Ludi Romani (Nova Roma)/Certamen Latinum

Rules of the Certamen Latinum

1. Questions are posted daily, one question per one day. There will be 6 questions in total.

2. Answers are to be sent to <cnaeus_cornelius@yahoo.com> before the official publishing of the correct answers on the mailing lists of Nova Roma..

Question 1 (September 10th)

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 ONE verb from these verbs given in their dictionary forms, and conjugate it in Present Tense.

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

video, -ére, vidi, visum (see)

puto, -are, -avi, -atum (think)

lego, -ere, legi, lectum (read)

deleo, -ére, -évi, -étum (delete)

facio, -ere, feci, factum (make)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

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 (September 11th)

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 verb from these nouns given in their dictionary forms, and decline it in all five cases both in singular and in plural.

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

gladius, -i, m (sword)

exercitus, -ús, m (army)

pilum, -i, n (javelin)

civitas, -atis, f (citizenship)

scutum, -i, n (shield)

facies, -éí, f (face)

ala, -ae, f (wing)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

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 (September 12th)

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 2

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 different from what you chose last time. - 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>

fidelis, -e (loyal)

magnus, -a, -um (great)

gladius, -i, m (sword)

exercitus, -ús, m (army)

vehemens, -entis (vehement)

pilum, -i, n (javelin)

nobilis, -e (noble)

iocosus, -a, -um (funny)

civitas, -atis, f (citizenship)

pulcher, -chra, -chrum (beautiful)

scutum, -i, n (shield)

facies, -éí, f (face)

audax, -acis (bold)

ala, -ae, f (wing)

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 (September 13th)

Question 5 (September 14th)

Question 6 (September 15th)

Final Results

The scores and final positions are:

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