Ludi Novi Romani/MMDCCLXIV/Certamen Latinum

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(1) habeo; it is the first person singular of the verb “have”. It means “I have”.
 
(1) habeo; it is the first person singular of the verb “have”. It means “I have”.
  
−
<br>(2) –ere; it’s an abbreviation of “habere”, the infinite of the verb. It means “to have”.
+
(2) –ere; it’s an abbreviation of “habere”, the infinite of the verb. It means “to have”.
  
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<br>(3) –bui; it’s an abbreviation of “habui”, the perfect tense of the verb. It means “I have had” or “I had”.
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(3) –bui; it’s an abbreviation of “habui”, the perfect tense of the verb. It means “I have had” or “I had”.
  
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<br>(4) –bitum; abbreviation of “habitum”, it’s the supine (or the past participle).
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(4) –bitum; abbreviation of “habitum”, it’s the supine (or the past participle).
  
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This verb’s infinitive, “habére” (to have), indicated in the dictionary form as “–ére” shows that this verb belongs to the 2nd conjugations, as all verbs that have the infinitive ending “-ére” belong to the 2nd conjugation. The second dictionary element, the infinitive, determines which conjugation the verb belongs to. The four types of infinitive endings and the four conjugations determined by the different genitive endings are:
+
This verb’s infinitive, “habére” (to have), indicated in the dictionary form as “–ére” shows that this verb belongs to the 2nd conjugations, as all verbs that have the infinitive ending “-ére” belong to the 2nd conjugation. The second dictionary element, the infinitive, determines which conjugation the verb belongs to. The four types of infinitive endings and the four conjugations determined by the different infinitive endings are:
  
 
:'''-are''' = 1st conjugation; e.g.: amo, -are, -avi, -atum (I love)
 
:'''-are''' = 1st conjugation; e.g.: amo, -are, -avi, -atum (I love)
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====Answers 8====
 
====Answers 8====
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:"Tranquille librum longum legebas, cum nomen tuum clamavi, quia de arbore cecideram."
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:"Per terras multas mirabiles errabam, sed reges vel reginas numquam vidi."
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:"Cum censores in curiam advenerunt, senatores boni de rebus omnibus iam decreverant et aedificium senatús Romani relinquebant."
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:"Heri Caesar cohortem primam Pompeii oppugnavit et vicit, quamquam milites Pompeii vehementer bellabant."
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:"Epistulam imperatori Lucio Lucullo finivit, quia quaestiones omnes responderat, et epistulas longas numquam scribere amabat."
  
 
<br>
 
<br>
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:"Si milites Pompei vehementer bellavissent, Caesar non vicisset."
 
:"Si milites Pompei vehementer bellavissent, Caesar non vicisset."
  
−
====Answers 8====
+
====Answers 9====
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:"Si mores veteres rei publicae superbe non neglexisset, senatores boni et nobiles in senatu Romano Caesarem non interfecissent."
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:"Si libros Vergilii poetae clari de Aenea legeres, tum multas res de historia Romana scires."
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:"Aliquot poemata pulchra scribamus et versus Senecae monstremus, quia opus nostrum legere cuperet."
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:"Neronem hodie videris, sed ego Augustum, principem Romanum primum, olim vidi, et etiam sermonem suum audivi."
 +
 
 +
:"Censores curiam reliquissent (relinquerent), quia patres magistratus in aedificio non invenerunt, ubi usque ad horam sextam diei mansissent."
  
 
<br>
 
<br>
 +
 +
=== March 12th - Day 12 of the Ludi Novi Romani – Question 10 of the Certamen Latinum ===
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<br>
 +
 +
'''I. INTRODUCTION 10 - Indirect Speech'''
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 +
We have walked through a long path, but made huge steps, and within just 10 days we are arriving to the hardest height of Latin grammar, to the Indirect Discourse (or Indirect Speech) which includes the Sequence of Tenses rules and the Accusative with Infinitive, two things which made students of Latin cry since the Middle Age.
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 +
From the dictionary forms, where we had started, we went through all declensions of nouns and adjectives, we learned the formation of adverbs and the conjugations of Present and Past Tenses, and yesterday we met all tenses of the Subjunctive.
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 +
Today, on our last day, we will win and conquer the Indirect Speech, the jewel in our crown.
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 +
Now I confess I deceived you when I said we would only "try out" some minor things in the Latin, or when I said we would take a look at some little bits of Latin with these Quizzes. The truth is, that with these lessons we have learned almost all grammar of the Latin language, and almost every difficult feature in Latin. And now we are on the top, learning about the hardest grammar in Latin, which if you will be able to conquer, you will have conquered Goddess Latinitas Herself, and the doors of the "Roman Mind", and all Classical and Medieval Literature will re-open for you, forever.
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 +
I'm not joking when I say the Indirect Speech poisoned the lives of many schoolboys and girls since the Fall of the Roman Empire, especially with the terrible Accusative with Infinitive and the Sequence of Tenses - but I assure you by the end of the day you will laugh into the eyes of these monsters: they are monsters only to those who are not willing to domesticate them.
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But first we must define what we are about to domesticate.
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Indirect Speech (Reported Speech, or Indirect Discourse) refers to a sentence reporting what someone has said, thought, seen, heard or percieved by any mental activity. It is almost always used in spoken English.
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Direct Speech is:
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:"Cicero said: 'I see Brutus in the garden'."
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 +
Indirect Speech is:
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:"Cicero said (that) he saw Brutus in the garden".
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From this example we can see that there must be some rules about the Sequence of Tenses, because in English Indirect Speech "see" became "saw". And yes, there is a Sequence of Tenses rule in English, too, and we will see that the Latin rules are similar, but Latin uses them only in Indirect Questions, because in Indirect Statements Latin has chosen an entirely different solution: the Accusative with Infinitive.
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There are three types of Indirect Speech, depending on the reported sentence if it is a statement, order or question, an Indirect Speech can be Indirect Statement, Indirect Command, or Indirect Question. Let's start with the Indirect Statements.
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'''1. Indirect Statements'''
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In English, the verb tense of the reported, indirect sentence follows a simple logical Sequence of Tense rule: if the reporting verb ("said") is in the past, the reported clause will be in a Past Tense. If the reporting verb is present ("say"), the reported clause will be in a Present Tense:
 +
 +
With the reporting verb in '''Present''':
 +
 +
:"Cicero says: 'I see Brutus in the garden'." (Direct Statement)
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:"Cicero says (that) he sees Brutus in the garden." (Indirect Statement)
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 +
With the reporting verb in '''Past''':
 +
 +
:"Cicero said: 'I see Brutus in the garden'." (Direct Statement)
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:"Cicero said (that) he saw Brutus in the garden." (Indirect Statement)
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 +
Instead of this rule, in Latin we find that there is an entirely different construction, the Accusative with Infinitive to be used for reporting statements.
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:'''1.1. Accusative with Infinitive'''
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:There is a similar construction in English, when you say "I see Brutus come," and "I see him go," where "come" is an infinitive without the usual "to" (otherwise it would have been "comes"), and "Brutus" is an accusative. English uses the Accusative plus Infinitive with verbs of wishing, believing and perception ("I believe Brutus to come"). The infinitive is usually introduced by "to", but in some cases (e.g. with "see") it's without "to".
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::"I see Brutus come."
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::"Video Brutum venire."
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::"I believe Brutus to come."
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::"Credo Brutum venire."
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 +
:However, English does not use this construction with verbs of saying. There is no "I say Brutus to come". English puts it as "I say (that) Brutus comes". In Latin, however, we must always use the Accusative with Infinitive construction with all verbs of saying, thinking, perceiving or communicating.
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::"I say (that) Brutus comes."
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::"Dico Brutum venire." (Literally: "I say Brutus ''to come''.")
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:'''1.2. Reported Statments' Timing in the Accusative with Infinitive Construction'''
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::'''1.2.1.''' If the Reported Statement is about an event which is '''contemporaneous, simultaneous with the time of the reporting verb''', like "I say (that) Brutus comes (is coming)", or "I said (that) Brutus came (was coming), we use the Present Infinitive, i.e. the 2nd dictionary form:
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 +
:::amo, -are, -avi, -atum --> amare (to love)
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:::facio, -ere, feci, factum --> facere (to make)
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:::venio, -ire, veni, ventum --> venire (to come)
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::It does not matter of what tense the reporting verb is:
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 +
:::"I say (that) Brutus comes / is coming."
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:::"Dico Brutum venire." (Literally: "I say Brutus ''to come''.")
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:::I said (that) Brutus came / was coming.
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:::"Dixi Brutum venire." (Literally: "I said Brutus ''to come''.")
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::'''1.2.2.''' If the action of the reported sentence is '''prior to the time of the reporting verb''', like "I say (that) Brutus came (has come)", or "I said (that) Brutus had come", you must use the Perfect Infinitive. To form a Perfect Infinitive, you simply cut off the Perfect Tense "-i" ending of the 3rd dictionary form, and add ending "-isse" to the Perfect Stem:
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 +
:::amo, -are, -av|i, -atum --> amavisse (to have loved)
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:::facio, -ere, fec|i, factum --> fecisse (to have made)
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:::venio, -ire, ven|i, ventum --> venisse (to have come)
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::It does not matter of what tense the reporting verb is:
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:::"I say (that) Brutus has come / came / was coming."
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:::"Dico Brutum venisse." (Literally: "I say Brutus ''to have come''.")
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:::"I said (that) Brutus had come."
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:::"Dixi Brutum venisse." (Literally: "I said Brutus ''to have come''.")
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::All Latin Indirect Statements have to follow these rules, and all Latin Indirect Statements are to be transformed into such Accusative with Infinitive contructions.
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'''2. Indirect Commands'''
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An Indirect Command is a reported command. Indirect Commands express what someone begs, asks, urges or orders. Let's see an English example:
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:"I begged that Brutus come."
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"Come" is an English Subjunctive here. Latin uses Subjunctive as well. If the verb introducing the Indirect Command is Present, Latin uses Present Subjunctive in the subordinate clause; if the main verb is Past, Latin uses Imperfect Subjunctive in the subordinate clause. English never varies, it uses always the Present Subjunctive. Let' see on examples:
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With the reporting verb in '''Present''':
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:"I beg that Brutus come."
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:"Oro ut Brutus veniat."
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With the reporting verb in '''Past''':
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:"I begged that Brutus come."
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:"Oravi ut Brutus veniret." (Literally: "I begged that Brutus ''came''/''would come''.")
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All Latin Indirect Commands have to be in Present or Imperfect Subjunctive follow the rules above.
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'''3. Indirect Questions'''
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An Indirect Question is a reported question, it reports what someone asks, or could have asked. English Indirect Questions follow the same Sequence of Tenses rules as in the case of Indirect Statements, but there's an additional change in the structure of the sentence:
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 +
:"From where does Brutus come?"
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:"Cicero asks from where Brutus comes."
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We can see that English changes word order and does not use the auxiliary verb "do/does" for Indirect Questions. In Latin you must use the Subjunctive to indicate Indirect Question. The Latin Sequence of Tenses for Indirect Questions is the following:
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:'''3.1. Sequence of Tenses'''
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::'''3.1.1.''' If the time of the verb in the reported question is '''contemporaneous, simultaneous to the time the verb of asking''' that introduces the Indirect Question, you will use
 +
:::a) Present Subjunctive: if the reporting verb is Present;
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:::b) Imperfect Subjunctive: if the reporting verb is Past.
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::With the reporting verb in '''Present''':
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:::"I ask from where Brutus comes / is coming."
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:::"Quaero unde Brutus veniat."
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::With the reporting verb in '''Past''':
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:::"I asked from where Brutus came / was coming."
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:::"Quaesivi unde Brutus veniret."
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::'''3.1.1.''' If the time of the verb in the reported question is '''prior to the time of the reporting verb of asking''' that introduces the Indirect Question, you will use
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:::a) Perfect Subjunctive: if the reporting verb is Present;
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:::b) Pluperfect Subjunctive: if the reporting verb is Past.
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::With the reporting verb in '''Present''':
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:::"I ask from where Brutus came / has come / was coming."
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:::"Quaero unde Brutus venerit."
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::With the reporting verb in '''Past''':
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:::"I asked from where Brutus had come."
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:::"Quaesivi unde Brutus venisset."
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:You must use the Subjunctive always, in this Sequence of Tenses, whenever you translate an Indirect Question to Latin.
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'''II. QUESTION 10'''
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Translate the following complex sentences which contain Indirect Statements, Indirect Commands and Indirect Questions to Latin, using the Accusative with Infinitive construction where needed, and the Subjunctive Tenses according to the Sequence of Tenses, where they are needed. The sentences below are mostly sligt alterations of all sentences we have translated so far, so although it's 18 sentences, all of them were translated by you on the previous days. So don't be afraid, it's not as much as it seems. Your work will mostly consist of transforming the sentences we had translated so far into Indirect Speech.
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The Latin words needed to these translations are given below in their dictionary form. Use them.
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Follow the guidelines here:
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http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension
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<br>http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation
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<br>http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence
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Be careful, and read ALL information on the pages!
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:"We have read that Cicero wrote a letter to Brutus on loyalty and duty." (7 pts)
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::lego, -ere, legi, lectum (read)
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::Cicero, -onis, m (Cicero)
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::scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)
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::epistula, -ae, f (letter, mail)
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::Brutus, -i, m (Brutus)
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::de + ablative (on; about)
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::pietas, -atis, f (loyalty)
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::et (and)
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::officium, -i, n (duty)
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:"I think that Brutus sees Cicero, but Cicero does not see Brutus in the gardens of Pompey." (9 pts)
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::puto, -are, -avi, -atum (think)
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::video, -ére, vidi, visum (see)
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::sed (but)
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::non (not; no)
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::in + ablative (in)
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::hortus, -i, m (garden)
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::Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
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::*Comment: "does/do not see" in Latin is expressed by "non + verb (see)"
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:"Brutus says that Cicero writes letters by hand and that he always loved to write so." (8 pts)
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::dico, -ere, dixi, dictum (say)
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::manus, -ús, f (hand)
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::amo, -are, -avi, -atum (love)
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::ita (so)
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::*Comment: "by" is expressed here by using the ablative without preposition.
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:"I would have asked what the wise ones were writing about the laws of Rome and about the duties of men." (7 pts)
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::quaero, -ere, quaesivi, -itum (ask)
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::quid (what)
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::sapiens, -entis m/f (the wise one)
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::lex, legis, f (law)
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::de + ablative (about; on)
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::Roma, -ae, f (Rome)
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::homo, -inis m (man)
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:"Lentulus said that the citizens had celebrated the women of the world everywhere." (5 pts)
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::Lentulus, -i, m (Lentulus)
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::dico, -ere, dixi, dictum (say)
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::civis, -is m/f (citizen)
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::celebro, -are, -avi, -atum (celebrate)
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::femina, -ae, f (woman)
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::mundus, -i, m (world)
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::everywhere (ubique)
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:"I would ask whether Caesar was defending Rome from the Gauls." (5 pts)
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::Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)
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::defendo, -ere, -endi, -ensum (defend)
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::Roma, -ae, f (Rome)
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::a + ablative (from)
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::Gallus, -i, m (Gaul person, Gaulish)
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:"He asked Servilia that she write nicely to the noble Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus." (7 pts)
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::rogo, -are, -avi, -atum (ask, request)
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::Servilia, -ae, f (Servilia)
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::scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)
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::pulcher, -chra, -chrum (nice)
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::familia, -ae, f (family)
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::nobilis, -e (noble)
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::Lucius, -i, m; Domitius, -i, m; Ahenobarbus, -i, m (Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus)
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:"They believed that the young Brutus had seen old Cicero in the gardens of Pompey the Great." (9 pts)
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 +
::iuvenis, -e (young)
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::video, -ére, vidi, visum (see)
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::vetus, -eris (old)
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::in + ablative (in)
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::hortus, -i, m (garden)
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::Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
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::magnus, -a, -um (great)
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 +
:"Iulia said quickly to a patriotic man that the Roman people always praised the virtues of loyalty, then she gently asked if he had defended the fatherland faithully." (14 pts)
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 +
::Iulia, -ae, f (Iulia)
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::dico, -ere, dixi, dictum (say)
 +
::velox, -ocis (quick)
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::pius, -a, -um (patriotic)
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::homo, -inis, m (man)
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::Romanus, -a, um (Roman)
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::populus, -i, m (people)
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::semper (always)
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::laudo, -are, -avi, -atum (praise)
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::virtus, -utis f (virtue)
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::pietas, -atis f (loyalty)
 +
::tum (then)
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::urbanus, -a, -um (gentle)
 +
::num (if, whether)
 +
::fidelis, -e (faithful)
 +
::defendo, -ere, -endi, -ensum (defend)
 +
::patria, -ae, f (fatherland)
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 +
:"We are funnily telling that the great events of the fourth Nova Roman Games have finished today." (8 pts)
 +
 +
::iocosus, -a, -um (funny)
 +
::narro, -are, -avi, -atum (tell)
 +
::de + ablative (about; on)
 +
::eventus, -ús, m (event)
 +
::quartus, -a, -um (fourth)
 +
::Novus, -a, -um, Romanus, -a, um (Nova Roman)
 +
::ludus, -i, m (game)
 +
::finio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (finish)
 +
::hodie (today)
 +
 +
:"The senate ordered that the Nova Roman citizens celebrate the admired and invincible Nova Roma with Latin competition and various other games." (12 pts)
 +
 +
::senatus, -ús, m (senate)
 +
::iubeo, -ere, iussi, iussum (order)
 +
::civis, -is mf (citizen)
 +
::beatus, -a, -um (happy)
 +
::celebro, -are, -avi, -atum (celebrate)
 +
::mirabilis, -e (admired)
 +
::invictus, -a, -um (invincible)
 +
::cum + ablative (with)
 +
::Latinus, -a, -um (Latin)
 +
::certamen, -inis, n (competition)
 +
::et (and)
 +
::varius, -a, -um (various)
 +
::alius, -a, -ud (other)
 +
 +
:"I saw that Cicero was calmly reading a book, but then Brutus shouted that his brother had fallen off the tree." (12 pts)
 +
 +
::tranquillus, -a, um (calm)
 +
::lego, -ere, legi, lectum (read)
 +
::liber, libri, m (book)
 +
::sed (but)
 +
::clamo, -are, -avi, -atum (shout)
 +
::suus, -a, -um (his)
 +
::frater, fratris f (brother)
 +
::cado, -ere, cecidi, casurus (fall)
 +
::de + ablative (off)
 +
::arbor, -oris, f (tree)
 +
 +
:"He said that the Greek sailor roamed through many wonderful countries, but he had never seen kings or queens." (9 pts)
 +
 +
::Graecus, -a, -um (Greek)
 +
::nauta, -ae, m (sailor)
 +
::erro, -are, -avi, -atum (roam)
 +
::per + accusative (through)
 +
::multus, -a, -um (much, many)
 +
::mirabilis, -e (wonderful)
 +
::terra, -ae, f (land, country)
 +
::sed (but)
 +
::numquam (never)
 +
::video, -ere, vidi, visum (see)
 +
::rex, regis, m (king)
 +
::regina, -ae, f (queen)
 +
 +
:"When the censors arrived to the curia, they asked if the good senators had already decided about all things, and why they were leaving the building of the Roman senate." (13 pts)
 +
 +
::censor, -oris, m (censor)
 +
::advenio, -ire, -veni, -ventum (arrive)
 +
::in + accusative (into, to)
 +
::curia, -ae, f (curia)
 +
::num (if, whether)
 +
::bonus, -a, -um (good)
 +
::senator, -oris, m (senator)
 +
::decerno, -ere, decrevi, -cretum (decide)
 +
::iam (already)
 +
::de + ablative (about)
 +
::omnis, -e (all)
 +
::res, rei, f (thing)
 +
::et (and)
 +
::cur (why)
 +
::relinquo, -ere, -liqui, -lictum (leave)
 +
::aedificium, -i, n (building)
 +
::Romanus, -a, -um (Roman)
 +
::senatus, -ús, m (senate)
 +
 +
:"He writes that yesterday Caesar attacked the first cohort of Pompey and won, and he asks if the soldiers of Pompey were fighting vehemently." (11 pts)
 +
 +
::heri (yesterday)
 +
::Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)
 +
::oppugno, -are, -avi, -atum (attack)
 +
::primus, -a, -um (first)
 +
::cohors, -ortis f (cohort)
 +
::Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
 +
::vinco, -ere, vici, victum (win)
 +
::quamquam (although)
 +
::miles, -itis, m (soldier)
 +
::bello, -are, -avi, -atum (fight)
 +
::vehemens, -entis (vehement)
 +
 +
:"He writes in the letter to the commander Lucius Lucullus that Caesar has never loved to write long letters but nevertheless answers all questions now." (12 pts)
 +
 +
::finio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (finish)
 +
::epistula, -ae, f (letter)
 +
::imperator, -oris, m (commander)
 +
::Lucius, -i, m; Lucullus -i, m (Lucius Lucullus)
 +
::respondeo, -ere, -ndi, -nsum (answer)
 +
::quaestio, -onis, f (question)
 +
::amo, -are, -avi, -atum (love)
 +
::tamen (but... nevertheless)
 +
::nunc (now)
 +
 +
:"Brutus saw that Cicero entered the room and asked what Pompey was writing." (7 pts)
 +
 +
::Cicero, -onis, m (Cicero)       
 +
::intro, -are, -avi, -atum (enter)
 +
::cella, -ae, f (room)
 +
::quid (what)
 +
::Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
 +
::scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write) 
 +
 +
:"I think Caninus, Caupo, Demetria, Lupus, Placidus, Popillia, Silvanus, Volusus all did wonderfully in our Latin competition." (12 pts)
 +
 +
::Caninus, -i, m (Caninus)
 +
::Caupo, -onis, m (Caupo)
 +
::Demetria, -ae, f (Demetria)
 +
::Lupus, -i, m (Lupus)
 +
::Pacidus, -i, m (Placidus)
 +
::Popillia, -ae, f (Popillia)
 +
::Silvanus, -i, m (Silvanus)
 +
::Volusus, -i, m (Volusus)
 +
::facio, -ere, feci, factum (do)
 +
::noster, -tra, -trum (our)
 +
 +
'''III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:'''
 +
 +
:"We heard that the soldiers of Pompey had fought vehemently, but we don't know why Caesar won." (7 pts)
 +
 +
::audio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (hear)
 +
::miles, -itis, m (soldier)       
 +
::Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)     
 +
::bello, -are, -avi, -atum (fight)       
 +
::vehemens, -entis (vehement)
 +
::nescio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (do/does not know)
 +
::cur (why)
 +
::Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)           
 +
::vinco, -ere, vici, victum (win)       
 +
 +
- in the first part is an Indirect Statement, which means that we have to use the Accusative with Infinitive construction here. We see that the time of the reported statement's verb "had fought" is prior to the time of the reporting verb "heard", so "had fought" will be translated with a Perfect Infinitive: "''bellavisse''". '''(1 pt)'''
 +
<br>- We put "the soldiers" in accusative ("''milites''"), because that's the object of the construction "we heard the soldiers ''to have fought''". '''(1pt)'''
 +
<br>- The second part is an Indirect Question (why Caesar won), thus we will use the Subjunctive. The time of the reported question's verb, "won" is prior to the time of the reporting verb "I don't know", which is a Present Tense. So, according to the rules of the Sequence of Tenses, after Present reporting verb if a verb of prior time follows, the repored verb shall be in Perfect Subjunctive. In this case it's "''vicerit''". '''(1 pt)'''
 +
<br>- After translating everything else '''(4 pts)''', which is not new grammar, we get the following result:
 +
 +
:"Audivimus milites Pompei vehementer bellavisse, sed nescimus cur Caesar vicerit."
 +
 +
====Answers 10====
 +
 +
:"Legimus Ciceronem epistulam Bruto de pietate et officio scripsisse."
 +
 +
:"Puto Brutum Ciceronem videre, sed Ciceronem Brutum in hortis Pompeii non videre."
 +
 +
:"Brutus dicit Ciceronem epistulas manu scribere et ita scribere semper amavisse."
 +
 +
:"Quaesivissem quid sapientes de legibus Romae et officiis hominum scriberent."
 +
 +
:"Lentulus dixit cives feminas mundi ubique celebravisse."
 +
 +
:"Quaererem num Caesar Romam a Gallis defenderit."
 +
 +
:"Rogavit Serviliam ut Lucio Domitio Ahenobarbo nobili pulchre scriberet."
 +
 +
:"Credebant Brutum iuvenem Ciceronem veterem in hortis Pompeii Magni vidisse."
 +
 +
:"Iulia pio homini velociter dixit populum Romanum virtutes pietatis semper laudare, tum urbane quaesivit num patriam fideliter defendisset."
 +
 +
:"Iocose narramus magnos eventus quartorum Ludorum Novorum Romanorum hodie finivisse."
 +
 +
:"Senatus iussit ut cives Novi Romani Novam Romam mirabilem et invictam cum certamine Latino et variis aliis ludis celebrarent."
 +
 +
:"Vidi Ciceronem tranquille librum legere, sed tum Brutus clamavit fratrem suum de arbore cecidisse."
 +
 +
:"Dixit nautam Graecum per multas terras mirabiles errare, sed numquam reges aut reginas vidisse."
 +
 +
:"Cum censores in curiam advenerunt, quaesiverunt num senatores boni iam de omnibus rebus decrevissent, et cur aedificium senatus Romani relinquerent."
 +
 +
:"Scribit Caesarem primam cohortem Pompeii heri oppugnavisse et vicisse, et quaerit num milites Pompeii vehementer bellaverint."
 +
 +
:"Scribit in epistula imperatori Lucio Lucullo Caesarem nunquam longas epistulas scribere amavisse, tamen omnes quaestiones nunc respondere."
 +
 +
:"Brutus vidit Ciceronem cellam intrare et quaerere quid Pompeius scriberet."
 +
 +
:"Puto Caninum, Cauponem, Demetriam, Lupum, Placidum, Popiliam, Silvanum, Volsusum, omnes in nostro certamine Latino mirabiliter fecisse."
 +
  
  
Line 1,284: Line 1,759:
 
The final results for the Certamen Latinum for Ludi Novi Romani 2764:
 
The final results for the Certamen Latinum for Ludi Novi Romani 2764:
  
−
* ''1st Place'':
+
* ''1st Place'': [[Publius Annaeus Constantinus Placidus (Nova Roma)|P. Annaeus Constantinus Placidus]] - 499 pts; (Participated in all 10 questions)
−
* ''2nd Place'':
+
* ''2nd Place'': [[Marcus Martianius Lupus (Nova Roma)|M. Martianius Lupus ]] - 477 pts; (Participated in all 10 questions)
−
* ''3rd Place'':
+
* ''3rd Place'': [[Marcus Pompeius Caninus (Nova Roma)|M. Pompeius Caninus]] - 270 pts;  (Participated in 8 questions)
−
* ''4th Place'':
+
* ''4th Place'': V. Valerius Volusus - 262 pts; (Participated in 5 questions)
−
* ''5th Place'':
+
* ''5th Place'': L. Lucretius Caupo - 193 pts; (Participated in 5 questions)
 +
* ''6th Place'': Demetria of Chicago - 86 pts; (Participated in 4 questions)
 +
* ''7th Place'': T. Octavius Silvanus - 76 pts; (Participated in 2 questions)
 +
* ''8th Place'': T. Popillia Laenas - 47 pts; (Participated in 1 question)
 +
 
  
 
</div>
 
</div>

Latest revision as of 14:45, 6 July 2024

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Contents

Preface of the Certamen Latinum

We are the landless nation of the New Romans, the Res Publica Nova Romana, celebrating the 13rd Birthday of Nova Roma today, the Concordialia and the ludi Novi Romani. Our common national language is the Latin. Our patriotic, Roman duty is to learn this language, or at least, to get familiar with some expressions and important facts regarding our wonderful Latin language. It doesn’t matter if you fail learning our language, it doesn’t matter if you can’t. The only thing that matters it’s that you try, that you give some time and effort to honor our Roman identity. Because national identity, first and foremost, lives in the language. We, the Nova Romans, created Nova Roma to restore the Roman national and cultural identity, and its living community: the Roman Res Publica. It’s a huge and important personal step forward to get informed about Latin. Maybe you will never have time or energy to learn it, but it’s your duty to make some efforts, if not learning it, but at least informing you about it in a small extent. If you do only that, you did well already.

By participating in this Latin Contest, Certamen Latinum, you will be guided through the basics of the Latin language. You will get a clue how Latin works, how it looks like “from inside”. We will start from the very bottom and we will arrive to understand some basic Latin sentences. At, the end, every participant will feel that Latin is not so hard as you thought, and maybe you will want to continue learning on your own.

Attention: this Certamen Latinum is designed for beginners, those who actually know Latin are gently asked not to participate since it would not be fair competition.

You can follow the Certamen Latin on our ludus webpage, too: http://novaroma.org/nr/Ludi_Novi_Romani/MMDCCLXIV

Rules of the Certamen Latinum

One question a day will be posted, participants must send their answers to the e-mail address <cnaeus_cornelius AT yahoo DOT com> within 48 hours of posting. Please do *not* post answers to the list! Answers posted publicly or posted to the wrong address will not be awarded with points.

The correct answers of the previous days and interim results will be announced together with the posting of the next questions.


Questions and Answers for the Certamen Latinum


March 3rd - Day 3 of the Ludi Novi Romani – Question 1 of the Certamen Latinum


I. INTRODUCTION 1 - Dictionary Forms of Nouns

Latin is a heavily inflected language, which means that Latin indicates grammatical information by changing the ending of the words. Nouns are grouped into 5 declensions (noun inflection groups), verbs can be classified into 4 conjugations (verb inflection groups). If we change a noun’s ending to express its grammatical role, we say we “decline” it. If we change a verb’s ending to express the person or the time (tense), we say we “conjugate” it. To determine which declension or conjugation group a verb belongs to, you have to look into a Latin dictionary.

Today we will examine the dictionary forms of nouns only.

In the case of nouns, for example, “friend”, you will find:

amicus, -i, m.

This is 3 pieces of information:

(1) amicus;

(2) -i;

(3) m.

(1) This means that the word “friend” in nominative (subject) case is “amicus”. Learn more about what nominative case means here, on our website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Nominative

(2) The abbreviated form “-i” means that the word “friend” in genitive (possessive) case is “amici” (something of friend, or friend’s something), thus the original ending “-us” changes to “-i”. Learn more about what nominative case means here, on our website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Genitive

Well, this is the most important point. This ending “–i” determines that “amicus” belongs to the “second declension”, whose identifier is the genitive “–i”. As we have mentioned, there are 5 declensions, and each one of these has a unique, declension-specific genitive ending. It’s important because the genitive ending determines the other inflections as well. The five types of genitive ending and the five declensions determined by the different genitive endings are:

-ae = 1st declension, e.g.: Roma, -ae, f (Rome)
-i = 2nd declension, eg.: amicus, -i, m (friend)
-is = 3rd declension, e.g.: rex, regis, m (king)
-ús = 4th declension, eg.: senatus, -ús, m (senate)
-ei = 5th declension, eg. fides, -ei, f (loyalty)

(3) The “m.” means that it is a masculine noun. In Latin, all nouns have three genders, they are masculine, (abbreviated as “m”), feminine (abbreviated as “f”), and neuter (abbreviated as “n”). English has a similar phenomenon when we use “he”, “she” or “it”. The new thing in this is that Latin uses these genders for things or abstract concepts, too, like in the exemples above, “loyalty” (fides, -ei, f) is feminine in Latin, the “senate” (senatus, -ús, m) is masculine, “Rome” (Roma, -ae, f) is, again, feminine.

II. QUESTION 1

Find a Latin dictionary. Attention! If you use an online dictionary, be aware that most of the online dictionaries are incomplete and do not give the full, correct dictionary forms of the Latin words. If you can use only online resources, please use one of the following Google Books digitalized Latin dictionary:

http://books.google.com/books?id=k1ZFAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false

Look into the dictionary and determine which declensions the following 10 nouns belong to (10 x 1 pts).

Solve the abbreviations and spell out, write out the full forms of their possessive form (genitive) (10 x 0.5 pts) and their gender (10 x 0.1 pts).

forum
consul
gloria
dignitas
res
pax
nomen
gladius
legio
porticus

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

praetor;

- after looking into a dictionary, you will find its dictionary form is “praetor, -oris, m”, so you will give the following data:

praetor, 3rd declension (1pt); praetoris (0.5pt), masculine (0.1pt)
  • Comments: It’s 3rd declension, because in the abbreviated genitive form given as “–oris” for "praetoris", the genitive ending “-is” determines that it must belong to the 3rd declension.

Answers 1

forum, 2nd declension, fori, neuter
consul, 3rd declension, consulis, masculine
gloria, 1st declension, gloriae, feminine
dignitas, 3rd declension, dignitatis, feminine
res, 5th declension, rei, feminine
pax, 3rd declension, pacis, feminine
nomen, 3rd declension, nominis, neuter
gladius, 2nd declension, gladii, masculine
legio, 3rd declension, legionis, feminine
porticus, 4th declension, porticus, feminine


March 4th - Day 4 of the Ludi Novi Romani – Question 2 of the Certamen Latinum


I. INTRODUCTION 2 - Dictionary Forms of Verbs

Previously we discussed the dictionary form of the Latin nouns. We have learned that the dictionary forms of the nouns include the genitive (possessive) form of the noun, and its ending determines the entire inflection of the noun, the declension of the noun.

Today we study the dictionary forms of the verbs. How can we decide what conjugation (verb inflection group) a verb belongs to?

In the case of the verb “have”, you will find:

habeo –ére, -bui, -bitum

This is 4 pieces of information:

(1) habeo; it is the first person singular of the verb “have”. It means “I have”.

(2) –ere; it’s an abbreviation of “habere”, the infinite of the verb. It means “to have”.

(3) –bui; it’s an abbreviation of “habui”, the perfect tense of the verb. It means “I have had” or “I had”.

(4) –bitum; abbreviation of “habitum”, it’s the supine (or the past participle).

This verb’s infinitive, “habére” (to have), indicated in the dictionary form as “–ére” shows that this verb belongs to the 2nd conjugations, as all verbs that have the infinitive ending “-ére” belong to the 2nd conjugation. The second dictionary element, the infinitive, determines which conjugation the verb belongs to. The four types of infinitive endings and the four conjugations determined by the different infinitive endings are:

-are = 1st conjugation; e.g.: amo, -are, -avi, -atum (I love)
-ére = 2nd conjugation; e.g.: habeo, -ere, -bui, -bitum (I have)
-ere = 3rd conjugation; e.g.: dico, -ere, dixi, dictum (I say)
-ire = 4th conjugation; e.g.: audio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (I hear)

Note that “–ere”, which is short vowel, is different from “–ére”, which is long vowel.

II. QUESTION 2

Use the Latin dictionary that we used last time, or, if you have to use an online Latin dictionary, use this one:

http://books.google.com/books?id=k1ZFAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false

Look into the dictionary and determine which conjugations the following 10 verbs belong to (10 x 1 pts).

Solve the abbreviations and spell out, write out the full forms of their infinitive form (10 x 0.5 pts) and their perfect tense form (10 x 0.5 pts), and their supine/past participle (10 x 0.5 pts).

impero
facio
debeo
veto
edico
laudo
respondeo
servio

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

ago;

- after looking into a dictionary, you will find its dictionary form is “ago, -ere, egi, actum”, so you will give the following data:

ago, 3rd conjugation (1pt); agere (0.5pt), egi (0.5pt), actum (0.5pt)
  • Comments: it’s 3rd conjugation because the infinitive (second dictionary form) “–ere” ending shows it. If it were “–ére” with long vowel “é”, it would have been 2nd conjugation.

Answers 2

impero, 1st conjugation, imperare, imperavi, imperatum
facio, 3rd conjugation, facere, feci, factum
debeo, 2nd conjugation, debere, debui, debitum
veto, 1st conjugation, vetare, vetui, vetitum
edico, 3rd conjugation, edicere, edixi, edictum
laudo, 1st conjugation, laudare, laudavi, laudatum
respondeo, 2nd conjugation, respondére, respondi, responsum
servio, 4th conjugation, servire, servivi, servitum


March 5th - Day 5 of the Ludi Novi Romani – Question 3 of the Certamen Latinum


I. INTRODUCTION 3 - Declining Nouns in the Nominative, Accusative and Genitive Cases

The day before yesterday we discussed the dictionary form of the Latin nouns. Yesterday we talked about the dictionary form of the verbs. These are essential things to understand before you start using Latin words. Now you are armed to start using Latin words in sentences.

How does Latin use the words in sentences? Does it place them in a particular word order to express grammatical function, such as subject and object? Nope. That's the big difference between Latin and English. English uses word order to express who is the subject (the performer, who does something) or the object (which is what the action is being done to, for example, "reading a book", where "book" is the object). In English, the object is always placed after the verb, word order determines whether a word is an object or not. Latin, however, uses word ending to express grammatical function, such as the object. Latin differentiates subject from object by word ending, i.e. by inflections which is called declension. We learned for the first question of the Certamen Latinum how to determine which declension a noun belongs to. Now it's time to make use of this knowledge. We will decline some words creating subjects, objects, or possessive forms from them. Please review the information about how to determine which declension a noun belongs to, following this link:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Ludi_Novi_Romani/MMDCCLXIV/Certamen_Latinum

Today we learn how to change the endings of the Latin nouns pertaining to different declensions.

In Latin, the subject form of a noun is called the 'nominative case'. Learn more here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Nominative

The object form of a noun is called the 'accusative case' in Latin. Check this out, on our website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Accusative

The Latin possessive form of a noun is called 'genitive case'. We learned about it when studying the dictionary forms of nouns. We know why the genitive is so important: the genitive ending differentiates what declension a noun belongs to. Therefore the genitive of each noun is given in the dictionary, and when somebody learns Latin nouns, he learns the genitive of the noun together with the first dictionary form, the nominative, because without knowing the genitive of the word, you could not know which declination it belongs to, and thus you could not decline the word, which means you could not use the word in a sentence. Learn more about genitive here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Genitive

II. QUESTION 3

Put the following nouns into the *singular* and *plural* *nominative*, *accusative* and *genitive* cases (10 x 6pts), using our website as your guide to how to decline the nouns. Use these same links I have given above:
http://novaroma.org/nr/Nominative
http://novaroma.org/nr/Accusative
http://novaroma.org/nr/Genitive

Be careful, and read ALL information on the pages!

pietas, -atis, f = goodness, piety
telephonum, -i, n = phone
consulatus, -ús, m = consulship
deus, -i, m = god
gens, gentis, f = clan
concordia, -ae, f = agreement
ius, iuris, n = right
dies, -éí, mf = day
lex, legis, f = law
bicyclum, -i, n = bicycle

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

res, -ei, f = thing;

- after analyzing this dictionary form, you see that its genitive abbreviated is "-ei", which means that its genitive form written out is: "rei". The genitive ending "-ei" marks the Fifth Declension. Therefore you go to the website, and search for the respective nominative plural, accusative and genitive forms that are needed. You will find them and you can give the following forms:

SINGULAR
nominative = res (1 pt)
accusative = rem (1 pt)
genitive = rei (1 pt)
PLURAL
nominative = res (1 pt)
accusative = res (1 pt)
genitive = rerum (1 pt)

Answers 3

SINGULAR
nominative = pietás
accusative = pietátem
genitive = pietátis
PLURAL
nominative = pietátés
accusative = pietátés
genitive = pietátum
SINGULAR
nominative = telephonum
accusative = telephonum
genitive = telephoní
PLURAL
nominative = telephona
accusative = telephona
genitive = telephonórum
SINGULAR
nominative = consulátus
accusative = consulátum
genitive = consulátús
PLURAL
nominative = consulátús
accusative = consulátús
genitive = consulátuum
SINGULAR
nominative = deus
accusative = deum
genitive = deí
PLURAL
nominative =deí OR dí
accusative = deós
genitive = deórum
SINGULAR
nominative = géns
accusative = gentem
genitive = gentis
PLURAL
nominative = gentés
accusative = gentés
genitive = gentium
SINGULAR
nominative = concordia
accusative = concordiam
genitive = concordiæ
PLURAL
nominative = concordiæ
accusative = concordiás
genitive = concordiárum
SINGULAR
nominative = iús
accusative = iús
genitive = iúris
PLURAL
nominative = iúra
accusative = iúra
genitive = iúrum
SINGULAR
nominative = diés
accusative = diem
genitive = diéí
PLURAL
nominative = diés
accusative = diés
genitive = diérum
SINGULAR
nominative = léx
accusative = légem
genitive = légis
PLURAL
nominative = légés
accusative = légés
genitive = légum
SINGULAR
nominative = bicyclum
accusative = bicyclum
genitive = bicyclí
PLURAL
nominative = bicycla
accusative = bicycla
genitive = bicyclórum


March 6th - Day 6 of the Ludi Novi Romani – Question 4 of the Certamen Latinum


I. INTRODUCTION 4 - Declining Nouns in the Dative and Ablative Cases

We have so far discussed the dictionary forms of the Latin nouns and verbs. Yesterday we tried out how to decline nouns in the nominative, accusative and genitive cases, both in singular and plural. We continue our tasting the declensions with declining nouns today in the remaining two cases, dative, and ablative.

Please review the information about how to determine which declension a noun belongs to, following this link:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Ludi_Novi_Romani/MMDCCLXIV/Certamen_Latinum

We continue learning how to change the endings of the Latin nouns pertaining to different declensions, in the dative and ablative cases.

The indirect object expresses the recipient of an action, line in the following sentence: I give a book to Hortensius - where "to Hortensius" is the indirect object. In Latin, the indirect object form of a noun is called the 'dative case'. Learn more here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Dative

The adverbial form of a noun is called the 'ablative case' in Latin. The ablative can express time, manner, place, cause and similar adverbials. Check this out, on our website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Ablative

II. QUESTION 4

Put the following nouns into the *singular* and *plural* *dative* and *ablative* cases (10 x 4pts), using our website as your guide to how to decline the nouns. Use these same links I have given above:
http://novaroma.org/nr/Dative
http://novaroma.org/nr/Ablative

Be careful, and read ALL information on the pages!

pietas, -atis, f = goodness, piety
telephonum, -i, n = phone
consulatus, -ús, m = consulship
deus, -i, m = god
gens, gentis, f = clan
concordia, -ae, f = agreement
ius, iuris, n = right
dies, -éí, mf = day
lex, legis, f = law
bicyclum, -i, n = bicycle

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

res, -ei, f = thing;

- after analyzing this dictionary form, you see that its genitive abbreviated is "-ei", which means that its genitive form written out is: "rei". The genitive ending "-ei" marks the Fifth Declension. Therefore you go to the website, and search for the respective dative and ablative forms that are needed. You will find them and you can give the following forms:

SINGULAR
dative = rei (1 pt)
ablative = re (1 pt)
PLURAL
dative = rebus (1 pt)
ablative = rebus (1 pt)

Answers 4

SINGULAR
dative = pietati
ablative = pietate
PLURAL
dative = pietatibus
ablative = pietatibus
SINGULAR
dative = telephono
ablative = telephono
PLURAL
dative = telephonis
ablative = telephonis
SINGULAR
dative = consulatui
ablative = consulatu
PLURAL
dative = consulatibus
ablative = consulatibus
SINGULAR
dative = deo
ablative = deo
PLURAL
dative = deis
ablative = deis
SINGULAR
dative = genti
ablative = gente
PLURAL
dative = gentibus
ablative = gentibus
SINGULAR
dative = concordiae
ablative = concordia
PLURAL
dative = concordiis
ablative = concordiis
SINGULAR
dative = iuri
ablative = iure
PLURAL
dative = iuribus
ablative = iuribus
SINGULAR
dative = diei
ablative = die
PLURAL
dative = diebus
ablative = diebus
SINGULAR
dative = legi
ablative = lege
PLURAL
dative = legibus
ablative = legibus
SINGULAR
dative = bicyclo
ablative = bicyclo
PLURAL
dative = bicyclis
ablative = bicyclis


March 7th - Day 7 of the Ludi Novi Romani – Question 5 of the Certamen Latinum


I. INTRODUCTION 5 - Conjugating Verbs in the Present Tense

We have so far discussed the dictionary forms of the Latin nouns and verbs. We tried out how to decline nouns. Today we get a bit more familiar with verbs, and we will try those "formidable" conjugations.

Please review the information about how to determine which conjugation a verb belongs to, following this link:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation

Today we will practice the Present Tense. This tense is equivalent of the English Present Progressive (I am reading) and Present Simple (I read).

Unlike English, Latin uses verb endings to express the person and number of the verb, and its tense or mood. These endings are in general the same for all conjugation groups, but there is some variation respectively to the stem vowel, which means that while, e.g. the singular third person ending is "-t" in all conjugations, in the 1st conjugation it's realized as "-at", because it's the A-Stem conjugation, in the 2nd conjugation it's "-et", (as they are the E-Stem) etc.

Please study carefully how the conjugations work in Present Tense:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Present_tense

II. QUESTION 5

Determine which conjugation the following verbs belong to, and conjugate them in the Present Tense (6 x 6 pts).

Follow the guidelines here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation

Be careful, and read ALL information on the pages!

video, -ére, vidi, visum (see)
puto, -are, -avi, -atum (think)
lego, -ere, legi, lectum (read)
deleo, -ére, -évi, -étum (delete)
sentio, -ire, sensi, sensum (feel)
facio, -ere, feci, factum (make)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

cupio, -ere, -ivi, -itum (wish);

- after analyzing this dictionary form, you see that its infinitive (2nd dictionary form) is abbreviated as "-ere", which means that its full infinitive form written out is: "cupere". The infinitive ending "-ere" marks the Third Conjugation. Therefore you go to the website, and search for the Present Tense personal endings respective to this conjugation. You will find them and you can give the following forms:

SINGULAR
cupio (1 pt)
cupis (1 pt)
cupit (1 pt)
PLURAL
cupimus (1 pt)
cupitis (1 pt)
cupiunt (1 pt)

Answers 5

SINGULAR
video
vides
videt
PLURAL
videmus
videtis
vident
SINGULAR
puto
putas
putat
PLURAL
putamus
putatis
putant
SINGULAR
lego
legis
legit
PLURAL
legimus
legitis
legunt
SINGULAR
deleo
deles
delet
PLURAL
delemus
deletis
delent
SINGULAR
sentio
sentis
sentit
PLURAL
sentimus
sentitis
sentiunt
SINGULAR
facio
facis
facit
PLURAL
facimus
facitis
faciunt


March 8th - Day 8 of the Ludi Novi Romani – Question 6 of the Certamen Latinum


I. INTRODUCTION 6 - Simple Latin Sentences

We have so far discussed the dictionary forms of the Latin nouns and verbs. We tried out how to decline nouns, and how to conjugate verbs in the Present Tense. Today we start using our knowledge, and we create our first Latin sentences! We get real! That's what we all waited for - now, we'll taste speaking and writing in Latin.

In order to start this, please review everything we learned about conjugations and declensions, following these links:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation

Today we try out writing some simple Latin sentences. But how to start this? Let's clarify four rules about Latin sentences.

How does Latin use the words in sentences? Does it place them in a particular word order to express grammatical function, such as subject and object? Nope. That's the big difference between Latin and English.

1. Word order

Good news! There is absolutely no obligatory word order in Latin! You can place the words in any particular order. It means that you can not screw up a Latin sentence's word order - but you must be informed that any change in the word order indicates a slightly different emphasis in the sentence. Normal, non-emphatic Latin sentences tend to display a "Subject - Adverbial - Object - Verb" word order. But it's not our level of knowledge, and we will not engage in this depth of Latin grammar. So, for now, write as you like. It can't be wrong.

2. Word endings - using the cases of the declensions

That's a bit more difficult. Latin is a heavily inflected language, which means that Latin indicates grammatical function such as "subject" and "object", by changing the ending of the words. English uses word order to express who is the subject (the performer, who does something) or the object (which is what the action is being done to, for example, "reading a book", where "book" is the object). In English, the object is always placed after the verb, word order determines whether a word is an object or not. Latin, however, uses the accusative word ending to express the object of the sentence. Latin differentiates subject from object (or any grammatical function) by word ending. You must use -

- the nominative form for expressing subject ("CICERO writes a letter."),
- the accusative ending to express an object (Cicero writes A LETTER."),
- the genitive for possession ("It's CICERO'S letter."),
- the dative for indirect object, ("Cicero writes a letter TO BRUTUS.")
- and the ablative for various adverbials ("Cicero writes a letter BY HAND/ON PAPYRUS/FOR FUN/etc.").

We learned for the first question of the Certamen Latinum how to determine which declension a noun belongs to. Now it's time to make use of this knowledge and to use the declined forms of nouns in sentences.

3. Word endings - using the personal endings of the conjugations

We saw in yesterday's exercise that unlike English, Latin uses verb endings to express the person and number of the verb, and its tense or mood. You must identify who performs the action described by the verb of the sentence: I, you, he/she/it, we, you (plural) or they. Once it's determined, you will use the proper personal endings, respectively to the conjugation which the verb belongs to.

4. Articles

There are no articles in Latin! Yahoooo!... There is no definite (the) or indefinite article (a, an) either. When you write in Latin, you simply forget about them. No rules to be memorized, no problems when to use them or when not to. Long live the freedom from articles! :)

II. QUESTION 6

Translate the following simple sentences to Latin. The Latin words needed to these translations are given below in their dictionary form. Use them.

Follow the guidelines here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation

Be careful, and read ALL information on the pages!

"Cicero writes a letter to Brutus on loyalty and duty." (6 pts)
Cicero, -onis, m (Cicero)
scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)
epistula, -ae, f (letter, mail)
Brutus, -i, m (Brutus)
de + ablative (on; about)
pietas, -atis, f (loyalty)
officium, -i, n (duty)
"Brutus sees Cicero, but Cicero does not see Brutus in the gardens of Pompey." (8pts)
video, -ére, vidi, visum (see)
sed (but)
non (not; no)
in + ablative (in)
hortus, -i, m (garden)
Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
  • Comment: "does/do not" in Latin is expressed by "non + verb in conjugated form", in this case it's literally "Brutus sees not Cicero".
"Brutus says to Cicero:'You write letters by hand because you love to write'." (8 pts)
dico, -ere, dixi, dictum (say)
manus, -ús, f (hand)
quia (because)
amo, -are, -avi, -atum (love)
  • Comment: "by" is expressed here by using the ablative without preposition.
"They are writing about the laws of Rome and about the duties of men." (5 pts)
lex, legis, f (law)
de + ablative (about; on)
Roma, -ae, f (Rome)
homo, -inis m (man)
"Today we celebrate the women of the world everywhere." (4 pts)
hodie (today)
celebro, -are, -avi, -atum (celebrate)
femina, -ae, f (woman)
mundus, -i, m (world)
everywhere (ubique)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

"Caesar is defending Rome from the Gauls." (would be 4 pts)
Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)
defendo, -ere, -endi, -ensum (defend)
Roma, -ae, f (Rome)
a + ablative (from)
Gallus, -i, m (Gaul person, Gaulish)

- after analyzing this English sentence, we find that "is defending" is the predicate of the sentence, and as we learned from the previous exercises, Latin Present Tense includes both English Present Progressive (is defending) and Present Simple (defends). Thus, "he is defending" is equal to "he defends", Present singular third person. We examine the dictionary form of "defendo": we see it's third conjugation because infinitive ending "-ere" indicates belonging to the third conjugation. In the table of conjugations on the website, we find that the third conjugation singular 3rd person ending is "-it". So "he defends"/"he is defending" becomes "defendit" (1 pt).
- We find that the subject is "Caesar". We need the nominative then, and we see in the declension table that it's simply "Caesar", no change is needed in the word ending (1 pt).
- We find the object, which is "Rome". The genitive ending of the dictionary form "-ae" shows it's first declension, where singular accusatives end in "-am". So "Rome" becomes "Romam" (1 pt).
- We see that "from" in Latin is "a + ablative". Then we must put "Gallus" into plural ablative and place it after the preposition "a". From the table of declensions, after we have realized it's second declension as the genitive "-i" indicates, we chose the ending "-is", and the final form will be "a Gallis" (1 pt).
- We put the sentence together, in any optional word order, but keeping in mind that normal, un-emphatic Latin word order is Subject - Adverbial - Object - Verb:

"Caesar a Gallis Romam defendit."

Answers 6

"Cicero epistulam Bruto de pietate et officio scribit."
"Brutus Ciceronem videt, sed Cicero Brutum in hortis Pompeii non videt."
"Brutus Ciceroni dicit: ‘Epistulas manu scribis quia scribere amas’."
"De legibus Romae et officiis hominum scribunt."
"Hodie feminas mundi ubique celebramus.”


March 9th - Day 9 of the Ludi Novi Romani – Question 7 of the Certamen Latinum


I. INTRODUCTION 7 - Adjectives and Adverbs

We have so far learned the dictionary forms of Latin nouns and verbs. We declined nouns, and conjugated verbs in the Present Tense, and we composed our first simple Latin sentences yesterday. Today we broaden our focus and will include Latin adjectives and adverbs into the game, always in sentences, from now on. We are not Latin babies anymore, we are proud to exercise ourselves only in sentences, once we have got this far.

How does the taste of using real Latin feel? We haven't even noticed, and we are already actually speaking and writing in Latin. And it is not even so hard! And all that's achieved within just 6 days...! Where's yet the 10th day of the certamen? We will perhaps become completely fluent in Latin till March 13th ;-)

But more work is ahead of us right now. In order to fix what we have learned so far, please review everything we learned about conjugations, declensions and simple Latin sentences, following these links:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation

http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence

It wouldn't harm if you reviewed all questions and answers presented in this quiz until today:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Ludi_Novi_Romani/MMDCCLXIV/Certamen_Latinum

Today we become familiar with Latin adjectives and adverbs, and we will build them into nice little Latin sentences. I suggest we start with the adjectives.

1. Adjectives

Adjectives are words like "big", "small", "nice", "ugly", "quick", "red" etc., they describe qualities, what like one is.

You must remember that Latin nouns have genders, marked by "m.", "f.", "n." in the dictionary forms. These are abbreviations for masculine, feminine and neuter. English has a similar phenomenon when we use “he”, “she” or “it”. Latin, however, uses these genders for things or abstract concepts, too, like in these examples where “loyalty” (fides, -ei, f) is feminine in Latin, the “senate” (senatus, -ús, m) is masculine, “Rome” (Roma, -ae, f) is, again, feminine. In general, we can state that things connectible with males, or virile, robust things are masculine (thus "senatus" is masculine because the senate consisted of men), things connectible with females, womanly, soft and gentle things, abstract ideas, terms and concepts (noble concepts like "freedom", "fatherland", countries, cities) are all of feminine gender (hence "Roma" is feminine, as a city/country, and "fides" as and abstract idea or noble concept), and simple objects, means or places and things, especially those made of non-living material, are neuter, however, there are a lot of exemptions. The more Latin words you learn, the better you will see that these rules are just very gross generalizations, and the sad truth is that you must memorize the gender of each Latin word you want to know. 'But why?' - you ask. Here come to the pictures: the adjectives.

1.1. Gender-Number-Case Agreement Rule
Latin adjectives must agree in gender, number and case with the noun to which they are attached to: so it's essential that you know the gender of each noun if you want to add an adjective to it. A neuter noun in genitive singular can only get a neuter adjective in genitive singular, a masculine plural noun in accusative can only get a masculine plural adjective in the accusative.
1.2. Types of Adjectives
In order to assure that each adjective can accompany all nouns of any gender, all Latin adjectives are of three genders. Each adjective is masculine, feminine and neuter at the same time. Adjectives of the 1st-2nd declension have three separate forms as variants for all three genders (bonus, -i, m.; bona, -ae, f.; bonum, -i, n.: "good"); adjectives of the 3rd declension have only two forms, one variant for the masculine and feminine, and another variant for the neuter (fortis, -is, m./f.; forte, -is, n.: "brave"), and there are some adjectives of the 3rd declension that have only one form, which may be used for all three genders (felix, -icis m./f./n.: "fortunate").
1.2.1. Adjectives of three forms in the 1st-2nd Declension
Adjectives which have three separate forms, as you can see from the example above, in masculine have an ending in "-us" (bonus), in neuter in "-um" (bonum), and both have the genitive "-i", which makes both the masculine and neuter forms belong to the 2nd declension. The feminine variant, however, ends in "-a" (bona), and with the genitive "-ae" it belongs to the 1st declension. They have the abbreviated dictionary form:
bonus, -a, -um (good)
where the genitive forms are omitted because the users of the dictionaries are expected to know that all of the adjectives of this type follow the same pattern, the masculine and neuter belonging to the 2nd declension, the feminine to the 1st declension.
1.2.2. Adjectives of two forms in the 3rd Declension
Adjectives having only two forms, one combined masculine-feminine, and another for the neuter, have the ending "-is" in the masculine-genitive variant (fortis), and the ending "-e" for the neuter form (forte). Both variants, however, share the same genitive "-is", which means that this class of adjectives all belongs to the third declension, and within that, to the I-Stem sub-group. Their dictionary form is:
fortis, -e (brave)
with genitive forms omitted again, as they, too, follow the same pattern always.
1.2.2. Adjectives of one single form in the 3rd Declension
Adjectives with only one single form, like "felix, -icis", don't have a specific nominative ending, but they all have the genitive ending "-is", which means, they are all belonging to the third declension. Most of them is of I-Stem, some of them is Consonant-Stem. Their genitive form is:
felix, -icis (fortunate)
where the genitive is given, because their genitive form may show great variety, including forms like:
sapiens, -entis (wise)
audax, -acis (bold)
vetus, -eris (ancient)
So what to do with all these adjectives, when placing them into a sentence?
1.3. Adjectives' Word Order
You make them agree in gender, number and case with the noun you want to attach them to, and place them after the noun, because Latin adjectives follow the nouns. It's like as if you would say "house big" instead of "big house" in English. But sometimes English does this, too! Or can't we say "all things Roman", instead of "all Roman things"?

2. Adverbs

Adverbs answer the question "How?". They describe manner and way, like "quickly" (from "quick"), "surprisingly" (from "surprising"), "shortly" (from "short"), "nicely" (from "nice") etc.

Even from these examples you can see that adverbs are created from adjectives, by adding an ending "-ly" in the English language. Adverbs are derived from adjectives (in most cases), hence why we discuss them together.

Latin has a solution similar to the English method of adding an ending "-ly" to adjectives, but in Latin, since more types of adjectives exist, there are more ways of forming the adverb.

2.1. Adverbs from Adjectives of the 1st-2nd Declension
From an adjective like clarus, -a, -um (clear), you form the adverb by cutting down the case endings, and adding an "-e" to the unchangeable stem of the word, "clar-", thus creating "clare" (clearly).
2.2. Adverbs from Adjectives of the 3rd Declension
From adjectives like "fortis, -e" (brave), or "felix, -icis" (fortunate), you form the adverb by cutting down the case endings, and adding an "-iter" to the unchangeable stem of the word, "fort-" or "felic-", thus creating "fortiter" (bravely) and "feliciter" (fortunately).
2.3. Adverbs from Adjectives of the 3rd Declension Ending in "-ns"
From adjectives like "sapiens, -entis" (wise), where the word ends in "-ns", and the genitive is "-ntis", you form the adverb by adding an "-er" to the unchangeable stem of the word, "sapient-", thus creating "sapienter" (wisely).
Some words have irregular adverbs, like "bene" (well) from "bonus, -a, -um" (good), or "facile" (easily) from "facilis, -e" (easy), but we will not discuss them within the frames of our Ludi Novi Romani.

II. QUESTION 7

Translate the following simple sentences to Latin containing adjectives and adverbs. The Latin words needed to these translations are given below in their dictionary form. Use them.

Follow the guidelines here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence

Be careful, and read ALL information on the pages!

"The beautiful Servilia writes elegantly to the big family of the noble Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus." (7 pts)
pulcher, -chra, -chrum (beautiful)
Servilia, -ae, f (Servilia)
scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)
elegans, -antis (elegant)
magnus, -a, -um (big)
familia, -ae, f (family)
nobilis, -e (noble)
Lucius, -i, m; Domitius, -i, m; Ahenobarbus, -i, m (Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus)
"The young Brutus sees old Cicero sharply in the beautiful gardens of Pompey the Great." (5 pts)
iuvenis, -e (young)
video, -ére, vidi, visum (see)
vetus, -eris (old)
acutus, -a, -um (sharp)
in + ablative (in)
hortus, -i, m (garden)
Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
magnus, -a, -um (great)
"Iulia says quickly to a patriotic man:'I praise your big hands because they faithfully defend the beautiful fatherland'." (12 pts)
Iulia, -ae, f (Iulia)
dico, -ere, dixi, dictum (say)
velox, -ocis (quick)
pius, -a, -um (patriotic)
homo, -inis, m (man)
laudo, -are, -avi, -atum (praise)
tuus, -a, -um (your)
manus, -ús, f (hand)
quia (because)
fidelis, -e (faithful)
defendo, -ere, -endi, -ensum (defend)
patria, -ae, f (fatherland)
"We are funnily telling about the great events of the fourth Nova Roman Games." (7 pts)
iocosus, -a, -um (funny)
narro, -are, -avi, -atum (tell)
de + ablative (about; on)
eventus, -ús, m (event)
quartus, -a, -um (fourth)
Novus, -a, -um, Romanus, -a, um (Nova Roman)
ludus, -i, m (game)
"Nova Roman citizens happily celebrate the admired and invincible Nova Roma with Latin competition and various other games." (11 pts)
civis, -is mf (citizen)
beatus, -a, -um (happy)
celebro, -are, -avi, -atum (celebrate)
mirabilis, -e (admired)
invictus, -a, -um (invincible)
cum + ablative (with)
Latinus, -a, -um (Latin)
certamen, -inus, n (competition)
et (and)
varius, -a, -um (various)
alius, -a, -ud (other)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

"The great Cicero slowly writes long letters to the wise Brutus." (7 pts)
magnus, -a, -um (great)
Cicero, -onis, m (Cicero)
lentus, -a, -um (slow)
scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)
longus, -a, -um (long)
epistula, -ae, f (letter, mail)
sapiens, -entis (wise)
Brutus, -i, m (Brutus)

- you will have to determine the gender, number and case of the nouns "Cicero", "letter" and "Brutus", then you will have to pick the appropriate gender variant of the attached adjective, and to put it into the number and case in which the noun stands.
- You'll find easily that "Cicero" is the subject, so this is nominative in Latin. The word is "Cicero, -onis, m", thus masculine, so "great" in "great Cicero" will have to be a masculine singular nominative from "magnus, -a, -um (great)". It's simply "magnus". (1 pt)
- "Slowly" is an adverb. We cut of the case endings of "lentus, -a, -um" (slow), getting "lent-", and we add the "-e", which is the proper adverb ending for adverbs derived from the 1st-2nd declensions adjectives. (1 pt)
- "Letters" is the object and it's plural, so we will need a plural accusative from "epistula, -ae, f (letter)", which is "epistulas". (1 pt) "Long", which is "longus, -a, -um" in Latin, has to agree with "epistulas", so we need the plural accusative of the feminine variant "longa", which is "longas". (1 pt)
- "To (the wise) Brutus" is singular dative, in Latin it's "Bruto" from "Brutus, -i, m". (1 pt) So we need the singular dative of the masculine variant of "sapiens, -entis" (wise). However, sapiens is an "unvarying" adjective like "felix, -icis", which means that in all genders it uses the same form. So we simply take the dative of sapiens, which is "sapienti". (1 pt) So the full sentence is, with the good translation of scribit (1 pt):

"Cicero magnus lente Bruto sapienti epistulas longas scribit."

Answers 7

"Servilia pulchra eleganter familiae magnae nobilis Lucii Domitii Ahenobarbi scribit."
"Brutus iuvenis acute in hortis pulchris Pompeii Magni Ciceronem veterem videt."
"Iulia velociter homini pio dicit: 'Manus magnas tuas laudo, quia fideliter patriam pulchram defendunt'".
"De eventibus magnis quartorum ludorum Novorum Romanorum iocose narramus."
"Cives Novi Romani cum certamine Latino et variis aliis ludis beate Novam Romam mirabilem et invictam celebrant."



March 10th - Day 10 of the Ludi Novi Romani – Question 8 of the Certamen Latinum


I. INTRODUCTION 8 - Past Tenses

We have so far learned the dictionary forms of Latin nouns and verbs. We declined nouns, and conjugated verbs in the Present Tense, and we composed simple Latin sentences. Yesterday we discussed and practiced the usage of Latin adjectives and adverbs.

Today we will learn about the three Past Tenses of Latin verbs.

1. The Imperfect Tense

The Imperfect Tense indicates a perpetual, ongoing, but incomplete action in the past. It can expresses any action in the past that was not completed. This tense is similar to the English Past Progressive ("I was saying"), but depending on context, it can also be identified with English Past Simple ("I said"). "Dícébam" can be translated to mean "I was saying," "I said," or "I used to say".

This tense is formed from the 2nd dictionary part, by cutting off the infinitive endings "-are", "-ére", "-ere" and "-ire", and replacing them with the personal endings shown in the table on our website, respectively to the conjugation group to which the verb belongs to.

Learn the conjugation of the Imperfect Tense on our website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Imperfect_Tense

2. The Perfect Tense

The Perfect Tense refers to an action completed in the past. The Perfect Tense expresses a finished action in the past. If the action were not finished, but still lies in the past, one would use the Imperfect Tense. The Latin Perfect Tense is equivalent to the English Present Perfect ("I have said"), but unlike English, the Latin Perfect Tense is used in the function of English Past Simple whenever it describes a finished, completed event. Thus "díxí" can be translated as "I have said," or "I said".

This tense is formed from the 3rd dictionary part, by cutting off the Perfect Tense first person singular ending "-í", and replacing it with the personal endings shown in the table on our website.

Learn the conjugation of the Perfect Tense on our website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Perfect_Tense

3. The Pluperfect Tense

The Pluperfect Tense expresses an action which was completed before another completed action. As with English, in Latin, the Pluperfect is used to assert an action that was completed before another. "Díxeram" translates as "I had said."

This tense is formed from the 3rd dictionary part, by cutting off the Perfect Tense first person singular ending "-í", and replacing it with the personal endings shown in the table on our website.

Learn the conjugation of the Pluperfect Tense on our website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Pluperfect_Tense

II. QUESTION 8

Translate the following simple sentences to Latin, using the three types of Past Tenses, the Imperfect, the Perfect and the Pluperfect in their proper places. The Latin words needed to these translations are given below in their dictionary form. Use them.

Follow the guidelines here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation
http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence

Be careful, and read ALL information on the pages!

"You were calmly reading a long book, when I shouted your name, because I had fallen off the tree." (9 pts)
tranquillus, -a, um (calm)
lego, -ere, legi, lectum (read)
longus, -a, -um (long)
liber, libri, m (book)
cum (when)
clamo, -are, -avi, -atum (shout)
tuus, -a, -um (your)
nomen, -inis, n (name)
quia (because)
cado, -ere, cecidi, casurus (fall)
de + ablative (off)
arbor, -oris, f (tree)
"I roamed through many wonderful countries, but I have never seen kings or queens." (7 pts)
erro, -are, -avi, -atum (roam)
per + accusative (through)
multus, -a, -um (much, many)
mirabilis, -e (wonderful)
terra, -ae, f (land, country)
sed (but)
numquam (never)
video, -ere, vidi, visum (see)
rex, regis, m (king)
regina, -ae, f (queen)


"When the censors arrived to the curia, the good senators had already decided about all things and they were leaving the building of the Roman senate." (12 pts)
censor, -oris, m (censor)
advenio, -ire, -veni, -ventum (arrive)
in + accusative (into, to)
curia, -ae, f (curia)
bonus, -a, -um (good)
senator, -oris, m (senator)
decerno, -ere, decrevi, -cretum (decide)
iam (already)
de + ablative (about)
omnis, -e (all)
res, rei, f (thing)
et (and)
relinquo, -ere, -liqui, -lictum (leave)
aedificium, -i, n (building)
Romanus, -a, -um (Roman)
senatus, -ús, m (senate)
"Yesterday Caesar attacked the first cohort of Pompey and won, although the soldiers of Pompey were fighting vehemently." (9 pts)
heri (yesterday)
Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)
oppugno, -are, -avi, -atum (attack)
primus, -a, -um (first)
cohors, -ortis f (cohort)
Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
vinco, -ere, vici, victum (win)
quamquam (although)
miles, -itis, m (soldier)
bello, -are, -avi, -atum (fight)
vehemens, -entis (vehement)
"He finished the letter to the commander Lucius Lucullus, because he had answered all questions, and he never loved to write long letters." (12 pts)
finio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (finish)
epistula, -ae, f (letter)
imperator, -oris, m (commander)
Lucius, -i, m; Lucullus -i, m (Lucius Lucullus)
respondeo, -ere, -ndi, -nsum (answer)
quaestio, -onis, f (question)
amo, -are, -avi, -atum (love)
scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

"Cicero entered the room where Pompey was writing." (4 pts)
Cicero, -onis, m (Cicero)
intro, -are, -avi, -atum (enter)
cella, -ae, f (room)
ubi (where)
Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)

- you will have to analize the two predicates, "entered" and "was writing". With "was writing" there is no problem at all, because this an English Past Progressive, which in Latin is always appears as an Imperfect. Thus, form the conjugation table, you will get "scribebat". (1 pt)
- "Enter" is more difficulted, because it's English Past Simple, which can be both Latin Imperfect and Latin Perfect. Since we have already an Imperfect and this action of "entering the room" is "more finished" than Pompey's "writing", it seems reasonable to think that "entered" is a Perfect Tense in Latin. You check the conjugation table on our website, and you find it's "intravit". (1 pt)
- You translate the rest of the sentence (2 pts) easily as it contains no new grammar, and the result is:

"Cicero cellam intravit ubi Pompeius scribebat."

Answers 8

"Tranquille librum longum legebas, cum nomen tuum clamavi, quia de arbore cecideram."
"Per terras multas mirabiles errabam, sed reges vel reginas numquam vidi."
"Cum censores in curiam advenerunt, senatores boni de rebus omnibus iam decreverant et aedificium senatús Romani relinquebant."
"Heri Caesar cohortem primam Pompeii oppugnavit et vicit, quamquam milites Pompeii vehementer bellabant."
"Epistulam imperatori Lucio Lucullo finivit, quia quaestiones omnes responderat, et epistulas longas numquam scribere amabat."


March 11th - Day 11 of the Ludi Novi Romani – Question 9 of the Certamen Latinum


I. INTRODUCTION 9 - The Subjunctive

We stared with the dictionary forms of Latin nouns and verbs, since without knowing them there's no way to use the Latin words in sentences. We declined nouns, and conjugated verbs in the Present in all three Past Tenses (Imperfect, Perfect, Pluperfect), and we composed simple Latin sentences with adjectives and adverbs.

Today we learn about the formidable Subjunctive Mood, hardest things in all Latin studies, nightmare of all Barbarians :) Some think it was the Roman weapons that won the Barbarians, but Latinists will tell you, it was the Subjunctive - when Barbarian peoples tried to learn Latin, it killed them all. But I think you will see soon that Subjunctive is not at all as formidable as it might seem, and after a bit of practicing, you'll see the myths around the Subjunctive are just fairy tales, and we'll eat Subjunctive for breakfast.

But let's start from the beginning. What does the Subjunctive Mood mean?

The Subjunctive is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express a wish, hope, possibility, condition, uncertainty, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred. It is sometimes referred to as the Conjunctive Mood, as it often follows a conjunction.

English has a very shy Subjunctive which appears only in a few situations visibly, but sometimes it's there even if the verb does not show it. Examples of English Subjunctives are the following:

"I wish he were here." (In Indicative it would have been "He is here.")

The teaches insisted that the homework be ready." (In Indicative it would have been "The homework is ready.")

"Were" is not Past, and "be" is not infinitive, but both are Subjunctives here. English uses two main Subjunctive forms, the Present Subjunctive (it be, it go, it come) and the Past Subjunctive (it were, it went, it came), which look identical to the normal Indicative forms. These forms, however, sound archaic to the modern English speakers, and in most of the sentences, when Latin uses Subjunctive, English uses auxiliary verbs like, "may", might", "would", "should", "can", or "could". These are expressed in Latin by the Subjunctive.

Latin uses four Subjunctive Tenses, Present Subjunctive, Imperfect Subjunctive, Perfect Subjunctive and Pluperfect Subjunctive. Let's see what they are there for, and what each of these Subjunctive Tenses mean.

Since it's getting to be very high octane number Latin knowledge, I suggest you review all past lessons on our Certamen Latinum webpage:

http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Ludi_Novi_Romani/MMDCCLXIV/Certamen_Latinum

1. The Subjunctive Present

You use Subjunctive Present (e.g. "Dicam") when English uses the auxiliary verbs "let" ("Let me say it"), "may" ("May I say it") or, mainly in subordinate clauses, when English uses Present Subjunctive or Imperative ("Imperat ut dicam": "He orders I say"; or "Dicas": "Say it").

This tense is formed from the 2nd dictionary part, by cutting off the infinitive endings "-are", "-ére", "-ere" and "-ire", and replacing them with the personal endings shown in the table on our website, respectively to the conjugation group to which the verb belongs to.

Learn the conjugation of the Imperfect Tense on our website:

http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Subjunctive_Present

2. The Subjunctive Imperfect

The Subjunctive Imperfect is used when English uses the auxiliary verbs "would" and "should", "Dicerem" can be translated as "I would say" or "I should say". Sometimes it can also be translated with "could" or "might" as "I could say" or "I might say". In wishes and in conditional sentences, it is translated by English Past Subjunctive ("Vellem dicerem": "I wish I said"); in subordinate clauses, however, it is translated by English Present Subjunctive ("Imperavit ut dicerem": "He ordered I say").

This tense is formed from the 2nd dictionary part, by cutting off the infinitive endings "-are", "-ére", "-ere" and "-ire", and replacing them with the personal endings shown in the table on our website, respectively to the conjugation group to which the verb belongs to. Practically, the formation of this Subjunctive Imperfect looks like as if the personal endings would be simple attached to the infinitive.

Learn the conjugation of the Subjunctive Imperfect on our website:

http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Subjunctive_Imperfect

3. The Subjunctive Perfect

The Subjunctive Perfect rarely appears in independent sentences, it's mostly used in subordinate clauses. When it's used independently, it normally translates with the English auxiliary verbs "may have". "Dixerim" can be translated as "I may have said".

This tense is formed from the 3rd dictionary part, by cutting off the Indicative Perfect Tense first person singular ending "-í", and replacing it with the Subjunctive Perfect personal endings shown in the table on our website.

Learn the conjugation of the Subjunctive Perfect on our website:

http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Subjunctive_Perfect

4. The Subjunctive Pluperfect

The Subjunctive Pluperfect can be translated with the English auxiliary verbs "would have" or "should have". "Dixissem" can mean "I would have said", "I should have said". Sometimes it can be translated as "I could have said" or "I might have said". It is translated by English Pluperfect Subjunctive ("I had said") when it is used in subordinated clauses ("Vellem dixissem": "I wish I had said").

This tense is formed from the 3rd dictionary part, by cutting off the Indicative Perfect Tense first person singular ending "-í", and replacing it with the Subjunctive Pluperfect personal endings shown in the table on our website.

Learn the conjugation of the Subjunctive Pluperfect on our website:

http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Subjunctive_Present

II. QUESTION 9

Translate the following complex sentences to Latin, using the the Subjunctive Tenses where they are needed. The Latin words needed to these translations are given below in their dictionary form. Use them.

Follow the guidelines here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation
http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence

Be careful, and read ALL information on the pages!

"If he had not neglected haughtiliy the ancient customs of the republic, the good and noble senators would not have killed Caesar in the Roman senate." (12 pts)
si (if)
non (not)
neglego, -ere, -lexi, -lectum (neglect)
haughty (superbus, -a, -um)
vetus, -eris (ancient)
mos, moris, m (custom)
res, rei, f; publica, -ae, f (republic)
bonus, -a, -um (good)
nobilis, -e (noble)
senator, -oris, m (senator)
interficio, -ere, -feci, -fectum (kill)
Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)
in + ablative (in; inside)
Romanus, -a, -um (Roman)
senatus, -ús, m (senate)
"If you were reading the books of the famous poet Vergil about Aeneas, then you would know many things about Roman history." (11 pts)
lego, -ere, legi, lectum (read)
liber, libri, m (book)
clarus, -a, -um (famous)
poeta, -ae, m (poet)
Vergilius, -i, m (Vergil)
de + ablative (about)
Aeneas, -ae, m (Aeneas)
tum (then)
scio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (know)
multus, -a, -um (much, many)
historia, -ae, f (history)
"Let's write some beautiful poems and show the verses to Seneca because he might wish to read our work." (10 pts)
scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)
aliquot (some)
pulcher, -chra, -chrum (beautiful)
poema, -atis, n (poem)
et (and)
monstro, -are, -avi, -atum (show)
versus, -ús, m (verse)
Seneca, -ae, m (Seneca)
quia (because)
cupio, -ere, -ivi, -itum (wish)
noster, -tra, -trum (our)
opus, -eris, n (work)
You may have seen Nero today, but I saw Augustus once, the first Roman emperor, and I even heard his speech. (10 pts)
video, -ére, vidi, visum (see)
Nero, -onis, m (Nero)
hodie (today)
Augustus, -i, m (Augustus)
olim (once)
primus, -a, -um (first)
princeps, -cipis, m (emperor)
etiam (even)
audio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (hear)
suus, -a, -um (his)
sermo, -onis, m (speech)
"The censors might have left the curia, because the fathers did not find the magistrates in the building where they should have stayed until the sixth hour of the day. (11 pts)
censor, -oris, m (censor)
relinquo, -ere, -liqui, -lictum (leave)
curia, -ae, f (curia)
pater, -tris, m (father)
invenio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (find)
magistratus, -ús, m (magistrate)
aedificium, -i, n (building)
ubi (where)
maneo, -ére,-nsi, -nsum (stay)
usque ad + accusative (until)
sextus, -a, -um (sixth)
hora, -ae, f (hour)
dies, -ei, m (day)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

"If the soldiers of Pompey had fought vehemently, Caesar would not have won." (6 pts)
si (if)
miles, -itis, m (soldier)
Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
bello, -are, -avi, -atum (fight)
vehemens, -entis (vehement)
Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)
non (not)
vinco, -ere, vici, victum (win)

- you will easily identify "would not have won" as Subjunctive Pluperfect if you check the introduction about the Subjunctive. "Would have" (or "might have" and "should have") is usually Subjunctive. Since the first clause is introduced by "if", you are right to suspect that is a subordinate clause.
- You can also learn from the introduction that "had fought" is probably an English Pluperfect Subjunctive, and Latin translates it with the same construction, with a Pluperfect Subjunctive.
- Thus we have the two predicates translated, both as Pluperfect Subjunctives: "bellavissent" (1 pt), and "non vicisset". (1 pts)
- After translating the subjects in nominative (soldiers; Caesar) (1 + 1 pts), the possessive construction in genitive (of Pompey) (1 pt), and the adverb (vehemently) (1pt), we get the following solution:

"Si milites Pompei vehementer bellavissent, Caesar non vicisset."

Answers 9

"Si mores veteres rei publicae superbe non neglexisset, senatores boni et nobiles in senatu Romano Caesarem non interfecissent."
"Si libros Vergilii poetae clari de Aenea legeres, tum multas res de historia Romana scires."
"Aliquot poemata pulchra scribamus et versus Senecae monstremus, quia opus nostrum legere cuperet."
"Neronem hodie videris, sed ego Augustum, principem Romanum primum, olim vidi, et etiam sermonem suum audivi."
"Censores curiam reliquissent (relinquerent), quia patres magistratus in aedificio non invenerunt, ubi usque ad horam sextam diei mansissent."


March 12th - Day 12 of the Ludi Novi Romani – Question 10 of the Certamen Latinum


I. INTRODUCTION 10 - Indirect Speech

We have walked through a long path, but made huge steps, and within just 10 days we are arriving to the hardest height of Latin grammar, to the Indirect Discourse (or Indirect Speech) which includes the Sequence of Tenses rules and the Accusative with Infinitive, two things which made students of Latin cry since the Middle Age.

From the dictionary forms, where we had started, we went through all declensions of nouns and adjectives, we learned the formation of adverbs and the conjugations of Present and Past Tenses, and yesterday we met all tenses of the Subjunctive.

Today, on our last day, we will win and conquer the Indirect Speech, the jewel in our crown.

Now I confess I deceived you when I said we would only "try out" some minor things in the Latin, or when I said we would take a look at some little bits of Latin with these Quizzes. The truth is, that with these lessons we have learned almost all grammar of the Latin language, and almost every difficult feature in Latin. And now we are on the top, learning about the hardest grammar in Latin, which if you will be able to conquer, you will have conquered Goddess Latinitas Herself, and the doors of the "Roman Mind", and all Classical and Medieval Literature will re-open for you, forever.

I'm not joking when I say the Indirect Speech poisoned the lives of many schoolboys and girls since the Fall of the Roman Empire, especially with the terrible Accusative with Infinitive and the Sequence of Tenses - but I assure you by the end of the day you will laugh into the eyes of these monsters: they are monsters only to those who are not willing to domesticate them.

But first we must define what we are about to domesticate.

Indirect Speech (Reported Speech, or Indirect Discourse) refers to a sentence reporting what someone has said, thought, seen, heard or percieved by any mental activity. It is almost always used in spoken English.

Direct Speech is:

"Cicero said: 'I see Brutus in the garden'."

Indirect Speech is:

"Cicero said (that) he saw Brutus in the garden".

From this example we can see that there must be some rules about the Sequence of Tenses, because in English Indirect Speech "see" became "saw". And yes, there is a Sequence of Tenses rule in English, too, and we will see that the Latin rules are similar, but Latin uses them only in Indirect Questions, because in Indirect Statements Latin has chosen an entirely different solution: the Accusative with Infinitive.

There are three types of Indirect Speech, depending on the reported sentence if it is a statement, order or question, an Indirect Speech can be Indirect Statement, Indirect Command, or Indirect Question. Let's start with the Indirect Statements.

1. Indirect Statements

In English, the verb tense of the reported, indirect sentence follows a simple logical Sequence of Tense rule: if the reporting verb ("said") is in the past, the reported clause will be in a Past Tense. If the reporting verb is present ("say"), the reported clause will be in a Present Tense:

With the reporting verb in Present:

"Cicero says: 'I see Brutus in the garden'." (Direct Statement)
"Cicero says (that) he sees Brutus in the garden." (Indirect Statement)

With the reporting verb in Past:

"Cicero said: 'I see Brutus in the garden'." (Direct Statement)
"Cicero said (that) he saw Brutus in the garden." (Indirect Statement)

Instead of this rule, in Latin we find that there is an entirely different construction, the Accusative with Infinitive to be used for reporting statements.

1.1. Accusative with Infinitive
There is a similar construction in English, when you say "I see Brutus come," and "I see him go," where "come" is an infinitive without the usual "to" (otherwise it would have been "comes"), and "Brutus" is an accusative. English uses the Accusative plus Infinitive with verbs of wishing, believing and perception ("I believe Brutus to come"). The infinitive is usually introduced by "to", but in some cases (e.g. with "see") it's without "to".
"I see Brutus come."
"Video Brutum venire."
"I believe Brutus to come."
"Credo Brutum venire."
However, English does not use this construction with verbs of saying. There is no "I say Brutus to come". English puts it as "I say (that) Brutus comes". In Latin, however, we must always use the Accusative with Infinitive construction with all verbs of saying, thinking, perceiving or communicating.
"I say (that) Brutus comes."
"Dico Brutum venire." (Literally: "I say Brutus to come.")
1.2. Reported Statments' Timing in the Accusative with Infinitive Construction
1.2.1. If the Reported Statement is about an event which is contemporaneous, simultaneous with the time of the reporting verb, like "I say (that) Brutus comes (is coming)", or "I said (that) Brutus came (was coming), we use the Present Infinitive, i.e. the 2nd dictionary form:
amo, -are, -avi, -atum --> amare (to love)
facio, -ere, feci, factum --> facere (to make)
venio, -ire, veni, ventum --> venire (to come)
It does not matter of what tense the reporting verb is:
"I say (that) Brutus comes / is coming."
"Dico Brutum venire." (Literally: "I say Brutus to come.")
I said (that) Brutus came / was coming.
"Dixi Brutum venire." (Literally: "I said Brutus to come.")
1.2.2. If the action of the reported sentence is prior to the time of the reporting verb, like "I say (that) Brutus came (has come)", or "I said (that) Brutus had come", you must use the Perfect Infinitive. To form a Perfect Infinitive, you simply cut off the Perfect Tense "-i" ending of the 3rd dictionary form, and add ending "-isse" to the Perfect Stem:
amo, -are, -av|i, -atum --> amavisse (to have loved)
facio, -ere, fec|i, factum --> fecisse (to have made)
venio, -ire, ven|i, ventum --> venisse (to have come)
It does not matter of what tense the reporting verb is:
"I say (that) Brutus has come / came / was coming."
"Dico Brutum venisse." (Literally: "I say Brutus to have come.")
"I said (that) Brutus had come."
"Dixi Brutum venisse." (Literally: "I said Brutus to have come.")
All Latin Indirect Statements have to follow these rules, and all Latin Indirect Statements are to be transformed into such Accusative with Infinitive contructions.

2. Indirect Commands

An Indirect Command is a reported command. Indirect Commands express what someone begs, asks, urges or orders. Let's see an English example:

"I begged that Brutus come."

"Come" is an English Subjunctive here. Latin uses Subjunctive as well. If the verb introducing the Indirect Command is Present, Latin uses Present Subjunctive in the subordinate clause; if the main verb is Past, Latin uses Imperfect Subjunctive in the subordinate clause. English never varies, it uses always the Present Subjunctive. Let' see on examples:

With the reporting verb in Present:

"I beg that Brutus come."
"Oro ut Brutus veniat."

With the reporting verb in Past:

"I begged that Brutus come."
"Oravi ut Brutus veniret." (Literally: "I begged that Brutus came/would come.")

All Latin Indirect Commands have to be in Present or Imperfect Subjunctive follow the rules above.

3. Indirect Questions

An Indirect Question is a reported question, it reports what someone asks, or could have asked. English Indirect Questions follow the same Sequence of Tenses rules as in the case of Indirect Statements, but there's an additional change in the structure of the sentence:

"From where does Brutus come?"
"Cicero asks from where Brutus comes."

We can see that English changes word order and does not use the auxiliary verb "do/does" for Indirect Questions. In Latin you must use the Subjunctive to indicate Indirect Question. The Latin Sequence of Tenses for Indirect Questions is the following:

3.1. Sequence of Tenses
3.1.1. If the time of the verb in the reported question is contemporaneous, simultaneous to the time the verb of asking that introduces the Indirect Question, you will use
a) Present Subjunctive: if the reporting verb is Present;
b) Imperfect Subjunctive: if the reporting verb is Past.
With the reporting verb in Present:
"I ask from where Brutus comes / is coming."
"Quaero unde Brutus veniat."
With the reporting verb in Past:
"I asked from where Brutus came / was coming."
"Quaesivi unde Brutus veniret."
3.1.1. If the time of the verb in the reported question is prior to the time of the reporting verb of asking that introduces the Indirect Question, you will use
a) Perfect Subjunctive: if the reporting verb is Present;
b) Pluperfect Subjunctive: if the reporting verb is Past.
With the reporting verb in Present:
"I ask from where Brutus came / has come / was coming."
"Quaero unde Brutus venerit."
With the reporting verb in Past:
"I asked from where Brutus had come."
"Quaesivi unde Brutus venisset."
You must use the Subjunctive always, in this Sequence of Tenses, whenever you translate an Indirect Question to Latin.

II. QUESTION 10

Translate the following complex sentences which contain Indirect Statements, Indirect Commands and Indirect Questions to Latin, using the Accusative with Infinitive construction where needed, and the Subjunctive Tenses according to the Sequence of Tenses, where they are needed. The sentences below are mostly sligt alterations of all sentences we have translated so far, so although it's 18 sentences, all of them were translated by you on the previous days. So don't be afraid, it's not as much as it seems. Your work will mostly consist of transforming the sentences we had translated so far into Indirect Speech. The Latin words needed to these translations are given below in their dictionary form. Use them.


Follow the guidelines here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension
http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation
http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence

Be careful, and read ALL information on the pages!

"We have read that Cicero wrote a letter to Brutus on loyalty and duty." (7 pts)
lego, -ere, legi, lectum (read)
Cicero, -onis, m (Cicero)
scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)
epistula, -ae, f (letter, mail)
Brutus, -i, m (Brutus)
de + ablative (on; about)
pietas, -atis, f (loyalty)
et (and)
officium, -i, n (duty)
"I think that Brutus sees Cicero, but Cicero does not see Brutus in the gardens of Pompey." (9 pts)
puto, -are, -avi, -atum (think)
video, -ére, vidi, visum (see)
sed (but)
non (not; no)
in + ablative (in)
hortus, -i, m (garden)
Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
  • Comment: "does/do not see" in Latin is expressed by "non + verb (see)"
"Brutus says that Cicero writes letters by hand and that he always loved to write so." (8 pts)
dico, -ere, dixi, dictum (say)
manus, -ús, f (hand)
amo, -are, -avi, -atum (love)
ita (so)
  • Comment: "by" is expressed here by using the ablative without preposition.
"I would have asked what the wise ones were writing about the laws of Rome and about the duties of men." (7 pts)
quaero, -ere, quaesivi, -itum (ask)
quid (what)
sapiens, -entis m/f (the wise one)
lex, legis, f (law)
de + ablative (about; on)
Roma, -ae, f (Rome)
homo, -inis m (man)
"Lentulus said that the citizens had celebrated the women of the world everywhere." (5 pts)
Lentulus, -i, m (Lentulus)
dico, -ere, dixi, dictum (say)
civis, -is m/f (citizen)
celebro, -are, -avi, -atum (celebrate)
femina, -ae, f (woman)
mundus, -i, m (world)
everywhere (ubique)
"I would ask whether Caesar was defending Rome from the Gauls." (5 pts)
Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)
defendo, -ere, -endi, -ensum (defend)
Roma, -ae, f (Rome)
a + ablative (from)
Gallus, -i, m (Gaul person, Gaulish)
"He asked Servilia that she write nicely to the noble Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus." (7 pts)
rogo, -are, -avi, -atum (ask, request)
Servilia, -ae, f (Servilia)
scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)
pulcher, -chra, -chrum (nice)
familia, -ae, f (family)
nobilis, -e (noble)
Lucius, -i, m; Domitius, -i, m; Ahenobarbus, -i, m (Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus)
"They believed that the young Brutus had seen old Cicero in the gardens of Pompey the Great." (9 pts)
iuvenis, -e (young)
video, -ére, vidi, visum (see)
vetus, -eris (old)
in + ablative (in)
hortus, -i, m (garden)
Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
magnus, -a, -um (great)
"Iulia said quickly to a patriotic man that the Roman people always praised the virtues of loyalty, then she gently asked if he had defended the fatherland faithully." (14 pts)
Iulia, -ae, f (Iulia)
dico, -ere, dixi, dictum (say)
velox, -ocis (quick)
pius, -a, -um (patriotic)
homo, -inis, m (man)
Romanus, -a, um (Roman)
populus, -i, m (people)
semper (always)
laudo, -are, -avi, -atum (praise)
virtus, -utis f (virtue)
pietas, -atis f (loyalty)
tum (then)
urbanus, -a, -um (gentle)
num (if, whether)
fidelis, -e (faithful)
defendo, -ere, -endi, -ensum (defend)
patria, -ae, f (fatherland)
"We are funnily telling that the great events of the fourth Nova Roman Games have finished today." (8 pts)
iocosus, -a, -um (funny)
narro, -are, -avi, -atum (tell)
de + ablative (about; on)
eventus, -ús, m (event)
quartus, -a, -um (fourth)
Novus, -a, -um, Romanus, -a, um (Nova Roman)
ludus, -i, m (game)
finio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (finish)
hodie (today)
"The senate ordered that the Nova Roman citizens celebrate the admired and invincible Nova Roma with Latin competition and various other games." (12 pts)
senatus, -ús, m (senate)
iubeo, -ere, iussi, iussum (order)
civis, -is mf (citizen)
beatus, -a, -um (happy)
celebro, -are, -avi, -atum (celebrate)
mirabilis, -e (admired)
invictus, -a, -um (invincible)
cum + ablative (with)
Latinus, -a, -um (Latin)
certamen, -inis, n (competition)
et (and)
varius, -a, -um (various)
alius, -a, -ud (other)
"I saw that Cicero was calmly reading a book, but then Brutus shouted that his brother had fallen off the tree." (12 pts)
tranquillus, -a, um (calm)
lego, -ere, legi, lectum (read)
liber, libri, m (book)
sed (but)
clamo, -are, -avi, -atum (shout)
suus, -a, -um (his)
frater, fratris f (brother)
cado, -ere, cecidi, casurus (fall)
de + ablative (off)
arbor, -oris, f (tree)
"He said that the Greek sailor roamed through many wonderful countries, but he had never seen kings or queens." (9 pts)
Graecus, -a, -um (Greek)
nauta, -ae, m (sailor)
erro, -are, -avi, -atum (roam)
per + accusative (through)
multus, -a, -um (much, many)
mirabilis, -e (wonderful)
terra, -ae, f (land, country)
sed (but)
numquam (never)
video, -ere, vidi, visum (see)
rex, regis, m (king)
regina, -ae, f (queen)
"When the censors arrived to the curia, they asked if the good senators had already decided about all things, and why they were leaving the building of the Roman senate." (13 pts)
censor, -oris, m (censor)
advenio, -ire, -veni, -ventum (arrive)
in + accusative (into, to)
curia, -ae, f (curia)
num (if, whether)
bonus, -a, -um (good)
senator, -oris, m (senator)
decerno, -ere, decrevi, -cretum (decide)
iam (already)
de + ablative (about)
omnis, -e (all)
res, rei, f (thing)
et (and)
cur (why)
relinquo, -ere, -liqui, -lictum (leave)
aedificium, -i, n (building)
Romanus, -a, -um (Roman)
senatus, -ús, m (senate)
"He writes that yesterday Caesar attacked the first cohort of Pompey and won, and he asks if the soldiers of Pompey were fighting vehemently." (11 pts)
heri (yesterday)
Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)
oppugno, -are, -avi, -atum (attack)
primus, -a, -um (first)
cohors, -ortis f (cohort)
Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
vinco, -ere, vici, victum (win)
quamquam (although)
miles, -itis, m (soldier)
bello, -are, -avi, -atum (fight)
vehemens, -entis (vehement)
"He writes in the letter to the commander Lucius Lucullus that Caesar has never loved to write long letters but nevertheless answers all questions now." (12 pts)
finio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (finish)
epistula, -ae, f (letter)
imperator, -oris, m (commander)
Lucius, -i, m; Lucullus -i, m (Lucius Lucullus)
respondeo, -ere, -ndi, -nsum (answer)
quaestio, -onis, f (question)
amo, -are, -avi, -atum (love)
tamen (but... nevertheless)
nunc (now)
"Brutus saw that Cicero entered the room and asked what Pompey was writing." (7 pts)
Cicero, -onis, m (Cicero)
intro, -are, -avi, -atum (enter)
cella, -ae, f (room)
quid (what)
Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)
"I think Caninus, Caupo, Demetria, Lupus, Placidus, Popillia, Silvanus, Volusus all did wonderfully in our Latin competition." (12 pts)
Caninus, -i, m (Caninus)
Caupo, -onis, m (Caupo)
Demetria, -ae, f (Demetria)
Lupus, -i, m (Lupus)
Pacidus, -i, m (Placidus)
Popillia, -ae, f (Popillia)
Silvanus, -i, m (Silvanus)
Volusus, -i, m (Volusus)
facio, -ere, feci, factum (do)
noster, -tra, -trum (our)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

"We heard that the soldiers of Pompey had fought vehemently, but we don't know why Caesar won." (7 pts)
audio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (hear)
miles, -itis, m (soldier)
Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)
bello, -are, -avi, -atum (fight)
vehemens, -entis (vehement)
nescio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (do/does not know)
cur (why)
Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)
vinco, -ere, vici, victum (win)

- in the first part is an Indirect Statement, which means that we have to use the Accusative with Infinitive construction here. We see that the time of the reported statement's verb "had fought" is prior to the time of the reporting verb "heard", so "had fought" will be translated with a Perfect Infinitive: "bellavisse". (1 pt)
- We put "the soldiers" in accusative ("milites"), because that's the object of the construction "we heard the soldiers to have fought". (1pt)
- The second part is an Indirect Question (why Caesar won), thus we will use the Subjunctive. The time of the reported question's verb, "won" is prior to the time of the reporting verb "I don't know", which is a Present Tense. So, according to the rules of the Sequence of Tenses, after Present reporting verb if a verb of prior time follows, the repored verb shall be in Perfect Subjunctive. In this case it's "vicerit". (1 pt)
- After translating everything else (4 pts), which is not new grammar, we get the following result:

"Audivimus milites Pompei vehementer bellavisse, sed nescimus cur Caesar vicerit."

Answers 10

"Legimus Ciceronem epistulam Bruto de pietate et officio scripsisse."
"Puto Brutum Ciceronem videre, sed Ciceronem Brutum in hortis Pompeii non videre."
"Brutus dicit Ciceronem epistulas manu scribere et ita scribere semper amavisse."
"Quaesivissem quid sapientes de legibus Romae et officiis hominum scriberent."
"Lentulus dixit cives feminas mundi ubique celebravisse."
"Quaererem num Caesar Romam a Gallis defenderit."
"Rogavit Serviliam ut Lucio Domitio Ahenobarbo nobili pulchre scriberet."
"Credebant Brutum iuvenem Ciceronem veterem in hortis Pompeii Magni vidisse."
"Iulia pio homini velociter dixit populum Romanum virtutes pietatis semper laudare, tum urbane quaesivit num patriam fideliter defendisset."
"Iocose narramus magnos eventus quartorum Ludorum Novorum Romanorum hodie finivisse."
"Senatus iussit ut cives Novi Romani Novam Romam mirabilem et invictam cum certamine Latino et variis aliis ludis celebrarent."
"Vidi Ciceronem tranquille librum legere, sed tum Brutus clamavit fratrem suum de arbore cecidisse."
"Dixit nautam Graecum per multas terras mirabiles errare, sed numquam reges aut reginas vidisse."
"Cum censores in curiam advenerunt, quaesiverunt num senatores boni iam de omnibus rebus decrevissent, et cur aedificium senatus Romani relinquerent."
"Scribit Caesarem primam cohortem Pompeii heri oppugnavisse et vicisse, et quaerit num milites Pompeii vehementer bellaverint."
"Scribit in epistula imperatori Lucio Lucullo Caesarem nunquam longas epistulas scribere amavisse, tamen omnes quaestiones nunc respondere."
"Brutus vidit Ciceronem cellam intrare et quaerere quid Pompeius scriberet."
"Puto Caninum, Cauponem, Demetriam, Lupum, Placidum, Popiliam, Silvanum, Volsusum, omnes in nostro certamine Latino mirabiliter fecisse."



Final Results

The final results for the Certamen Latinum for Ludi Novi Romani 2764:

  • 1st Place: P. Annaeus Constantinus Placidus - 499 pts; (Participated in all 10 questions)
  • 2nd Place: M. Martianius Lupus - 477 pts; (Participated in all 10 questions)
  • 3rd Place: M. Pompeius Caninus - 270 pts; (Participated in 8 questions)
  • 4th Place: V. Valerius Volusus - 262 pts; (Participated in 5 questions)
  • 5th Place: L. Lucretius Caupo - 193 pts; (Participated in 5 questions)
  • 6th Place: Demetria of Chicago - 86 pts; (Participated in 4 questions)
  • 7th Place: T. Octavius Silvanus - 76 pts; (Participated in 2 questions)
  • 8th Place: T. Popillia Laenas - 47 pts; (Participated in 1 question)


Retrieved from "http://novaroma.org/nr/Ludi_Novi_Romani/MMDCCLXIV/Certamen_Latinum"
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