Ludi Novi Romani/MMDCCLXVI/Certamen Latinum

Rules of the Certamen Latinum

1. Questions are posted daily, one question per one day. There will be 7 questions in total.

2. Answers are to be sent to <cnaeus_cornelius@yahoo.com>. If you send in your answer before the posting of the next question (questions will be posted every second day), you will earn 5 extra points as "speed points".

3. Answers may be sent in until the last day of the games: you can answer all questions (#1-7) even on the last day, but in this case, you'll get no speed points.

Question 1 (March 1st)

I. INTRODUCTION 1 - Verbs in the Present

Verbs are words which express what happens in a sentence: action or state of being, like "to go", "to walk", "to see", "to be".

Latin indicates grammatical information by "inflection": by changing the ending of the words. When English says "I have", "we have", Latin says "habeo" and "habemus". English puts "I" and "we" before the verb, Latin adds different endings, "-o" and "-mus", to the end of the verb.

THE CONJUGATIONS

Latin verbs are grouped into 4 conjugations (verb inflection groups). To determine which conjugation group a verb belongs to, you have to look at the dictionary form of the verb. In the case of the verb “have”, you will find:

"habeo, habére, habui, habitum" (I have, to have, I had, the had one)

When we want to conjugate a verb in the PRESENT tense, we must look at the 2nd dictionary form, the infinitive:

"habére" (to have)

The infinitive, “hab-ére” (to have) shows that this verb belongs to the 2nd conjugation, because all verbs that have the infinitive ending “-ére” belong to the 2nd conjugation.

WHICH VERB WHICH CONJUGATION?

The second dictionary element, the infinitive, determines which conjugation the verb belongs to. The 4 variants of infinitive endings and the 4 conjugations determined by the different infinitive endings are:

-are = 1st conjugation (e.g. amo, amare, amavi, amatum) -ére = 2nd conjugation (e.g. habeo, habére, habui, habitum) -ere = 3rd conjugation (e.g. dico, dicere, dixi, dictum) -ire = 4th conjugation (e.g. audio, audire, audivi, auditum)

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

HOW TO CONJUGATE A VERB IN PRESENT?

Cut off the infinitive endings -are, -ére, -ere and -ire, and replace them with the personal endings shown in this table (follow the link):

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

II. QUESTION 1

- Choose a verb from EACH conjugation verb from these verbs given in their dictionary forms, and conjugate them in the Present Tense. Add English translations to the verb forms, as well (see in the example below)!

- Send your solution to <cnaeus_cornelius@yahoo.com>

exerceo, -ére, exercui, exercitum (exercize)

celebro, -are, -avi, -atum (celebrate)

intellego, -ere, -lexi, -lectum (understand)

doleo, -ére, -ui (heart)

facio, -ere, feci, factum (make)

do, dare, dedi datum (give)

invenio, -ire, -veni, -ventum (find)

curro, -ere, cucurri, cursum (run)

incipio, -ere, -cepi, -ceptum (start)

bibo, -ere, bibi, bibitum (drink)

cano, -ere, cecini, cantum (sing)

finio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (finish)

habeo, -ere, -bui, -bitum (have)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

- There are 4 types, which are differentiated by the infinitive ending: -are, -ére, -ere, -ire. I have to conjugate one from each type. In this example, I choose an "-ere" (shor "e") type:

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

- The 2nd dictionary form (infinitive) is abbreviated as "-ere", which means that its full infinitive form written out is: "cupere".
- The infinitive ending "-ere" marks the 3rd Conjugation.
- In the conjugation table of our website (following the link given above) you will find two columns for the 3rd Conjugation: I-Stem and Consonant Stem. The ending of the 1st dictionary form (cupio "I wish") determines if a 3rd Conjugation verb is of I-Stem or Consonant Stem. It's I-Stem, if the 1st dictionary form ending is "-io". It's Consonant Stem, if the 1st dictionary form ending is "-o". For "cupio", it's I-Stem as the ending "-io" shows.
- You look at the conjugation table, Present Tense personal endings in 3rd Conjugation I-Stem, and add the personal endings to "cupio". You will write the following forms:

cupio - I wish

cupis - you wish

cupit - he wishes

cupimus - we wish

cupitis - you (plural) wish

cupiunt - they wish

Question 2 (March 3rd)

I. INTRODUCTION 2 - Nouns and their cases

A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea, like "mother", "lion", "forest", "birth".

As we saw with the verbs, Latin indicates grammatical information by "inflection": by changing the ending of the words. This is the same with nouns. When English says "The lion eats the mother", and "The mother eats the lion", the question of who eats whom is decided by word order. In Latin, word order is free and doesn't help to decide who eats whom, instead Latin uses features like in the word "whom", where the ending "-m" shows that it's the object case (accusative), "who", without "-m", is subject case (nominative).

In addition to the subject (nominative) and object (accusative) case, English has a third case, in "whose": the possessive case, called genetive in Latin grammar. Latin went just a little bit further, and added two other cases: the dative, which is the case of the recipient ("to whom") and ablative, which is the adverbial case, and expresses adverbials like "by whom", "with whom" or "from whom". Please note that modern English many times neglects the difference between "who" and "whom", and people may say things like "who eats who". But in Latin this is impossible and the distinction is always kept. Latin is also more uniform than English, because while English can differentiate between "who" and "whom", or "he" and "him", it can not make difference between "The mother (eats something)" and "(Something eats) the mother": both as a subject and as an object "mother" remains the same. Well, Latin would add a different ending to the object case: the accusative ending.

Now, let's summarize the Latin cases and their meanings, using the example of "mother" and "who eats whom":

• nominative - the mother (eats the lion) SUBJECT
• accusative - (the lion eats) the mother OBJECT
• genitive - the mother's (lion) / (the lion) of the mother POSSESSIVE
• dative - to the mother RECIPIENT - INDIRECT OBJECT
• ablative - by/with/from the mother - ADVERBIAL OF MEANS/MANNER/PLACE/TIME

THE DECLENSIONS

Latin nouns are grouped into 5 declensions (noun inflection groups), because not all nouns get the same case endings. English has something similar, when the plural of "kid" is "kids", but the plural of "child" is "children". In this case, we can say English has "two declensions", in one declension words get the plural "-s" ending, in the other, although very tiny declension (containing 1-2 words only) words get the plural "-en" ending. But here Latin has a great variety, and there are 5 declensions where words can get different endings. To determine which declension group a noun belongs to, you have to look at the dictionary form of the noun.

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) amicus; This means that the word “friend” in nominative (subject) case is “amicus”.

(2) -i; 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”.

(3) m.; 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.

WHICH NOUN WHICH DECLENSION?

This is the most important point. This ending “–i” in amicus, -i, m. 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, e.g.: amicus, -i, m (friend)

-is = 3rd declension, e.g.: rex, regis, m (king)

-ús = 4th declension, e.g.: senatus, -ús, m (senate)

-ei = 5th declension, e.g. fides, -ei, f (loyalty)

HOW TO DECLINE A LATIN NOUN?

Cut off the declension specific genitive ending (-ae, -i, -is, -ús, -ei) and replacing them with the various case endings shown in this table (follow the link):

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension#How_to_decline_a_Latin_noun

II. QUESTION 2

- Choose one noun from these nouns from EACH declension given in their dictionary forms (that will be 5 nouns to decline in total), and decline them in all five cases both in singular and in plural.

- Send your solution to <cnaeus_cornelius@yahoo.com>

corpus, -oris n (body)

toga, -ae, f (toga)

gladium, -i, n (sword)

glacies, -éí, f (ice)

porticus, -ús, f (portico, peristyle)

imperium, -i, n (empire, power)

senatus, -ús, m (senate)

corona, -ae, f (crown, wreath)

animal, -alis n (animal)

pietas, -atis, f (piety, goodness)

annus, -i, m (year)

spes, -eí, f (hope)

anniversarium, -i, n (anniversary)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

- There are 5 types, which are differentiated by the genitive ending: -ae, -í, -is, -ús, -eí. You have to decline one from each type. But in this example, I will show you only one. Here you have chosen an "-i" genitive type, that is, 2nd declension noun:

auxilium, -i, n (help);

- After analyzing this dictionary form, you see that its genitive abbreviated is "-i", which means that its genitive form written out is: "auxilii". The letter "n" means it's neuter. It will be important: listen.
- The genitive ending "-i" marks the Second Declension. It means you have to cut off this "-i" ending of the genitive form, and the remaining "auxili" will be the invariable stem to which you will add the case endings. Therefore you go to the website, where you notice that there is a "neuter rule" and neuters have a slightly different declension than masculine or feminine nouns. Keeping that in mind, search for the respective neuter singular and plural case endings. You will find them and you will give the following forms, with English translation added:

SINGULAR

nominative = auxilium - the help (comes) (1 pt)

accusative = auxilium - (gives) help (1 pt)

genitive = auxilii - of the help / help's (1 pt)

dative= auxilio - to the help (1 pt)

ablative= auxilio - by/with/from help (1 pt)

PLURAL

nominative = auxilia - the helps (come) (1 pt)

accusative = auxilia - (gives) helps (1 pt)

genitive = auxiliorum - of the helps / helps's (1 pt)

dative= auxiliis - to the helps (1 pt)

ablative= auxiliis - by/with/from helps (1 pt)

ATTENTION: "gives" and "comes" are added only to mark the difference in grammatical meaning between nominative and accusative. You must usa a similar solution in your exercise.

Question 3 (March 5th)

I. INTRODUCTION 3 - Using Adjectives

What is an adjective? An adjective is a word that describes, identifies, qualifies or modifies a noun, for example: "big", "fast", "green", "exciting", "Roman".

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 exceptions. 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 picture: 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-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").

Please revise what we learned about declensions so that you can understand better that follows:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension

1.2.1. Adjectives of three forms in the 1st-2nd Declensions

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.

Note that there a few adjectives of which the masculine variant ends in “–er”, like in “pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum” (beautiful). But they, too, work exactly the same way as the adjectives ending “-us, -a, -um.”

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-feminine 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 belongs entirely 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 are of I-Stem (they end in “-ns” or “–x”), some of them are of Consonant-Stem. Their dictionary 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"?

II. QUESTION 3

Before starting this exercise, revise the basics of declension:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension

And also, check out what I-Stem meas in the Third Declension, because almost every Third Declension adjective is of I-Stem:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Third_declension

- Now, choose ONE noun from below. - Also choose TWO adjectives, one of the two must be of type 1st-2nd Declension, the other must be of 3rd Declension. - Connect the two adjectives with "and", which is "et" in Latin, and decline these adjective phrases in all five cases both in singular and in plural, with adding their English translations. - Send your solution to <cnaeus_cornelius@yahoo.com>

homo, -inis, m (man)

probus, -a, -um (upstanding, honest, good)

clemens, -entis (merciful)

exercitus, -ús, m (army)

vehemens, -entis (vehement)

edictum, -i, n (edict)

utilis, -e (useful)

sapiens, entis (wise)

civitas, -atis, f (citizenship)

macer, -cra, -crum (thin)

mulier, -eris, f (woman)

blandus, -a, -um (sweat, dear)

audax, -acis (bold)

mens, -entis, f (mind)

acutus, -a, -um (sharp)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

auxilium, -i, n (help);

bonus, -a, -um (good);

efficax, -acis (effective);

- After analyzing the dictionary forms, you have chosen the noun "auxilium", and you had to choose one adjective that is of 1st-2nd Declension, the other had to be of 3rd Declension. You have chosen "bonus, -a, -um", because the endings "-us, -a, -um" identify this is of type 1st-2nd Declension, and "efficax, -acis", because it is an invariable "one ending for all genders" adjective, which means it is from the 3rd Declension.

- Having analyzed "auxilium", you see that its abbreviated genitive form is "-i", which means that its genitive form written out is: "auxilii". The letter "n" means it's neuter, we know we will have to follow the Neuter Rule.
- According to the Gender-Number-Case Agreement Rule our two adjectives must agree with "auxilium" in gender, number and case, all along we decline them. Since "auxilium" is neuter, we have to use the neuter form of "bonus, -a, -um", which is "bonum"; and because "efficax, -acis" has the same form for all genders, it is "efficax" in neuter.
- The genitive ending "-i" tells us that "auxilium" will be declined in the Second Declension. The neuter of the 1st-2nd Declension adjectives is always Second Declension. As for the neuter "efficax", it's Third Declension, as genders don't split declensions in this group of adjectives.
- By cutting off the genitive ending, you identify the stems (the invariable beginning of the word), which for "auxilium, -i, n" is "auxili-", for "bonus, -a, -um" is "bon-", and for "efficax, -acis" is "efficac-".
- You can now add the case endings, so you go to the website, search for the respective neuter singular and plural case endings. You find them and you give the following forms, with English translation added:

SINGULAR

nominative = auxilium bonum et efficax - the good and effective help (comes) (3 pt)

accusative = auxilium bonum et efficax - (gives) good and effective help (3 pt)

genitive = auxilii boni et efficacis - of the good and effective help / good and effective help's (3 pt)

dative= auxilio bono et efficaci - to the good and effective help (3 pt)

ablative= auxilio bono et efficaci - by/with/from good and effective help (3 pt)

PLURAL

nominative = auxilia bona et efficacia - the good and effective helps (come) (3 pt)

accusative = auxilia bona et efficacia - (gives) good and effective helps (3 pt)

genitive = auxiliorum bonorum et efficacium - of the good and effective helps / helps's (3 pt)

dative= auxiliis bonis et efficacibus - to the good and effective helps (3 pt)

ablative= auxiliis bonis et efficacibus - by/with/from good and effective helps (3 pt)

ATTENTION: "gives" and "comes" are added only to mark the difference in grammatical meaning between nominative and accusative. You must usa a similar solution in your exercise.

Question 4 (March 7th)

I. INTRODUCTION 4 - Simple Latin Sentences

We have so far discussed the dictionary forms of the Latin nouns, adjectives and verbs. We tried out how to decline nouns, adjectives, and how to conjugate verbs in the Present Tense. Today we start making use of our knowledge, and we will 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 simple rules about Latin sentences.

1. Word order

Good news for you! 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 the word order of a Latin sentence - 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 - Indirect Object - Object - Adverbial - 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 in the order as you like. It can't be wrong. The only thing that you need to pay attention to is that, contrary to English, adjectives follow the nouns: so Latin says "house big", not "big house" - but yesterday we dealt with that.

2. Word endings - using the cases of the declensions

That's a bit more difficult, but we have already discussed most if it. We know 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 have already learned 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 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! :)

Learn more about how to write a Latin sentence here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence

II. QUESTION 4

Before you start, review the basic grammatical rules here:
http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension
http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation

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

You may follow the guidelines here in addition to what I have explained above:
http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence

"The citizens say with happiness: 'We are celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the Nova Roman Republic'." (11 pts)

civis, -is mf (citizen)

dico, -ere, dixi, dictum (say)

cum + ablative (with)

gaudium, -i, n (happiness)

celebro, -are, -avi, -atum (celebrate)

anniversarium, -, n (anniversary)

quintus, -a, -um; decimus, -a, -um (fifteenth)

Novus, -a, -um, Romanus, -a, um (Nova Roman)

res, rei, f; publica, -ae, f (republic)

• Comment: "fifteenth", "Nova Roman" and "republic" have two parts and both their parts must be declined.

"The proud citizen loves his fatherland, although the fatherland is making his heart sad because of the many unjust events." (13 pts)

superbus, -a, -um (proud)

amo, -are, -avi, -atum (love)

suus, -a, -um (his)

patria, -ae, f (fatherland)

quamquam (although)

facio, -ere, feci, factum (make)

cor, cordis n (heart)

tristis, -e (bitter, sad)

propter + accusative (because of)

multus, -a, -um (much, many)

iniustus, -a, -um (unjust)

eventus, -ús, m (event)

• Comment: "His", and all possessive pronouns (my, your, her, our, their), are considered adjectives in Latin, and they work like the regular adjectives.

"What do you consider the best things in our modern Roman community?" (7 pts)

quid (what)

considero, -are, -avi, -atum (consider)

optimus, -a, -um (best)

res, rei, f (thing)

in + ablative (in)

noster, -tra, -trum (our)

recens, -entis (modern)

Romanus, -a, -um (Roman)

communitas, -atis, f (community)

• Comment: "does/do" in Latin is expressed simply by the verb in its conjugated form: in this case it's literally "What you consider...?". "Our", and all possessive pronouns (my, your, their, his, her), are considered adjectives in Latin, and they work like the regular adjectives.

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

"We are defending the invincible Rome from the Gauls." (would be 4 pts)

defendo, -ere, -endi, -ensum (defend)

Roma, -ae, f (Rome)

invincibilis, -e (invincible)

a + ablative (from)

Gallus, -i, m (Gaul person, Gaulish)

- After analyzing this English sentence, we find that "are 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, "we are defending" is equal to "we defend", Present plural first person. We dont' have to put "we" in the sentence since Latin expresses "we" by the verb ending. 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 plural 1st person ending is "-imus". So "we are defending" becomes "defendimus" (1 pt).
- We find that the subject is "we", but it's already expressed by the ending "-imus", so we are done with the subject.
- 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).
- "Invincible", which is "invincibilis, -e" in Latin, has to agree with "Romam", so we need the singular accusative of the feminine variant, which is the same as the masculine since it's 3rd Declension adjective, so it's "invincibilis", which is "invincibilem" in accusative. (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+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 - Indirect Object - Object - Adverbial - Verb:

"Romam invincibilem a Gallis defendimus." 4 points