Ludi Novi Romani/MMDCCLXIV/Certamen Latinum

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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, masculine


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 genitive 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 gentive ending differentiates what declension a noun belongs to. Therefore the gentive of each noun is given in the dictionary, and when somebody learns Latin nouns, he learns the gentive 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 gentive 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
accusative = rem
genitive = rei
PLURAL
nominative = res
accusative = res
genitive = rerum

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
ablative = re
PLURAL
dative = rebus
ablative = rebus

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
cupis
cupit
PLURAL
cupimus
cupitis
cupiunt

Answers 5



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


Final Results

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

  • 1st Place:
  • 2nd Place:
  • 3rd Place:
  • 4th Place:
  • 5th Place:
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