri agr- Syncopation means ‘shortening’. A syncopated noun is a noun in which the vowel drops out of the stem (e.g., ager to agri) in all cases but the nominative singular. 3rd Declension NOTES: The nouns in the 3rd declension are Masculine Feminine Neuter (circle all that apply). The lexical form, i.e., forms that are listed in dictionaries, of 3rd declension nouns is ______________________ (nom sg form, genitive sg form, first letter of gender). When the genitive plural form is given in the lexical form, the 3rd declension noun is called an “i-stem” noun. Example: mare, maris, gen. pl., marium, n. For i-stem nouns, which of the following forms differ from regular 3rd declension nouns? (consult the charts above; circle all that apply) Masculine/Feminine nom sg gen sg dat sg acc sg abl sg nom pl gen pl dat pl acc pl abl pl nom sg gen sg dat sg acc sg abl sg nom pl gen pl dat pl acc pl abl pl Neuter Refer to the chart above to answer this question. Which forms are always identical for neuter nouns? Nominative and Genitive Genitive and Accusative Nominative and Accusative Genitive and Dative To find the stem of any 3rd declension noun, drop the ________________ (gender and number) ending. For example, canis can- maris mar- A quick review of nominative endings: 1st Decl 2nd Decl 3rd Decl singular plural There are only two uses of the nominative. They are: Function Example 4th Decl 5th Decl Canis puerum petit. Subject The dog looks for the boy. Puella bella est. Subject complement The girl is beautiful. NOTES: The subject of sentence comes before the verb in an English sentence. Only sentences containing the verb ___________ (hint: the linking verb) can have a subject complement. U S E S O F T H E G E N I T I V E A quick review of genitive endings: 1st Decl 2nd Decl 3rd Decl 4th Decl singular plural The uses of the genitive include: Function Possession NOTES: Example cistae pueri the boy’s trunks 5th Decl In English, genitive nouns are generally preceded by the preposition _____ (two letters). Clue words for the use of the partitive genitive include (list others as you find them): Superlative adjectives nihil (nothing) aliquid (something) A quick review of accusative endings: 1st Decl 2nd Decl 3rd Decl 4th Decl 5th Decl singular plural The uses of the accusative include: Function Example See the Reference Grammar section of your textbook for explanations and examples. Direct object Object of Prepositions ad prope in per A quick review of ablative endings: 1st Decl singular 2nd Decl 3rd Decl 4th Decl 5th Decl plural The uses of the ablative include: Function Example See the Reference Grammar section of your textbook for explanations and examples. Object of prepositions sub e/ex in ab cum A quick review of vocative endings: 1st Decl 2nd Decl 3rd Decl 4th Decl singular plural There is only one use of the vocative. It is: Function Example Direct address Quid legitis, senatores? NOTES: The subject of any sentence containing a vocative noun is (circle one): 1st person 2nd person 3rd person. 5th Decl S U M M A R Y A quick review of cases in English: Case English Translation Nominative noun Genitive of noun Dative to/for noun Accusative noun (follows verb or preposition) Ablative by noun, with noun, because of noun, at noun, under noun, in noun Vocative noun