Ludi Novi Romani/MMDCCLXVI/Certamen Latinum

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Latin inscription on bronze tablet that records the Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus, which prohibited the celebration of Bacchanalia, rites in honor of the god Bacchus, throughout Italy, 186 BCE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.

Contents

Preface of the Certamen Latinum

Welcome to the Ludi Romani, and to our contest!


The Ludi Novi Romani celebrate the 15th Anniversary, the Quindecennalia of Nova Roma this year! What a huge time! If we want to prove worthy of the Nova Roman name, we indeed shall undertake virtuous efforts! One such effort could be learning Latin. But wait, what? Effort!? But when it's pure joy! And what is our Roman identity, without Roman language? Have you ever tried to learn some bits of Latin? Do you think it is impossibly hard and difficult? Let's see, and you will find that your fears will prove false! Participate in the Certamen Latinum, and learn that Latin is learnable!


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.

Questions and Answers

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
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