Download LATIN GRAMMAR – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR GCSE

LATIN GRAMMAR – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR GCSE
NOUNS
You should already know all the endings for the different cases.
VERBS
You should know the different endings for the present, perfect, imperfect, pluperfect, future and future
perfect tenses.
PARTICIPLES:
like
present
perfect
deponent
future
ACTIVE
PASSIVE
ACTIVE
ACTIVE
all verbs
all verbs,
except....>>>>
a few
ingens
-ns/-nt-
bonus
bonus
bonus
-ur-
carrying
having been
carried
having tried
being about to
carry
portans
portatus
conatus
portaturus
all verbs
Remember PARTICIPLES behave like adjectives – so treat them the same!
ABLATIVE ABSOLUTE: noun/pronoun + participle - all in ablative:
e.g. his dictis, Hannibal villam intravit
Translate "with" + noun/pronoun + participle (in that order):
with these words having been said, Hannibal entered the house
Then change to decent English - 'when he had said this', 'after he had said this', etc.
I love the ablative absolute – it is so neat. The Romans loved it too so watch out for it!
PASSIVES:
present/future/imperfect: change active personal endings to passive ones –
o/m, s, t, mus, tis, nt TO r, ris, tur, mur, mini, ntur.
e.g. amat ( = he loves) >>> amatur ( = he is loved, he is being loved)
perf./pluperf./fut.perf.: ppp + sum, eram, ero respectively.
N.B. ppp is declinable to agree with the subject of the passive verb.
SUBJUNCTIVES:
imperfect
pluperfect
ACTIVE
infin. + active
pers. ending
perf. stem + -sse
+ pers. ending
PASSIVE
infin. + passive
pers. ending
ppp + essem,
esses, esset, etc.
(i.e. imperfect
subjunctive of
SUM)
ACTIVE personal endings: o/m, s, t, mus, tis, nt
PASSIVE personal endings: r, ris, tur, mur, mini, ntur
Remember SUBJUNCTIVES are much more common in Latin and often the English translation
sounds the same as the indicative.
CUM + imperfect subjunctive = "when/since he was walking", "when/since he was being carried"
CUM + pluperfect subjunctive = "when/since he had walked", "when/since he had been carried"
INDIRECT QUESTION: verb of asking/finding out/hearing, etc. + question word + imperfect or
pluperfect subjunctive
e.g.
he found out how many soldiers there were
cognovit quot milites essent.
INDIRECT COMMAND: verb of asking/begging/ordering/persuading, etc. + UT/NE + imperfect
subjunctive
e.g.
he persuaded them to kill the prisoner
eis persuasit ut captivum necarent
N.B. iubeo & veto take an infinitive instead:
veto te cibum consumere
(I forbid you to eat the food)
iubeo te puellam curare
(I order you to look after the girl)
INDIRECT STATEMENT: verb of saying/realising/finding out/seeing, etc. + ACCUSATIVE +
INFINITIVE
a) Translate accusative & infinitive literally
b) Insert THAT after verb
c) Allow rest of sentence to follow naturally
so: audivit eos advenisse
he heard them to have arrived
he heard THAT...
he heard that they had arrived
PURPOSE: "in order to", "in order that" – UT/NE + imperfect subjunctive.
he entered the camp (in order) to see the general
castra intravit ut ducem videret
Sometimes UT is replaced by qui or quo:
he sent a soldier to ...
he found a place to ...
militem misit qui ...
locum invenit quo ...
RESULT: "so many ... that", "to such an extent that" – sign-posting word + UT + imperfect or
possibly pluperfect subjunctive
tanta erat arrogantia ut milites culparet
so great was his arrogance that he blamed the soldiers
comparative adjective/adverb + quam ut + subjunctive
this is too difficult for me to undertake
hoc difficilius erat quam ut id susciperem
CONDITIONS: si + future perfect in "if" clause, then future in main clause
if you say this, you will be a fool
= if you will have said this ...
si hoc dixeris, stultus eris
GERUNDIVES: recognised by -andum, -endum on end of verb. There are two uses for GCSE:
Obligation:
mihi currendum est
I must run
mihi currendum erat
I had to run
Carthago Romanis delenda est
Carthage must be destroyed by the Romans = Romans must destroy Carthage.
Purpose:
with a view to killing the prisoners
ad captivos necandos
i.e. with a part of sum it means "must do something", whereas with 'ad' + accusative it is translated as
'in order to do something'.
VERBS OF FEARING: timeo and vereor.
'Afraid to…':
timeo/vereor + infinitive
puella patrem vexare verebatur.
The girl was afraid to annoy her father.
Fear for future:
timeo/vereor NE/NE NON + imperfect subjunctive
nauta timebat NE amici mari amitterentur.
The sailor feared/was afraid THAT his friends would be lost at sea.
dominus veritus est NE pecuniam amissam NON inveniret.
The master feared THAT he would NOT find the lost money.
Fear for past:
timeo/vereor NE/NE NON + pluperfect subjunctive
nauta timebat NE amici mari amissi essent.
The sailor feared THAT his friends had been lost at sea.
dominus veritus est NE servi pecuniam NON invenissent.
The master feared THAT the slaves had NOT found the money.
TEMPORAL CLAUSES:
dum and priusquam
dum:
(a)
dum + PRESENT indicative = while
dum cenam PARAT ancilla ridebat.
While she was preparing dinner the slave-girl was laughing.
(b)
dum + PAST indicative tenses = until
dum cena parata ERAT ancilla diligenter laborabat.
Until the dinner WAS prepared the slave girl was working hard.
(c)
dum + IMPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE = until (with anticipation)
milites morabantur dum imperator VENIRET ut eos inspiceret.
The soldiers were waiting/delaying until the general CAME/SHOULD COME
to inspect them.
OR were waiting for the general TO COME…
priusquam:
(a)
priusquam + indicative = simply 'before'
priusquam vulneratus est, miles erat laetus.
Before he was wounded, the soldier was happy.
(b)
priusquam + imperfect subjunctive = before (with sense of purpose)
milites effugerunt priusquam ab imperatore verberarentur.
The soldiers escaped before they could be beaten by the general.