LATIN I /INTRO TO

LATINA study of the Latin language and the

history, culture and geography of Ancient

Rome

Latin’s a dead language.It’s very plain to see.First it killed the Romans,And now it’s killing me!

WHY TAKE LATIN?• It makes learning other languages easier• Knowing Latin word roots will improve your

English vocabulary (and SAT scores)• It improves your logic/problem-solving skills• You don’t have to speak it well – it’s all on

paper• You want to be a lawyer/doctor • You can tell your sister to get a life (“Fac ut

vivas!”) and she won’t be able to tell your mom what you just said

• It’s cool!

WHERE DO I SEE LATIN TODAY?

habeas corpus

nolo con-

tendere

in loco parentis

pro bonosub

poena

modus operandi

in ab-sentia

de jure

Legal

You have the body

I do not wish to contend

In place of a parent

For the good

Under penalty

Method of operating

In absence

From the law

WHERE DO I SEE LATIN TODAY?

• Medical phrases– NPO is short for “nihil per os” which means

nothing through the mouth

• Medical conditions– Cerebellum, lacrimal, pulmonary

• Body parts– Bicep is the muscle with “two heads”, tricep

is the muscle with “three heads”– Adductor muscles pull to the center,

abductor muscles pull away from the center

WHERE DO I SEE LATIN TODAY?

WHERE DO I SEE LATIN TODAY?

• Planets– Jupiter, Venus, Mercury

• Moons– Io, Europa, Callisto

• Constellations– Pegasus, Andromeda, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor

• Astrology– Taurus (bull), Gemini (twins), Sagittarius

(archer)

WHERE DID LATIN COME FROM?

• To sound impressive/snooty: A descendant of the Ancient Proto-Indo-European language.

• Or, to sound normal: It evolved from the languages spoken by the tribes that lived in Latium, an area in western central Italy.

WHERE DID LATIN GO?

• Ummm…it died.– Medieval Latin is still used by the Catholic church.

• BUT…it still has lots of kids. There are 20+ Romance languages. The big 6 are: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, Catalan.

• Wait! What happened to English? Why am I taking this class if English didn’t come from Latin?– English is a Germanic language, which is sort of a

cousin Latin. English and Latin are still very heavily connected.

IS LATIN HARD?• No! The hardest parts are:– Understanding the concepts of declining nouns

and conjugating verbs.– Memorizing, memorizing, memorizing…

• Some Latin is ridiculously easy. Can you guess what these words mean?– Dictator– Gloria– Rosa– Elephantus– Intelligentia

THE LATIN LANGUAGE

Latin uses (basically) the same alphabet as we do.

Latin has the same parts of speech as English.

Noun VerbAdjective AdverbPronoun PrepositionConjunction Interjection

Latin is an inflected language – which means word order is not as important as the form of the words.

WORD ORDERAlways two there are

Much to learn you still

have¸ my old padawan.

Save them we must.

Hard to see¸ the dark side

is

When 900 years old you reach¸ look as good you

will not

Go into exile I must¸ failed

I have

In English word order matters – with a few special exceptions:• Poetry• 900 year old Jedi

masters

TYPICAL CLASS STRUCTURE

• Review prior week’s exercises• New grammar lesson• New vocabulary words• Translation practice• Latin Phrases• Geography• History• Culture• Mythology• Homework assigned (start working on

together, if time)

OKAY, SO IF I SUFFER THROUGH THIS CLASS THEN

I’M DONE WITH FOREIGN LANGUAGES? PLEASE?Well, not exactly. Talk to your parents about how

many hours you need for credit on your transcript.Ideas for more hours:•Memorize vocabulary•Study aspect of Roman life•Report/Project for class•More translation practice•Study ancient history•Lapbooks•National essay writing contests

LET’S GET STARTED!

• Nouns– First declension, feminine nouns– Singular and plural– Nominative and accusative

• Verbs– First conjugation, 3rd person, present

active indicative– Singular and plural

LATIN ALPHABET

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

i

repres

ents

both i

and j

y and z occur

only in words

borrowed from Greek

As the i represented both the vowel i and the consonant j, the v represented both the vowel u

and the consonant v; but for some reason it’s more

acceptable to use u and v so we’ll make it easy and let you

have both.

PRONUNCIATIONFirst, you must decide which

pronunciation we want:• As if it were English• “Church Latin”• As the ancient Romans did

PRONUNCIATIONBut how can we know how the ancient Romans spoke Latin? They didn’t leave us YouTube videos to listen to. And, remember, it’s dead!•Ancient grammar books•Languages derived from Latin•Spelling errors•Transcriptions into other alphabets (e.g., Greek)

PRONUNCIATION - VOWELS

•Dinah, ago

a•p

et, let

e

•pin, it

i

•dog, off

o

•put, book

u

Short Long•f

ather, bother

a•t

hey, lay

e

•machine, weeds

i

•clover, boat

o

•rude, moose

u

PRONUNCIATION - DIPTHONGS•a

i as in aisle; carae, saepe

ae

•ou as in house; aurua

au

•ei as in reign; deinde

ei

•In between e-u and eu as in feud; heu

eu

•oi as in oil; poena

oe

•u and i in one syllable; like muy; cuius, huius, huic, hui, cui

ui

All other consecutive vowels are pronounced as separate syllables: debeo, habeat, audio

PRONUNCIATION – CONSONANTS

BCDFGHIJKLMNPQRSTVXY

•Same as b in English; if followed by s or t, then same as p in English

•Bella, bene, urbs, obtineo

b

•Same as hard c in English (the 2nd c in circus); Always a hard c

•Amicus, decorus, cum

c

•Same as d in English

•Dementis, crudele, deus

d

PRONUNCIATION – CONSONANTS

BCDFGHIJKLMNPQRSTVXY

•Same as f in English

•Femina, familia, fides

f

•Same as hard g in English (the 1st g in garbage); always a hard g

•Frigidus, gladius, gloria

g

•Same as h in English, but less heavily aspirated

•Hic, haec, hoc

h

PRONUNCIATION – CONSONANTS

BCDFGHIJKLMNPQRSTVXY

•Same as hard y in English

•Jacio, Juppiter

i (j)

•Same as k in English; rarely used

•Kalends

k

•Same as l in English

•Laboro, liber, puella

l

PRONUNCIATION – CONSONANTS

BCDFGHIJKLMNPQRSTVXY

•Same as m in English

•Mater, familia, impero

m

•Same as n in English

•In, nauta, non

n

•Same as p in English

•Pater, puella

p

PRONUNCIATION – CONSONANTS

BCDFGHIJKLMNPQRSTVXY

•Same as q(u) in English

•Equus, quantus

q(u)

•Same as r in English

•Rosa, decorus, curro

r

•Always a sibilant s as hiss in English

•Dementis, soror, deus

s

PRONUNCIATION – CONSONANTS

BCDFGHIJKLMNPQRSTVXY

•Same as t in English (as in tell, not butter)

•Terra, nauta, tum

t

•Same as w in English

•Valeo, venio, avis

v

•Same as ks in English (like ax, not exit)

•Audax, dexter, expello

x

PRONUNCIATION – CONSONANTAL BLENDS

•An aspirated k; like “park here”

•Charta

ch

•An aspirated p; like “top hat”

•Philosophia

ph

•An aspirated t; like “hot head”

•Theatrum

th

•Same as gw in English

•Lingua

gu

ACCENTUATION AND ACCENT MARKS

Next week…

NOUNSIn Latin, the form of the noun changes

to indicate:• Number – singular or plural (like

adding –s or –es in English, but a little more complicated)

• Case – function in the sentence. This is rare in English, except with personal pronouns:

Subjective

I you he she they

Objective

me you him her them

Possessive

my your his her their

NOUNSEvery Latin noun is one of 3 genders:• Masculine• Feminine• NeuterDifferent genders follow different

patterns of word endings to indicate case and number.

NOUNSEvery Latin noun is in one of five

declensions. A declension is like a word family. The nouns in a declension follow the same pattern of word endings to indicate case and number.

Consider English – some words need +s to form the plural and others need +es. There are rules to govern which words need which endings.

NOUNSFor vocabulary you must memorize the nominative singular, genitive singular, gender, and meaning.puella, puellae, F, girlFirst declension nouns end in –a for nominative singular and –ae for genitive singular. 95% of first declension nouns are feminine.

NOUNSThe stem of a noun is the word without its case ending.

puell / a(stem) (nominative singular ending)puell / ae(stem) (genitive singular ending)

NOUNSThere are 5 (actually 7-8) cases in Latin:• Nominative – subject • Genitive – possession • Dative – indirect object• Accusative – direct object • AblativeToday we will learn nominative and

accusative.

NOUNS• Nominative Case– Subject• The king ruled his subjects.• The people obeyed the king.

– Predicative Nominative (follows a linking verb)• Tom is a farmer.• The escaped prisoner is a woman.

NOUNS• Accusative Case– Direct Object of a verb• The king ruled his subjects.• The people obeyed the king.

– Object of certain prepositions (in a few weeks…)

NOUNSFirst Declension Noun Endings

Singular Plural

Nominative -a -ae

Accusative -am -as

NOUNS

Puella, puellae, F, girlStem = puell

Singular Plural

Nominative -a -ae

Accusative -am as

Singular Plural

Nominative puella puellae

Accusative puellam puellas

NOUNSTranslate girl/girls into Latin in the following sentences.Sentence Function Case &

NumberTranslation

The girl carries her books.

Subject Nom Sing Puella

The girls love their grandmother.

Subject Nom Pl Puellae

The teacher praises the girls.

Direct object

Acc Pl Puellas

The dog bit the girl. Direct object

Acc Sing puellam

The girl is happy. Subject Nom Sing puella

The winner is a girl. Predicative nominative

Nom Sing puella

VERBSVerbs change to reflect the following:• Person: 1st (I, we), 2nd (you), 3rd (he, she, it, they)• Number: Singular or plural• Tense: There are 6, but for now think present, past, and future• Voice

– Active: Subject performs the verb action. (The girl kicks the ball.)– Passive: Subject receives the verb action. (The ball is kicked by the

girl.)

• Mood: Worry about this later. 95% of first year Latin is Indicative mood.

There are 4 conjugation (families) of verbs in Latin. Each has its own pattern of indicators for Person, Number, Tense, Voice, and Mood

VERBSFour principal parts of a verb

voco•1st person singular, present active indicative•I call, I am calling

vocare•Present active infinitive•To call

vocavi•1st person singular, perfect active indicative•I have called

vocatus•Perfect passive participle•Having been called

VERBSFor vocabulary you must memorize the four principal parts and the meaning.First conjugation nouns end in –o for the first principal part and –are for the second principal part.Most first conjugation verbs are regular, so you only need to memorize the first two principal parts if the last two follow the pattern.

VERBSThe stem of a verb is the infinitive with the –re dropped.voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatus, to call voca / re(stem)(Note: This is the present stem and is used for the first 3 tenses. When we get to the other tenses, we’ll talk about the other stem.)

VERBS

Singular Plural1st Person -o *** (next week)2nd Person (next week) (next week)3rd Person -t -nt

Endings for 1st Conjugation Verbs

***The final “a” disappears!

VERBSSingular Plural

1st Person I call, am calling We call, are calling

2nd Person You (sing) call, are calling

You (pl) “y’all” call, are calling

3rd Person He/she/it calls, is calling They call, are calling

Singular Plural

1st Person voca + o = voco (next week)

2nd Person (next week) (next week)

3rd Person voca + t = vocat Voca + nt = vocant

Present Active Indicative of voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatus: to call

VERBSThere does not have to be a subject to agree with

the verb. It can be assumed.Vocat.

He is calling. (or she or it; use context if possible to figure it out)However, there can be a subject. In that case, the subject and verb must agree in number.Puella vocat.

The girl is calling.Puellae vocant.

The girls are calling.

VOCABULARYNouns• discipula, discipulae, F: female student• femina, feminae, F: woman• filia, filiae, F: daughter• magistra, magistrae, F: female teacher• puella, puellae, F: girl• regina, reginae, F: queen• serva, servae, F: female servant/slave

VOCABULARYVerbs• ambulo (1): walk• amo (1): love• laudo (1): praise• porto (1): carry• voco (1): call

VOCABULARY• Et: and• Non: not• Sed: but