Ludi Novi Romani/MMDCCLXV/Certamen Latinum

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.

In order to conjugate a verb, you simply cut off the infinitive endings -are, -ére, -ere and -ire, and replace them with the personal endings shown on our website, respectively to the conjugation group to which the verb belongs to. 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!

accipio, -ere, -cepi, -ceptum (accept)

defendo, -ere, -fendi, -fensum (defend)

doceo, -ére, docui, doctum (teach)

impero, -are, -avi, -atum (order)

scio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (know)

rapio, -ere, rapui, raptum (rob)

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, and the first person singular ending "-io" (1st dictionary form) makes it an I-Stem verb of 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

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 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

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? Not at all: we all know by now that Latin expresses grammatical functions by changing the word endings. That’s what we called declension or conjugation. So in what order to put, then, the words we decline and conjugate, in a sentence?

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.

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! :)

Learn more about how to write a Latin sentence here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence

II. QUESTION 6

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

"Brutus and Cassius defend the freedom and the traditions of the state of Rome." (7 pts)

Brutus, -i, m (Brutus)

Cassius, -i, m (Cassius)

defendo, -ere, -fendi, -fensum (defend)

et (and)

libertas, -atis, f (freedom)

mos, moris, m (tradition, custom)

civitas, -atis, f (state, citizenry)

Roma, -ae, f (Rome)

"Cassius is writing letters to Brutus and Curio about the events in the senate." (7 pts)

Curio, -onis, m (Curio)

scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)

epistula, -ae, f (letter, mail)

Cicero, -onis, m (Cicero)

de + ablative (about)

eventus, -ús, m (event)

in + ablative (in)

senatus, -ús, m (senate)

"Caesar salutes Pompey, but Pompey does not salute Caesar, because anger is invading Pompey’s heart." (10 pts)

Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)

saluto, -are, -avi, -atum (salute)

Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)

sed (but)

non (not; no)

quia (because)

ira, -ae, f (anger, ire)

invado, -ere, -vasi, -vasum (invade)

cor, cordis n (heart)

• Comment: "does/do not" in Latin is expressed by "non + verb in conjugated form", in this case it's literally "Pompey salutes not Cicero".

"The men say to Caesar: 'You attack the senate only because you wish to destroy the state'." (8 pts)

vir, viri, m (man)

dico, -ere, dixi, dictum (say)

oppugno, -are, -avi, -atum (attack)

solum (only)

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

deleo, -ere, -evi, -etum (destroy, delete)

"Today, on women’s day, we salute girls and ladies by flowers." (7 pts)

hodie (today)

femina, -ae, f (woman)

dies, -ei, m/f (day)

puella, -ae, f (girls)

mulier, -eris, f (lady, adult woman)

flos, floris, m (flower)

• Comment: both “on” (time) and "by" (means) are expressed here by using the ablative without preposition.

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 - Indirect Object - Object - Adverbial - Verb:

"Caesar Romam a Gallis defendit."

Answers 6

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 14th ;-)

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/MMDCCLXV/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 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").

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"?

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 containing adjectives and adverbs 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/Latin_sentence

Be careful, and read ALL information on the pages!

"The dutiful Brutus vigorously defends the freedom dear to the Roman people." (8 pts)

pius, -a, -um (dutiful)

Brutus, -i, m (Brutus)

strenuus, -a, -um (vigorous)

defendo, -ere, -fendi, -fensum (defend)

libertas, -atis, f (freedom)

carus, -a, -um (dear)

Romanus, -a, um (Roman)

populus, -i, m (people)

"Our friends are diligently writing a long letter to Caecilia Metella, wife of Marcus Licinius Crassus, and to Gaius Scribonius Curio about the many events in the Roman senate." (19 pts)

noster, -tra, -trum (our)

amicus, -, m (friend)

scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)

diligens, -entis (diligent)

epistula, -ae, f (letter, mail)

Caecilia, -ae, f; Metella, -ae, f (Caecilia Metella)

uxor, -oris, f (wife)

Marcus, -i, m; Licinius, -i, m; Crassus, -i, m (Marcus Licinius Crassus)

Gaius, -i, m; Scribonius, -i, m; Curio, -onis, m (Gaius Scribonius Curio)

scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum (write)

de + ablative (about)

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

eventus, -ús, m (event)

in + ablative (in)

Romanus, -a, um (Roman)

senatus, -ús, m (senate)

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

"Caesar wishes to salute the famous consul Gnaeus Pompeius generously, but Pompey does not salute the generous pontifex maximus Gaius Caesar, because anger is roughly invading Pompey’s bitter heart." (21 pts)

Gaius, -i, m; Caesar, -aris, m (Gaius Caesar)

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

saluto, -are, -avi, -atum (salute)

clarus, -a, -um (famous)

consul, -is, m (consul)

Gnaeus, -i, m; Pompeius, -i, m (Gnaeus Pompeius)

liberalis, -e, (generous)

sed (but)

non (not; no)

pontifex, -ficis, m; maximus, -i, m (pontifex maximus, supreme pontiff)

quia (because)

ira, -ae, f (anger, ire)

asper, -era, -erum (rough)

invado, -ere, -vasi, -vasum (invade)

cor, cordis n (heart)

tristis, -e (bitter, sad)

• Comment: "does/do not" in Latin is expressed by "non + verb in conjugated form", in this case it's literally "Pompey salutes not Cicero".

"The old men say angrily to the famous Gaius Caesar: 'You attack our senate only because you wish to destroy the republic." (12 pts)

vetus, -eris (old)

vir, viri, m (man)

dico, -ere, dixi, dictum (say)

iratus, -a, -um (angry)

oppugno, -are, -avi, -atum (attack)

solum (only)

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

deleo, -ere, -evi, -etum (destroy, delete)

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

"I am proudly celebrating the fourteenth anniversary of my people, the Nova Romans, in the Nova Roman Games." (10 pts)

superbus, -a, -um (proud)

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

quartus, -a, -um; decimus, -a, -um (fourteenth)

anniversarium, -, n (anniversary)

meus, -a, -um (my, mine)

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

in + ablative (in)

ludus, -i, m (game)

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

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 off 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 “(he) writes” as scribit (1 pt):

"Cicero magnus Bruto sapienti epistulas longas lente scribit."

Answers 7

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