Ludi Novi Romani/MMDCCLXV/Certamen Latinum

Preface of the Certamen Latinum

We are the landless nation of the New Romans, the Res Publica Nova Romana, celebrating the 14th Birthday of Nova Roma , the Concordialia on 1st March, and the ludi Novi Romani in the upcoming 14 days, honoring our 14 years. 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 and eternal 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 your 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 are advanced speakers of 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/MMDCCLXV/Certamen_Latinum

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!

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.

Learn more about understanding dictionary forms of Latin nouns here, on our website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension

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 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).

imperium

dictator

victoria

auctoritas

spes

virtus

cognomen

senatus

centurio

domus

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

imperium, 2nd declension; imperii, neuter

dictator, 3rd declension; dictatoris, masculine

victoria, 1st declension; victoriae, feminine

auctoritas, 3rd declension; auctoritatis, feminine

spes, 5th declension, spei; feminine

virtus, 3rd declension; virtutis, feminine

cognomen, 3rd declension; cognominis, neuter

senatus, 4th declension; senatús, masculine

centurio, 3rd declension; centurionis, masculine

domus, 4nd declension; domús, 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 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.

You will find more information about the dictionary forms of verbs here, on our website: http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation

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).

deleo

creo

sentio

video

mitto

scio

rogo

cupio

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

deleo, 2nd conjugation; delere, delevi, deletum

creo, 1st conjugation; creare, creavi, creatum

sentio, 4th conjugation; sentire, sensi, sensum

video, 2nd conjugation; videre, vidi, visum

mitto, 3rd conjugation; mittere, misi, missum

scio, 4th conjugation; scire, scivi, scitum

rogo, 1st conjugation; rogare, rogavi, rogatum

cupio, 3rd conjugation; cupere, cupivi, cupitum

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/Declension

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

The inflection (declension) of nouns is done by cutting off the declension specific genitive ending (-ae, -i, -is, -ús, -ei) and replacing them with the various case endings that you'll find on our website, following the links given above.

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!

fides, -ei, f = faith, credibility

televisio, -onis, f = television

magistratus, -ús, m = magistrate, magistracy

dea, -ae, f = goddess

pons, pontis, m = bridge

pax, pacis, f = peace

forum, -i, n = square, forum

filius, -ií, m = son

corpus, -oris, n = body

aeroplanum, -i, n = airplane

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. It means you have to cut off this "-ei" ending, and the remaining "r-" will be the invariable stem to which you will add the case endings. 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

fides, -ei, f = faith, credibility

SINGULAR

nominative = fides

accusative = fidem

genitive = fidei

PLURAL

nominative = fides

accusative = fides

genitive = fiderum

televisio, -onis, f = television

SINGULAR

nominative = televisio

accusative = televisionem

genitive = televisionis

PLURAL

nominative = televisiones

accusative = televisiones

genitive = televisionum

magistratus, -ús, m = magistrate, magistracy

SINGULAR

nominative = magistratus

accusative = magistratum

genitive = magistratus

PLURAL

nominative = magistratus

accusative = magistratus

genitive = magistratuum

dea, -ae, f = goddess

SINGULAR

nominative = dea

accusative = deam

genitive = deae

PLURAL

nominative = deae

accusative = deas

genitive = dearum

pons, pontis, m = bridge

SINGULAR

nominative = pons

accusative = pontem

genitive = pontis

PLURAL

nominative = pontes

accusative = pontes

genitive = pontium

pax, pacis, f = peace

SINGULAR

nominative = pax

accusative = pacem

genitive = pacis

PLURAL

nominative = paces

accusative = paces

genitive = pacum

forum, -i, n = square, forum

SINGULAR

nominative = forum

accusative = forum

genitive = fori

PLURAL

nominative = fora

accusative = fora

genitive = fororum

filius, -ií, m = son

SINGULAR

nominative = filius

accusative = filium

genitive = filii

PLURAL

nominative = filii

accusative = filios

genitive = filiorum

corpus, -oris, n = body

SINGULAR

nominative = corpus

accusative = corpus

genitive = corporis

PLURAL

nominative = corpora

accusative = corpora

genitive = corporum

aeroplanum, -i, n = airplane

SINGULAR

nominative = aeroplanum

accusative = aeroplanum

genitive = aeroplani

PLURAL

nominative = aeroplana

accusative = aeroplana

genitive = aeroplanorum

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/Declension

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, like 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 manner and instrument (by, with), time and place (in, on, at), cause (for, to) and similar adverbials. Check this out, on our website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Ablative

The inflection (declension) of nouns is done by cutting off the declension specific genitive ending (-ae, -i, -is, -ús, -ei) and replacing them with the various case endings that you'll find on our website, following the links given above.

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!

fides, -ei, f = faith, credibility

televisio, -onis, f = television

magistratus, -ús, m = magistrate, magistracy

dea, -ae, f = goddess

pons, pontis, m = bridge

pax, pacis, f = peace

forum, -i, n = square, forum

filius, -ií, m = son

corpus, -oris, n = body

aeroplanum, -i, n = airplane

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. It means you have to cut off this "-ei" ending, and the remaining "r-" will be the invariable stem to which you will add the case endings. 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