A276_2 Getting started on classical Latin

Getting started on classical Latin

About this free course

This free course is an adapted extract from the Open University course A276 Getting started on Classical Latin: http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/modules/a276.

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There you’ll also be able to track your progress via your activity record, which you can use to demonstrate your learning.

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Contents

- Introduction

- Learning outcomes

- 1 Learning Latin: study techniques

- 2 Links between English and Latin

- 2.1 Latin and English: the Roman empire

- 2.2 The influence of Norman French

- 2.3 The Renaissance to the modern era

- 2.4 Latin vocabulary

- 3 The pronunciation of Latin

- 3.1 Latin pronunciation and the Latin alphabet

- 3.2 Learning to pronounce Latin

- 4 Introducing grammar

- 4.1 Inflection

- 4.2 Parts of speech

- 4.3 Sentences

- 4.4 Unravelling sentences

- 5 Reading Latin: working with words and sentences

- 5.1 The cases in Latin

- Conclusion

- Keep on learning

- Glossary

- References

- Further reading

- Acknowledgements

Introduction

You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University
– www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/getting-started-on-classical-latin/content-section-0

The aim of this free course is to enable you to get started on learning Latin in a fairly leisurely but well-focused way.
It has been developed in response to requests from students who had had no contact with Latin before and who felt they would
like to spend a little time preparing for the kind of learning that studying a classical language involves. This course will
give you a taster of what is involved in the very early stages of learning Latin. Along the way, you will learn some Latin
words, master the pronunciation of Latin and explore the links between Latin and English. Importantly, too, you will gain
a basic understanding of how Latin ‘works’ – its grammar and sentence structure – and gain a useful impression of what learning
Latin actually involves. The material which follows is designed to be studied in small sections. In all, it will probably
take about 8–10 hours to work through. But even if you have only a small amount of time available, you will find it useful
to work through the early sections and familiarise yourself with some basic grammatical terms.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course A276 Classical Latin: the language of ancient Rome .

Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

- understand some of the main links between English and Latin

- pronounce Latin words confidently

- have an understanding of basic English grammar in order to recognise and describe the way languages work

- unravel basic Latin sentences.

1 Learning Latin: study techniques

You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University
– www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/getting-started-on-classical-latin/content-section-0

If you have studied classical literature in translation, at the OU or elsewhere, you will be used to the demands of extensive
reading of set books, note-taking and preparing essays. However, the ‘tools of the trade’ for learning a classical language
are somewhat different, and you will need to develop new skills, of which the most basic are actually the most important,
since they underpin everything else that you do as you progress your studies in the area.

To study Latin successfully, students typically find they need to develop a study pattern suited to their lifestyle and to
the demands of this type of language learning. ‘Little and often’ is best; however, you may not be able to set aside an hour
or so each day. This course will give you the opportunity to try out various study patterns and find out which suits you best.

You will also be able to find out which aspects of language learning come easily to you, and which seem more difficult or
more time-consuming. For example, some people find dealing with grammar difficult. Others may worry about memorising words,
although with practice many people find that they can develop techniques to help with this. As you work through this material,
you might like to experiment with different ways of learning vocabulary – for example, writing out the Latin words and/or
saying them aloud; thinking of English words which are derived from, and therefore similar to, the Latin words you have learnt;
using flash cards; getting a friend to test you; recording vocabulary items and listening back to them; or a combination of
these strategies. If you can set up the habit of learning just a few words each day, you will benefit enormously.

2 Links between English and Latin

You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University
– www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/getting-started-on-classical-latin/content-section-0

Although Latin is not the direct ancestor of the English language, as it is of languages such as Italian, French and Spanish
(the so-called ‘Romance’ languages), it has nevertheless given us an enormous number of English words. According to some estimates,
around half of all English words come from Latin.

2.1 Latin and English: the Roman empire

You may be familiar with the idea that words such as science, transport and solution are derived from Latin, but did you know that street and kipper come from Latin words which entered ordinary speech during the period from the first to the early fifth centuries AD, when
Celtic Britain was part of the Roman empire?

Activity 1

There are other homely words in this category. Try matching the following English words with their Latin origins below.

bibere (= to drink)

buxus (= boxwood)

candela

vinum

caseus

pisum

saccus (= large bag)

soccus (= slipper)

strata (via) (= paved way)

vallum (= palisaded earthwork)

castra (= camp, fort)

wine

wall

street

sock

sack

peas

cheese

caster/cester/chester (as in Lancaster, Gloucester, Chester)

candle

box

beer

2.2 The influence of Norman French

In the sixth century, the Latin of the Christian church added such words as monastery and minster, pope and noon (from nona hora = ninth hour = 3pm) to the language, which was then essentially Anglo-Saxon. When William the Conqueror and his Normans came to Britain
in the eleventh century, a vast number of words, derived both from Norman French and from written Latin, entered English.
Among these are duke, general, soldier, army, palace, law, chivalry, merchant, mutton, beef and pork. In some instances, English was further enriched by having two versions of what was originally a single Latin word.

Table 1 English words derived from Latin and from Latin through French

Words from Latin through French

Words from Latin

treason

tradition

rage

rabies

ray

radius

poor

pauper

reason

ration, ratio

firm

secure

abridge

abbreviate

2.3 The Renaissance to the modern era

The Renaissance in Europe, the Enlightenment in Britain, and the growth of science and technology in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, produced thousands more words derived from Latin, such as administration, computer, decimal, horticulture, interface, molecule, missile, satellite and superhuman.

This is a huge and fascinating topic. If you would like to think about it in greater depth, you could read Latin in our Language by Peter Barker − see the ‘ Further reading ’ section for full publication details. This book contains many vocabulary exercises.

In English there are often two words expressing the same idea, one of Anglo-Saxon origin, the other of Latin origin. Anglo-Saxon
words can often seem more simple and straightforward in style, while Latinate words can seem more scientific and academic.
So simple words and phrases such as go down, high, sad, speed up, watch, hate, do well and hide, for example, can be contrasted with words of Latin origin like descend, elevated, miserable, accelerate, observe, detest, succeed and conceal. But do bear in mind that not all words derived from Latin sound elevated: remember the homely words of Latin origin you
met in Section 2, like cheese, peas and sock !

Activity 2

In addition to the words which have derived from Latin or from Latin through French, English also uses a number of words taken
straight from Latin without any change. See if you can match the following Latin/English words with the meanings of the original
Latin words below.

things to be discussed

things given

he/she goes out

rule/method

mushroom

by hinting

lentil

things in the middle

more

thing to be referred

empty thing

vacuum

referendum

plus

media

lens

innuendo

fungus

formula

exit

data

agenda

2.4 Latin vocabulary

The links between Latin and English vocabulary are good news for students of Latin. Because of the presence of so many words
of Latin origin in English, many Latin words are relatively easy for English speakers to absorb. Indeed, some Latin words
are almost identical to their English equivalents, as shown in Table 2.

Table 2 Latin words with similar English equivalents

Latin word

English meaning

adulescens

young man, youth, adolescent

affirmo

I affirm

desidero

I desire

finis

finish, end

pars

part

persuadeo

I persuade

rapidus

rapid, swift

respondeo

I reply, respond

similis

similar, like

templum

temple

The fact that Latin words often have English derivatives can also make them relatively straightforward to learn.

Table 3 Latin words with English derivatives

Latin word

English derivations

familia, household

family

filius, son

filial

habito, I live, dwell

habitat

celo, I hide

conceal

clamo, I shout

exclaim

intro, I enter

enter

porto, I carry

porter

timeo, I fear

timid

voco, I call

vocation (i.e. a 'calling')

amo, I love

amiable

curo, I look after

curator

Activity 3

Now it’s time to do a little vocabulary building. How many of the following common Latin words can you guess the meaning of?
Type your answers next to the Latin words in the box provided.

arma:
causa:
custos:
defendo:
difficilis:
elephantus:
femina:
frater:
nomen:
optimus:
pater:
servus:

View answer - Activity 3

3 The pronunciation of Latin

You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University
– www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/getting-started-on-classical-latin/content-section-0

Contrary to what many people think, we do know how classical Latin (the Latin spoken in the first century BCE and the first century CE) was pronounced. One of the main clues is provided by the spelling of Latin names in Greek: thus, since the Latin name Valeria,
for instance, was spelled Oualeria in Greek, we can tell that Latin ‘v’ was pronounced as a ‘w’ sound. Alternative spellings
and misspellings on inscriptions also help to show common pronunciations, as do the regular metres of Latin poetry; the remarks
of ancient grammarians and other writers; and comparison of Latin with other languages.

3.1 Latin pronunciation and the Latin alphabet

The Roman alphabet is still very much in use today: it is the alphabet used for English and many other languages throughout
the world, and it owed its original spread to the use of Latin in the western Roman empire. In classical times, the alphabet
consisted of 23 letters, not our 26, as it lacked j, v and w.

3.2 Learning to pronounce Latin

Most students find that they master the principles of pronouncing Latin easily enough, though it can take a little patience
and practice. Unlike with modern languages, there is no pressure to develop an ‘authentic’ Latin accent. However, being able
to pronounce Latin consistently will ultimately allow you to absorb Latin vocabulary more quickly, read more fluently and
appreciate the rhythms and sounds of Latin poetry and prose that much better.

Activity 4

To learn how Latin is pronounced, visit the ‘Sounds’ section of the Introducing Classical Latin website, produced by The Open University. You should set aside around an hour to work through this section of the site. (If
you have studied some Latin before, you may find browsing this section of the website a useful way of refreshing your memory.)

To begin to acquire some basic Latin vocabulary, you may also like to look at the ‘Words’ section of the Introducing Classical Latin site. (But note that you will be prompted to revisit the site later, both to look at the ‘Words’ section again – and also
to work through the ‘Sentences’ section, which you should leave to one side for now.)

In line with the ‘little and often’ approach that you are advised to adopt for learning Latin, you may wish to break down
your time working on the ‘Sounds’ and ‘Words’ sections into small chunks of 10–20 minutes. You will no doubt also find it
useful to revisit the Introducing Classical Latin website again after a few days, too, to review what you have learnt: consolidation
and practice are key when it comes to making languages stick!

You will notice that, some letters on the Introducing Classical Latin site are marked with short lines over the top; these
are called ‘macra’ (singular: macron) and they mark the difference between ‘short’ and ‘long’ vowels. (You can hear the difference
between the length of vowels when you work through the section on the ‘Sounds’ of the Latin alphabet.) Macra can be useful
when learning how to pronounce Latin words, but since most printed versions of Latin texts do not use them, we’ve chosen not
to include them in this OpenLearn course.

4 Introducing grammar

You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University
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The grammar of a language is simply a way of describing the rules its native speakers intuitively use when they speak or write.
In this section, you will explore some aspects of English grammar that it will be useful for you to be aware of when studying
Latin. As someone who has already mastered one complex language that is related to Latin – namely English – you may be pleasantly
surprised at how familiar some of the principles of Latin grammar turn out to be.

4.1 Inflection

The underlying grammatical rules of Indo-European languages (for example, English, Gaelic, French, German, Russian, Latin,
Greek, Punjabi) are similar, but it is not always easy to appreciate this when you are beginning to learn a new language.
A common feature of all these languages is the ‘ inflection ’ of nouns, adjectives and verbs, whereby the end of the word is changed according to its function in the sentence. For example,
woman, woman’s, women and women’s are all inflections of a noun. This and these are inflections of an adjective, and teach, teaches, teaching and taught are inflections of a verb.

Modern English uses inflected forms in a fairly limited way. But many languages use them much more than English does – including
Latin which is a heavily inflected language. In English, we have, on the whole, exchanged the inflections for a very strict
system of word order. For example, ‘Those girls are feeding the horses’ means one thing and ‘The horses are feeding those
girls’ means something rather different. Similarly, ‘You are going to Spain tomorrow’ is different from ‘Are you going to
Spain tomorrow?’ We can tell who is doing what to whom, in the first example, and whether something is a statement or a question,
in the second example, from the order of the words.

This is much less true of Latin. The endings of words (the inflections) are vital to understanding how words relate to each
other and enable us to work out the meaning of a sentence. When learning Latin (or Greek, German or Russian), we have to change
our reading habits. We need to look even more carefully at the ends of words than at the beginnings, and only if we do this
will the meaning of a sentence become clear and unambiguous. In learning Latin, vocabulary is important, but just as important
is the system of word endings.

4.2 Parts of speech

In describing the grammar of written Latin, the best method is to use the traditional classical grammar, as worked out by
the Greeks and Romans themselves. As a preliminary exercise, it may be useful to be familiar with the ‘parts of speech’ in
English.

Table 4 below gives a very brief explanation of the eight parts of speech which are found in both Latin and English. A fuller
discussion of the most important terms follows.

Table 4 Parts of speech in English

Part of speech

Explanation

Latin derivation of the term

noun

a naming word

nomen, a name

pronoun

a word used in place of a noun

pro, instead of; nomen, a name

adjective

a 'describing' word

adiectum, thrown at, added

verb

a 'doing' or 'being' word

verbum, a word

adverb

a word added to a verb, adjective or another adverb

ad, to; verbum, a word

preposition

a word placed before a noun or pronoun

prae, in front of; positum, placed

conjunction

a joining word

coniunctum, joined

interjection

an exclamation

interiectum, thrown between, insert

4.2.1 Nouns

Nouns are used to name people, places, things or concepts; for example Cicero, Italy, field, happiness. Most nouns can be singular or plural; for example field, fields.

In Latin, nouns are usually subject to inflections: their endings change. This is sometimes so in English, too, as you saw
in Section 4.1 with woman, women, woman’s, and women’s.

Activity 5

Identify the nouns in this passage from Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were – Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter. They lived
with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big fir-tree.

‘Now, my dears,’ said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, ‘you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s
garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor.

Potter, 1902, pp. 7–11

View answer - Activity 5

Gender of nouns

In English, we tend to classify nouns according to their sex, ‘masculine’ being used of males, ‘feminine’ of females and ‘neuter’
of everything else. Observe the following examples:

- What’s wrong with that man ? He seems really annoyed.

- I saw you speaking to that woman. What did she say?

- You had the book in your hand just now. Where did you put it ?

‘He’ tends to be used for male humans and animals; ‘she’ tends to be used for female humans and animals; and ‘it’ is used
for inanimate objects and animals of indeterminate gender.

In Latin, however, nouns are classified according to their gender, and the terms ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ are not restricted
to male and female people and animals.

So, some masculine nouns identify people or animals that you might intuitively class as ‘masculine’, such as:

- vir, man

- miles, soldier

- servus, (male) slave

- lupus, (he-)wolf

But a number of inanimate objects or concepts are also masculine in Latin:

- campus, field

- murus, wall

- pons, bridge

- annus, year

Similarly, some feminine nouns identify people or animals that you might intuitively class as ‘feminine’, such as:

- femina, woman

- regina, queen

- uxor, wife

- lupa, she-wolf

But many inanimate objects or concepts are also feminine in Latin:

- flamma, flame

- statua, statue

- urbs, city

- arx, citadel

In addition to masculine and feminine, Latin also has a third gender: neuter. Neuter nouns include:

- templum, temple

- bellum, war

- consilium, plan

- nomen, name

If you are new to language learning (and even if you are not!), the idea of gender may be challenging to grasp. There is,
after all, nothing intrinsically masculine about a ‘year’ or feminine about a ‘flame’. Rest assured that gender is something
that you will get used to over time, however.

4.2.2 Pronouns

Pronouns are used to avoid repeating nouns and to supply the subjects for verbs. I, me, we and us are known as the first person pronouns; you is the second person pronoun; and he, him, she, her, it, they and them are third person pronouns in English. In Latin, pronouns are used only when really necessary for the sense of a sentence,
or sometimes for emphasis. Often, a pronoun subject, such as I, you or she, can be understood from the ending of the verb. This and that can also be used as pronouns, both in English and in Latin.

4.2.3 Adjectives

Adjectives are words which describe nouns, for example big city, these chairs, good people, my chocolate or swift horse. In Latin they ‘agree’ with the noun they describe: that is to say, they match with regard to gender (masculine, feminine
or neuter) and number (singular or plural), for example. This is occasionally so in English, too. For example, we say that house but those houses.

4.2.4 Prepositions

A preposition is a word which accompanies a noun (or a pronoun) to provide information such as the location of the action
of a sentence in space or time, e.g. in, towards, against, with, among, from, after, about.

Prepositions are always used with a noun or pronoun in what is called a ‘prepositional phrase’, for example: towards the woman, near the cinema, behind the clouds, after breakfast, with her.

Notice how English says: ‘This is for him ’ (not ‘for he’); ‘He went with me ’ (not ‘with I’) and ‘Give the sweets to us ’ (not ‘to we’). That is to say, English tends to use a particular form of a pronoun when it is used in a prepositional phrase.
In Latin, it is not just the forms of pronouns that change when they are used with prepositions: the forms of nouns change,
too. The Latin for ‘slave’, for example, is servus ; but ‘with the slave’ in Latin is cum servo (i.e. the final – us of servus has changed to – o).

4.2.5 Verbs

Verbs are the most important words of all, as is suggested by the fact that the verb in both English and Latin is named after
the Latin word verbum, word! Without a verb, a sentence cannot be a proper sentence, or a clause a proper clause. A one-word
sentence consists of a verb only, for example, ‘Run!’

Verb endings

The ending of a Latin verb shows who is carrying out the action of the verb (which is why there is usually no need for a pronoun
to show this). Table 5 below shows the present tense person endings of almost every Latin verb.

Table 5 Person endings of Latin verbs (present tense)

Person

Singular

Plural

1st

o (= I)

mus (= we)

2nd

s (= you)

tis (= you)

3rd

t (= he/she/it)

nt (= they)

The part of the verb to which the person ending is added is called the stem. Thus, the stem ama plus the person ending – t produces amat, ‘he/she/it loves’. Alternatively, ama plus nt produces amant, meaning ‘they love.’

Activity 6

Identify the person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and number (singular or plural) of the following English verbs. Type your answers in the
box below.

He loves:
They capture:
She carries:
You desire:
I fear:
We see:
They are:
I carry:

View answer - Activity 6

The tense of verbs

As well as indicating an action, and who is carrying it out, a verb usually tells us when the action happens: I’m eating, for example, tells us of something happening at the present moment, whereas I ate indicates something that happened in the past. This kind of difference is known as the ‘ tense ’ of the verb. In English, this is often indicated by using another verb to help out the meaning, for example I will eat . This extra verb is sometimes referred to as an ‘auxiliary verb’, from the Latin word auxilium, meaning ‘help’. In Latin, on the other hand, a change of person ending, and sometimes a change of stem, indicates a change
in the tense.

The main tenses in Latin are given in Table 6 below.

Table 6 The main tenses in Latin

Tense

Latin

English translations

Present

porto

I carry (simple present)
I am carrying (present continuous)
I do carry (emphatic)

Future

portabo

I shall/will carry
I am going to carry

Imperfect

portabam

I was carrying (continuous action in the past)
I used to carry (repeated action)
I carried (repeated action)

Perfect

portavi

I have carried (present perfect)
I carried (past simple: a completed action)

Pluperfect

portaveram

I had carried (further back in the past than the perfect)

Future perfect

portavero

I will/shall have eaten

You will note that ‘I carried’ is a possible English translation of both the imperfect and the perfect.

Latin would use the imperfect (portabam), from Latin imperfectum, ‘incomplete’, when the action was continuing or repeated: e.g. ‘I carried my books to school every day’.

Latin would use the perfect (portavi), from Latin perfectum, ‘complete’, for a one-off action: e.g. ‘I carried my books to school on Tuesday’.

Latin has only the above six tenses. As you can see from the translations provided, there are not as many different ways of
describing actions in Latin as there are in English!

Activity 7

Identify the Latin tense – present, imperfect, perfect or pluperfect – that would be used to translate the following English
verbs. Then identify the person and number of each (e.g. first person singular; third person plural). Type your answers in
the box provided.

You speak:
They have arrived:
We used to know:
We went:
You are flying:
I was trying:
He had jumped:
She fell:

View answer - Activity 7

Activity 8

The following extract from the Parable of the Prodigal Son in the New Testament contains several verbs. Identify each of the
verbs and say which tense would be used to translate them into Latin (present, future, imperfect, perfect or pluperfect).
Type your answers in the box provided.

‘And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined
himself to one of the citizens of that country... no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many
of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father,
and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you …’

(Luke 15: 14–18)

Provide your answer...

View answer - Activity 8

4.2.6 Other parts of speech

Nouns, adjectives, verbs, pronouns and prepositions are the most important parts of speech to get to grips with as you start
to learn Latin.

If you would like to know more about the other parts of speech – adverbs, conjunctions and interjections – you can look these
up in the glossary , which you will find towards the end of this unit.

4.3 Sentences

In this section, you will take a closer look at sentences, in particular the concepts of ‘subject’ and ‘object’ which are
so vital for understanding Latin.

4.3.1 Subject and verb

A sentence consists of a number of words which, to make sense, must include a verb. Unless this is the only word in the sentence
(as in ‘Run!’), there will normally be a word telling us who or what is doing the action. This person or thing carrying out
the action of the verb – which is denoted by a noun or a pronoun – is called the subject of the verb.

Consider these sentences:

The players ran onto the pitch. The referee blew his whistle, and the centre-forward kicked off.

This short passage has three separate statements (in the two sentences), each determined by a different action expressed by
a verb – ran, blew and kicked. There are also three separate ‘doers’ or subjects of the actions: the players, the referee and the centre-forward.

Activity 9

Identify the subjects and verbs in the following sentences. Type your answers in the box provided. The first one has been
done for you.

1. I like chocolate.

2. The boys ran as fast as they could.

3. Tomorrow my friend and I are going to Paris.

4. She was sitting beside her friend on the bus and they were talking loudly.

5. Chris and Robbie climbed the tree.

1. Subject: I; Verb: like
2.
3.
4.
5.

View answer - Activity 9

4.3.2 Subject and object

Sometimes a sentence also contains a noun (or pronoun), indicating to whom or what the action is being done. In the sentence,
‘ The referee blew his whistle’, the subject is ‘ the referee’, the verb is ‘ blew’, and ‘ his whistle’ is the thing to which the action is done. This ‘receiver’ of the action is called the ‘object’ of the verb. Another way to
think of this is to ask a question of the subject and verb; for example, ‘The referee blew – what?’ The answer to the question,
‘his whistle’, is the object.

Two of the sentences in Activity 9 above also have objects: ‘I like chocolate ’ and ‘Chris and Robbie climbed the tree ’.

Activity 10

Identify the subject, verb and object in the following sentences. Type your answers in the box provided.

1. The dog fetched the ball.

2. The girls were quietly reading their books.

3. We don’t like hard work.

4. In 60 CE Boudicca destroyed Colchester, London and St Albans.

5. The Romans could not forgive her.

6. People will be watching you.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

View answer - Activity 10

As you can see from the examples in Activity 10, in English the subject usually comes before the verb and the object after
it, so the order of components is subject–verb–object (sometimes shortened to SVO). This is not always so, however: the object may come first in English, perhaps for the sake
of emphasis. And so it is possible to say:

Hard work we don’t like.

Similarly, the verb can sometimes come before the subject in English:

‘Get lost!’ shouted the man angrily.

4.3.3 English and Latin: word order and meaning

As the subject–verb–object order is normal in English, the difference between a word as subject and the same word as object
is not shown by inflection; this is unnecessary. Some English pronouns form an exception, nevertheless:

Table 7 English pronouns that change form

Subject (in the subjective case)

Object (in the objective case)

I

me

he

him

she

her

we

us

they

them

This change of form is a vital point to bear in mind when learning Latin, because Latin nouns and pronouns (and adjectives)
change their form according to whether they are the subject or object in their sentence: it is the form of the word, or ‘case’
as it is usually known, that determines whether it is the subject or the object.

This is a particularly important point, as English usually relies on word order to distinguish between subject and object,
as we have already noted: ‘The dog bit the postman’ is in the conventional order of subject–verb–object, but changing the
order of words to ‘The postman bit the dog’ substantially alters the meaning of the sentence.

This would not be so in Latin, because the different case-endings on the nouns (etc.) indicate which word is the subject and
which the object, even if the order of the words is unexpected: object–subject–verb, for example. All the same, there is a
word order in Latin which is more usual than others, and this is subject–object–verb. Because of this, the Latin reader has
to wait until the end of the sentence with great anticipation to find out what the action (the verb) is!

4.4 Unravelling sentences

In this section you get to practise your skills of analysing English sentences, first by looking at a passage of prose then
at poetry.

4.4.1 English prose: subjects and objects

In order to consolidate your knowledge so far, you will first practise identifying subjects and objects in the context of
a passage of English text.

Activity 11

The following passage is about the Roman emperor Gaius, better known as Caligula.

Read through it and identify as many subjects, verbs and objects as you can. You will note that not all of the verbs in the
passage have an object. Type your answers in the box provided.

Gaius deprived the noblest men at Rome of their ancient family emblems – Torquatus lost his golden collar, Cincinnatus lost
his lock of hair, and Gnaeus Pompeius lost the surname ‘Great’. He invited King Ptolemy to Rome, welcomed him with appropriate
honours, and then suddenly ordered his execution, because, at Ptolemy’s entrance into the amphitheatre during a gladiatorial
show, his fine purple cloak had attracted universal admiration. And if Gaius encountered a good-looking man with a fine head
of hair – he himself was bald – the back of his scalp was brutally shaved.

(Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, Caligula 35; adapted from the translation by R. Graves)

Provide your answer...

View answer - Activity 11

4.4.2 English poetry: subjects and objects

In English prose – as in spoken English – you can normally rely on sentences conforming to the standard word order of subject–object–verb
(or simply subject–verb where the sentence doesn’t contain an object). Neither Latin nor English is always so straightforward,
however. In English poetry, in particular, it is not uncommon to find language used in experimental or unconventional ways,
word order included. Consider the following, for example:

The dark and vicious place where thee he got
Cost him his eyes.

(Shakespeare, King Lear, 5.3.171–2)

In the three words formatted in bold above, Shakespeare varies the word order from a standard English word order. Thee is the old English objective form of thou, and the normal order would be ‘he got [= begot] thee’. Poets, for special effect or to improve the metrical rhythm, often
do vary the order. Consider this example from Shakespeare’s Sonnet no. 133:

Me from myself thy cruel eye hath taken

(Shakespeare, Sonnet no. 133, line 5)

Here we can analyse the sentence to find out the structure:

1. Which is the verb? – ‘hath taken’

2. Who/what has done the action? – ‘thy cruel eye’ (subject)

3. What has been taken? – ‘me’ (object)

Similarly:

- To me fair friend, you never can be old;

- For as you were when first your eye I eyed,

- Such seems your beauty still.

(Shakespeare, Sonnet no. 104, lines 1–3)

What is the grammatical structure in ‘when first your eye I eyed’?

1. What is the verb? – ‘eyed’

2. Who/what is doing the action? – ‘I’ (subject)

3. What is being eyed? – ‘your eye’ (object)

This sort of analysis will be important in your study of Latin. But, as it is the case-ending on the Latin noun which indicates
whether it is subject or object, it will be easier to sort out which is which in a Latin sentence than it is in some passages
of English text.

Activity 12

To make sure you have understood the principles established so far, see if you can pick out the subject, verb and object in
the following seven examples. Record your answers in the box provided.

Example 1

Our hearts you see not;

(Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 3.1.170)

Example 2

For that security craves great Lucifer

(Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, 2.1.36)

Example 3

This casket India's glowing gems unlocks

(Pope, The Rape of the Lock, 1.133)

Example 4

Wit, brav’ry, worth, his lavish tongue bestows

(Johnson, London, 126)

Example 5

Much he the place admired, the person more.

(Milton, Paradise Lost, 9.444)

Example 6

Two massy [massive] keys he bore, of metals twain

(Milton, Lycidas, 110)

Example 7

In Peace the thoughts of War he could remove

(Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, 25)

Example 1:
Example 2:
Example 3:
Example 4:
Example 5:
Example 6:
Example 7:

View answer - Activity 12

5 Reading Latin: working with words and sentences

You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University
– www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/getting-started-on-classical-latin/content-section-0

To round off your work on sentences, you should now revisit The Open University’s Introducing Classical Latin website. In Section 3.2, you were asked to work through the ‘Sounds’ section and, if you had time, to begin looking through the ‘Words’ section.

Activity 13

Now finish working through the ‘ Words ’ section of the Introducing Classical Latin site. Once you are confident that you have a reasonable grasp of the 24 Latin
words you are asked to learn, work through the ‘ Sentences ’ section, looking at ‘Using Nouns 1', ‘Using Nouns 2’ and ‘Using Adjectives’ . The activities on this website will give you the opportunity to translate some basic Latin sentences. As you work through
the exercises, you will also begin to see how the learning you have done in this course relates to the practicalities of reading
and understanding Latin.

Aim to set aside around 2 hours to work through the ‘Words’ and ‘Sentences’ sections. Once more, in line with the ‘little
and often’ approach you are advised to adopt for learning Latin, you may wish to break down your time working on these sections
into small chunks of 10−20 minutes.

5.1 The cases in Latin

To finish off your study of ‘Getting Started on Classical Latin’, let’s take a brief look at a key feature of Latin grammar:
‘cases’.

‘Cases’ indicate the various functions that nouns, pronouns and adjectives can have in a sentence. The case is shown by the
word ending in Latin.

During your work on the Introducing Classical Latin website, you met the two most important cases in Latin. These are the nominative case (i.e. the subject forms, like servus and femina) and the accusative case (i.e. the object forms, like serv um and femin am).

5.1.2 Nominative: the case of the subject

The nominative is the form of the noun you will find in a dictionary. This is the form of the noun that is used for the subject of the sentence.

- femina aurum amat. The woman loves gold.

- servus forum videt. The slave sees the forum.

The nominative is also used for what is known as the complement, usually a word linked to the subject of a sentence by the verb ‘to be’.

- femina est regina. The woman is a queen.

(Note that in this sentence, woman – femina – is also in the nominative since it is the subject of the sentence. One way to
think of the verb ‘to be’ is as an equals sign, linking the two nouns: femina = regina.)

5.1.3 Accusative: the case of the object

The accusative case is the form of the noun used for the object of the sentence.

- servus feminam amat. The slave loves the woman.

- puer lupum capit. The boy captures the wolf.

The accusative is also used after certain prepositions in Latin (such as ad, ‘towards’).

- puer ad feminam currit. The boy runs towards the woman.

5.1.4 Summary of cases

Table 8 below summarises the uses of the nominative, accusative and the other four cases in Latin. There is no need to commit
this to memory now: this is simply here to provide an overview of how Latin nouns work.

Note how the ending of a Latin noun like servus, ‘slave’, changes in the various cases (serv us, serv um, serv i, etc.). Importantly, whereas English speakers rely on word order to tell them what grammatical role a word is playing in the sentence, readers of Latin principally rely on word shape.

Table 8 Summary of the cases in Latin

case

use

English translation ('slave')

nominative
(servus)

used for the subject of a sentence or clause

used for the complement of the verb ‘to be’ (i.e. after the verb ‘to be’)

a slave …, the slave …

vocative
(serve)

used when addressing someone

slave!, … O slave,

accusative
(servum)

used for the object of a verb
used after certain prepositions

… a slave, … the slave
(meaning of preposition) + the slave/a slave

genitive
(servi)

used to indicate possession: of, ______’s

of the slave, of a slave; the slave’s, a slave’s

dative
(servo)

used with verbs of giving, saying, showing or telling: to, for

to the slave, to a slave; for the slave, for a slave

ablative
(servo)

when used by itself (usually with things rather than people): by, with, from
used after certain prepositions

by, with, from (whichever seems to fit) + the thing
(meaning of preposition) + the slave/a slave

Note that Latin has no word for ‘a’ or ‘the’. This means that you can choose to translate the different forms of servus as
‘slave’, ‘a slave’ or ‘the slave’, whichever seems to make best sense in context.

Conclusion

You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University
– www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/getting-started-on-classical-latin/content-section-0

We hope that you have enjoyed ‘Getting started on classical Latin’.

Simply by working through this free course, you have already begun to familiarise yourself with some of the key terms that
you will meet again if you choose to learn Latin in earnest, such as ‘noun’, ‘verb’, ‘subject’ and ‘object’. Do bear in mind
that you have been presented with a lot of information in a very short time and you are certainly not expected to retain everything
that you have read. Getting to grips with the basic principles of grammar – which you have already done – is always going
to be more important than memorising the precise terms used to describe grammatical concepts. And the good news is that when
you meet these grammatical concepts again when you are studying Latin, your understanding will give you an important head
start. Remember, too, that this course has a Glossary if you need to refresh your memory of what certain grammatical terms mean.

Focusing on grammar is one aspect of language learning, but learning vocabulary is equally important; something else that
we hope you have taken away from this course is just how strong the links between Latin and English are and, as a consequence,
how similar many Latin words are to English words. You might like to take a moment to reflect on how many Latin words you
are familiar with now that you’ve worked through this course.

If you enjoyed ‘Getting Started on classical Latin’, why not take your Latin learning further? For suggestions on what to
do next, see the Further reading section.

If you would like to take your learning of classical languages further, you can try:

Discovering Ancient Greek and Latin

Introducing Ancient Greek

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Glossary

accusative (case)

The case of the direct object of the verb; e.g. vir feminam amat, ‘the man loves the woman ; or puer servum videt, ‘the boy sees the slave ’. The accusative is also used with certain prepositions.

adjective

A ‘describing word’: that is to say, a word that modifies (i.e. describes) a noun; e.g. beautiful, brave, large.

adverb

A word which modifies (describes the action of) a verb. In English, adverbs commonly, but not always, end in – ly, e.g. quickly, suddenly, but also soon, always, almost. Adverbs can also modify an adjective or another adverb: almost ready; really easily.

agreement

In the case of verbs, agreement means the change in the form of the verb depending on the verb’s subject. Thus in the sentence
‘I do’, ‘do’ agrees with ‘I’; in the sentence ‘he does’, ‘does’ agrees with ‘he’. In the case of adjectives, agreement means
the change in the form of the adjective to match the number, gender and case of the noun: thus vir parv us, ‘the small man’, but femina parv a, ‘the small woman’.

case

Latin nouns are found in one of six cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative and vocative.

clause

A section of a sentence containing, as a minimum, a subject and a verb (though in Latin, unlike English, the subject is not
always stated).

complement

A word or phrase which adds to the description of the subject of a sentence (and which, therefore, like the subject, appears
in the nominative case). A complement is most often found in conjunction with the verb ‘to be’. Thus in the sentence ‘vir
est amicus’, ‘The man is a friend’, the subject is vir, ‘man’ (‘The man is …’) whereas amicus, ‘friend’, is the complement (‘… a friend’).

conjunction

A word that links parts of a sentence; e.g. and, but, since, because.

ending

The letters added to the stem of a noun, verb or adjective, for example, in order to mark number and so on. Thus the ending
of ama nt, ‘they love’, indicates that the verb is third person plural (‘they’).

feminine

One of the three genders of nouns (and adjectives) in Latin. Examples of feminine nouns are femina, ‘woman’, regina, ‘queen’, and statua, ‘statue’.

future tense

The future tense describes an action that will happen in the future; e.g. ‘I shall carry’, ‘she will listen’.

gender

Nouns (and adjectives) in Latin are one of three genders: masculine, feminine or neuter.

imperfect tense

The tense used to describe ongoing, repeated, or habitual actions in the past; e.g. portabat, ‘he was carrying’, ‘he used to carry’, ‘he kept carrying’ or just ‘he carried’ (when the ‘carrying’ went on regularly in
the past: ‘He carried his shopping home every day’).

inflection (inflected)

The way in which words change shape to convey information about their precise meaning and/or their grammatical role in a sentence
(e.g. English ‘he’/‘him’, ‘is’/‘are’, ‘desk’/‘desks’, ‘look’/‘looked’). Languages like Latin that rely heavily on inflection
to convey meaning are often called ‘inflected languages’.

interjection

A word or phrase that is not connected grammatically to the rest of the sentence and which is used to convey emotion; e.g.
hey ! oh dear ! alas ! whoops ! wow !

masculine

One of the three genders of Latin nouns (and adjectives) in Latin. Examples of masculine nouns are amicus, ‘friend’, servus, ‘slave’ and vir, ‘man’.

neuter

One of the three genders of nouns (and adjectives) in Latin. Examples of neuter nouns are aurum, ‘gold’, and forum, ‘forum, market place’.

nominative (case)

The case of the subject of the verb; e.g. femina virum amat, ‘ The woman loves the man’.

noun

A person, animal, place, thing, event, idea or concept; e.g. puer, ‘boy’; Roma, ‘Rome’; statua, ‘statue’; campus, ‘field’; imperium, ‘power’; virtus, ‘courage, virtue’.

number

Whether a noun, verb, pronoun or adjective is singular or plural.

object (also known as direct object)

The person in a sentence to whom the action of the verb is being done (or the thing to which the action is being done). In
the sentence ‘The man carries the soldier’, for example, ‘the man’ is the subject, ‘carries’ the verb and ‘the soldier’ is
the direct object (i.e. it is the soldier who is on the receiving end of the carrying). (In Latin, the direct object of a
verb appears in the accusative case.)

part of speech

Whether a word is a verb, noun, pronoun, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction or interjection.

person

The form of a verb will differ according to the ‘person’. There are three ‘persons’ in both English and Latin: first person
(‘I’ and ‘we’), second person (‘you’, either singular or plural) and third person (‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’; ‘they’).

pluperfect tense

The pluperfect is the tense used to show that an action took place before another action in the past. The Latin pluperfect
can usually be translated into English using ‘had ____ed’, e.g. portaveram, ‘I had carried’; amaverant, ‘they had loved’.

preposition

A word which accompanies a noun (or a pronoun) to provide information such as the location of the action of a sentence in
space or time; e.g. in, towards, against, with, among, from, after, about.

present tense

The tense used to indicate that the action of a verb is either happening right now (e.g. ‘I am running to school’) or regularly
happens at the current time (e.g. ‘I run to school every day’, or ‘I do run …’). In Latin, ‘I am running’, ‘I run’ and ‘I
do run’ are all expressed by the same word: curro.

pronoun

A word which (effectively) replaces a noun or a noun phrase: this, that, he, she, it, we, they. ‘Look at the ship, it ’s enormous!’; ‘My parents? They ’re retired now.’

sentence

A group of words which combine according to grammatical rules to express a statement, question, wish or command. A sentence
usually contains at least one verb.

singular

In the case of nouns, pronouns and adjectives, ‘singular’ is when one is meant (as opposed to more than one); e.g. amic us, ‘friend’ (as opposed to amic i, ‘friends’). In the case of verbs, a singular subject indicates that one rather than more than one person (or thing) is performing
the action of the verb; e.g. ama t, ‘he/she/it loves’ (as opposed to ama nt, ‘they love’).

subject

The person or thing performing the action of the verb in a clause. (In Latin, the subject is found in the nominative case.)

tense

Verbs in English and Latin have tenses; e.g. present, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect. The tense of the verb indicates when the action is performed.

verb

A word expressing an action, state or condition: curro, ‘I run’; dormio, ‘I sleep’; est, ‘he/she/it is’. In Latin, the dictionary form of most verbs ends in – o.

References

Barker, P. (1993) Latin in our Language, Bristol, Bristol Classical Press.

Dryden, J. (1681) ‘Absalom and Achitophel’, in Kinsley, J. (ed.) The Poems and Fables of John Dryden, Oxford, Oxford University Press (this edition 1970).

The Holy Bible (1952 edn) Revised Standard Version, New York, Glasgow and Toronto, William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd for SPCK.

Johnson, S. (1738) ‘London’, in Rudd, N. (ed.) Johnson’s Juvenal: London and The Vanity of Human Wishes , Bristol, Bristol Classical Press (this edition 1981).

Luke 15: 14−18, Revised standard version of the bible.

Marlowe, C. ( c.1589 or c.1593) Doctor Faustus, Oxford, Oxford University Press (this edition 1995).

Milton, J. (1638) ‘Lycidas’, in Bush, D. (ed.) Milton: Poetical Works, Oxford, Oxford University Press (this edition 1969).

Milton, J. (1667) ‘Paradise Lost’, in Bush, D. (ed.) Milton: Poetical Works, Oxford, Oxford University Press (this edition 1969).

Pope, A. (1712) The Rape of the Lock, Basingstoke, Macmillan (this edition 1998).

Potter, B. (1902) The Tale of Peter Rabbit, London, Frederick Warne.

Shakespeare, W. (1599) ‘Julius Caesar’, in Greenblatt, S., Cohen, W., Howard, J.E. and Maus, K.E. (eds) The Norton Shakespeare, London, W.W. Norton & Company (this edition 1997).

Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, trans. R Graves (1979) Harmondsworth, Penguin.

Further reading

If you would like to explore the links between Latin and English further, you will find the following book useful:

Barker, P. (1993) Latin in our Language, Bristol, Bristol Classical Press.

And if you would like to begin learning Latin on your own, the following books are recommended:

Jones, P.V. (1997) Learn Latin: The Book of the Daily Telegraph Series , London, Duckworth.

Sharpley, G.D.A. (2014) Get Started in Latin, London, Hodder & Stoughton.

Sharpley, G.D.A. (2014) The Complete Latin Course, London/New York, Routledge.

Acknowledgements

This free course was written by Inga Mantle, James Robson and Jeremy Taylor.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence .

The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful
acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be
pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

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Course image: The Roman poet Virgil depicted in a fifth century CE manuscript (the Vergilius Romanus) of his poetical works, the Eclogues. Biblioteca Apostolica, Vatican City. Photo: © The Art Archive/Alamy.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be
pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

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Activity 3

Answer

Latin word

English meaning

arma

arms, weapons

causa

cause, reason

custos

guard (custodian)

defendo

I defend

diffiicilis

difficult

elephantus

elephant

femina

woman (feminine)

frater

brother (fraternal)

nomen

name (nominal)

optimus

very good, excellent (optimal)

pater

father (paternal)

servus

slave (servant)

Back

Activity 5

Answer

time, Rabbits, names, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, Peter, Mother, sand-bank, root, fir-tree, dears, Rabbit, morning, fields,
lane, McGregor’s, garden, Father, accident, pie, McGregor

Back

Activity 6

Answer

Example

person and number

He loves

3rd singular

They capture

3rd plural

She carries

3rd singular

You desire

2nd singular or plural (depending on whether ‘you’ refers to one person or more than one people)

I fear

1st singular

We see

1st plural

They are

3rd plural

I carry

1st singular

Back

Activity 7

Answer

Example

Person and tense

You speak

present tense, 2nd person

They have arrived

perfect tense, 3rd person plural

We used to know

imperfect tense, 1st person plural

We went

perfect tense or imperfect tense (depending whether it is a completed or repeated action), 1st person plural

You are flying

present tense, 2nd person

I was trying

imperfect tense, 1st person singular

He had jumped

pluperfect tense, 3rd person singular

She fell

perfect tense (depending whether it is a completed or repeated action), 3rd person singular

Back

Activity 8

Answer

Verbs

Tense

had spent

pluperfect tense

arose

perfect tense

began

perfect tense

[‘to be’ is also a form of verb: an ‘infinitive’]

went

perfect tense

joined

perfect tense

gave

imperfect tense (since the action was habitual: he kept not being given anything)

came

perfect tense

said

perfect tense

have

present tense

[‘to spare’ is also a form of verb: an ‘infinitive’]

perish

present tense

will arise

future tense

(will) go

future tense

will say

future tense

have sinned

perfect tense

Back

Activity 9

Answer

Subject

Verb

I

like

The boys

ran

They

could

My friend and I

are going

She

was sitting

they

were talking

Chris and Robbie

climbed

Back

Activity 10

Answer

Subject

Verb

Object

The dog

fetched

the ball

The girls

were reading

their books

We

do + like

hard work

Boudicca

destroyed

Colchester, London, St Albans

The Romans

could + forgive

her

People

will be watching

you

Back

Activity 11

Answer

Subject

Verb

Object

Gaius

deprived

the [noblest] men

Torquatus

lost

his [golden] collar

Cincinnatus

lost

his lock [of hair]

Gnaeus Pompeius

lost

the surname

He

invited

King Ptolemy

(He)

welcomed

him

(He)

ordered

his execution

his [fine purple] cloak

had attracted

[universal] admiration

Gaius

encountered

a [good-looking] man

(He himself)

was

the back [of his scalp]

was shaved

Back

Activity 12

Answer

Subject

Verb

Object

You

see

Our hearts

great Lucifer

craves (for)

that security

This casket

unlocks

(India's) glowing gems

his lavish tongue

bestows

wit, brav'ry, worth

he

admired

the place, the person

he

bore

two massy [massive] keys

he

could remove

the thoughts (of War)

Back