Lēctiōnēs 2–8

D'Ooge, Latin for Beginners (1911), Lesson XIX, §§126-130

§126. There are four conjugations of the regular verbs. These conjugations are distinguished from each other by the final vowel of the present conjugation-stem.[1] This vowel is called the distinguishing vowel, and is best seen in the present infinitive.
[1] The stem is the body of a word to which the terminations are attached. It is often identical with the base (cf. §58). If, however, the stem ends in a vowel, the latter does not appear in the base, but is variously combined with the inflectional terminations. This point is further explained in §230.

Below is given the present infinitive of a verb of each conjugation, the present stem, and the distinguishing vowel.

                                                  DISTINGUISHING
CONJUGATION   PRES. INFIN.            PRES. STEM      VOWEL
    I.         amā´re, to love       amā-            ā
   II.         monē´re, to advise    monē-           ē
  III.         re´gĕre, to rule      regĕ-           ĕ
   IV.         audī´re, to hear      audi-           ī

a. Note that the present stem of each conjugation is found by dropping -re, the ending of the present infinitive.

NOTE. The present infinitive of sum is esse, and es- is the present stem.

§127. From the present stem are formed the present, imperfect, and future tenses.

§128. The inflection of the Present Active Indicative of the first and of the second conjugation is as follows:

a´mō, amā´re (love)        mo´neō, monē´re (advise)
 PRES. STEM amā-                PRES. STEM monē-

    SINGULAR                    PLURAL            PERSONAL ENDINGS
1. a´mō, I love                 mo´neō, I advise                -ō
2. a´mās, you love              mo´nēs, you advise              -s
3. a´mat, he (she, it) loves    mo´net, he (she, it) advises    -t

1. amā´mus, we love             monē´mus, we advise           -mus
2. amā´tis, you love            monē´tis, you advise          -tis
3. a´mant, they love            mo´nent, they advise           -nt

1. The present tense is inflected by adding the personal endings to the present stem, and its first person uses -o and not -m. The form amō is for amā-ō, the two vowels ā-ō contracting to ō. In moneō there is no contraction. Nearly all regular verbs ending in -eo belong to the second conjugation.

2. Note that the long final vowel of the stem is shortened before another vowel (monē-ō = mo´nĕō), and before final -t (amăt, monĕt) and -nt (amănt, monĕnt). Compare §12.2.

§129. Like amō and moneō inflect the present active indicative of the following verbs[2]:
[2] The only new verbs in this list are the five of the second conjugation which are starred. Learn their meanings.

INDICATIVE PRESENT           INFINITIVE PRESENT
 a´rō, I plow                 arā´re, to plow
 cū´rō, I care for            cūrā´re, to care for
*dē´leō, I destroy            dēlē´re, to destroy
 dēsī´derō, I long for        dēsīderā´re, to long for
 dō,[3] I give                da´re, to give
*ha´beō, I have               habē´re, to have
 ha´bitō, I live, I dwell     habitā´re, to live, to dwell
*iu´beō, I order              iubē´re, to order
 labō´rō, I labor             labōrā´re, to labor
 lau´dō, I praise             laudā´re, to praise
 mātū´rō, I hasten            mātūrā´re, to hasten
*mo´veō, I move               movē´re, to move
 nār´rō, I tell               nārrā´re, to tell
 ne´cō, I kill                necā´re, to kill
 nūn´tiō, I announce          nūntiā´re, to announce
 pa´rō, I prepare             parā´re, to prepare
 por´tō, I carry              portā´re, to carry
 pro´perō, I hasten           properā´re, to hasten
 pug´nō, I fight              pugnā´re, to fight
*vi´deō, I see                vidē´re, to see
 vo´cō, I call                vocā´re, to call
[3] Observe that in dō, dăre, the a is short, and that the present stem is dă- and not dā-. The only forms of dō that have a long are dās (pres. indic.), dā (pres. imv.), and dāns (pres. part.).

§130. The Translation of the Present. In English there are three ways of expressing present action. We may say, for example, I live, I am living, or I do live. In Latin the one expression habitō covers all three of these expressions.

D'Ooge, Latin for Beginners (1911), Lesson II, §§23-30

§23. Inflection. Words may change their forms to indicate some change in sense or use, as, is, are; was, were; who, whose, whom; farmer, farmer’s; woman, women. This is called inflection. The inflection of a noun, adjective, or pronoun is called its declension, that of a verb its conjugation.

§24. Number. Latin, like English, has two numbers, singular and plural. In English we usually form the plural by adding -s or -es to the singular. So Latin changes the singular to the plural by changing the ending of the word. Compare

Naut-a pugnat
  The sailor fights
Naut-ae pugnant
  The sailors fight

§25. RULE. Nouns that end in -a in the singular end in -ae in the plural.

§26. Learn the following nouns so that you can give the English for the Latin or the Latin for the English. Write the plural of each.

agri´cola, farmer (agriculture)[1]
aqua, water (aquarium)
causa, cause, reason
do´mina, lady of the house, mistress (dominate)
filia, daughter (filial)
fortū´na, fortune
fuga, flight (fugitive)
iniū´ria, wrong, injury
lūna, moon (lunar)
nauta, sailor (nautical)
puel´la, girl
silva, forest (silvan)
terra, land (terrace)
[1] The words in parentheses are English words related to the Latin. When the words are practically identical, as causa, cause, no comparison is needed.

§27. Compare again the sentences

Nauta pugna-t
  The sailor fights
Nautae pugna-nt
  The sailors fight

In the first sentence the verb pugna-t is in the third person singular, in the second sentence pugna-nt is in the third person plural.

§28. RULE. Agreement of Verb. A finite verb must always be in the same person and number as its subject.

§29. RULE. In the conjugation of the Latin verb the third person singular active ends in -t, the third person plural in -nt. The endings which show the person and number of the verb are called personal endings.

§30. Learn the following verbs and write the plural of each. The personal pronouns he, she, it, etc., which are necessary in the inflection of the English verb, are not needed in the Latin, because the personal endings take their place. Of course, if the verb’s subject is expressed we do not translate the personal ending by a pronoun; thus nauta pugnat is translated the sailor fights, not the sailor he fights.

ama-t he (she, it) loves, is loving, does love (amity, amiable) labō´ra-t “ “ “ labors, is laboring, does labor nūntia-t[2] “ “ “ announces, is announcing, does announce porta-t “ “ “ carries, is carrying, does carry (porter) pugna-t “ “ “ fights, is fighting, does fight (pugnacious)
[2] The u in nūntiō is long by exception. (Cf. §12.2.)

§278. We have the same kinds of pronouns in Latin as in English. They are divided into the following eight classes:

1. Personal pronouns, which show the person speaking, spoken to, or spoken of; as, ego, I; tū, you; is, he. (Cf. §279. etc.)

2. Possessive pronouns, which denote possession; as, meus, tuus, suus, etc. (Cf. §98.)

3. Reflexive pronouns, used in the predicate to refer back to the subject; as, he saw himself. (Cf. §281.)

4. Intensive pronouns, used to emphasize a noun or pronoun; as, I myself saw it. (Cf. §285.)

5. Demonstrative pronouns, which point out persons or things; as, is, this, that. (Cf. §112.)

6. Relative pronouns, which connect a subordinate adjective clause with an antecedent; as, quī, who. (Cf. §220.)

7. Interrogative pronouns, which ask a question; as, quis, who? (Cf. §225.)

8. Indefinite pronouns, which point out indefinitely; as, some one, any one, some, certain ones, etc. (Cf. §296.)

§279. The demonstrative pronoun is, ea, id, as we learned in §115, is regularly used as the personal pronoun of the third person (he, she, it, they, etc.).

§280. The personal pronouns of the first person are ego, I; nōs, we; of the second person, tū, thou or you; vōs, ye or you. They are declined as follows:

       SINGULAR
       FIRST PERSON                  SECOND PERSON
Nom. ego, I                        tū, you
Gen. meī, of me                    tuī, of you
Dat. mihi, to or for me          tibi, to or for you
Acc. mē, me                        tē, you
Abl. mē, with, from, etc., me    tē, with, from, etc., you

       PLURAL
Nom. nōs, we                       vōs, you
Gen. nostrum or nostrī, of us      vestrum or vestrī, of you
Dat. nōbīs, to or for us         vōbīs, to or for you
Acc. nōs, us                       vōs, you
Abl. nōbīs, with, from,          vōbīs, with, from, etc., you
         etc., us

1. The personal pronouns are not used in the nominative excepting for emphasis or contrast.

§281. The Reflexive Pronouns. 1. The personal pronouns ego and tū may be used in the predicate as reflexives; as,

videō mē, I see myself
  vidēmus nōs, we see ourselves
vidēs tē, you see yourself
  vidētis vōs, you see yourselves

2. The reflexive pronoun of the third person (himself, herself, itself, themselves) has a special form, used only in these senses, and declined alike in the singular and plural.

SINGULAR AND PLURAL
    Gen.     suī              Acc.     sē
    Dat.     sibi                Abl.     sē

EXAMPLES
  Puer sē videt, the boy sees himself
  Puella sē videt, the girl sees herself
  Animal sē videt, the animal sees itself
  Iī sē vident, they see themselves

a. The form sē is sometimes doubled, sēsē, for emphasis.

3. Give the Latin for

I teach myself          We teach ourselves
You teach yourself      You teach yourselves
He teaches himself      They teach themselves

§282. The preposition cum, when used with the ablative of ego, tū, or suī, is appended to the form, as, mēcum, with me; tēcum, with you; nōbīscum, with us; etc.

D'Ooge, Latin for Beginners (1911), Lesson XXXVI, §§208-210

§208. The following list shows the principal parts of all the verbs you have had excepting those used in the paradigms. The parts you have had before are given for review, and the perfect participle is the only new form for you to learn. Sometimes one or more of the principal parts are lacking, which means that the verb has no forms based on that stem. A few verbs lack the perfect passive participle but have the future active participle in -ūrus, which appears in the principal parts instead.

IRREGULAR VERBS

sum       esse       fuī      futūrus      be
absum     abesse     āfuī     āfutūrus     be away
dō[1]   dare       dedī     datus        give
[1] dō is best classed with the irregular verbs because of the short a in the present and participial stems.

CONJUGATION I

portō     portāre     portāvī     portātus     carry

So for all verbs of this conjugation thus far used.

CONJUGATION II

contineō     continēre     continuī    contentus     hold in, keep
dēleō        dēlēre        dēlēvī      dēlētus       destroy
doceō        docēre        docuī       doctus        teach
egeō         egēre         eguī         ----         lack
faveō        favēre        fāvī        fautūrus      favor
iubeō        iubēre        iussī       iussus        order
moveō        movēre        mōvī        mōtus         move
noceō        nocēre        nocuī       nocitūrus     injure
pāreō        pārēre        pāruī        ----         obey
persuādeō    persuādēre    persuāsī    persuāsus     persuade (from)
prohibeō     prohibēre     prohibuī    prohibitus    restrain, keep
respondeō    respondēre    respondī    respōnsus     reply
sedeō        sedēre        sēdī        -sessus       sit
studeō       studēre       studuī        ----        be eager
videō        vidēre        vīdī        vīsus         see

CONJUGATION III

agō           agere          ēgī          āctus          drive
crēdō         crēdere        crēdidī      crēditus       believe
dīcō          dīcere         dīxī         dictus         say
discēdō       discēdere      discessī     discessus      depart
dūcō          dūcere         dūxī         ductus         lead
faciō[2]    facere         fēcī         factus         make
fugiō         fugere         fūgī         fugitūrus      flee
iaciō         iacere         iēcī         iactus         hurl
interficiō    interficere    interfēcī    interfectus    kill
mittō         mittere        mīsī         missus         send
rapiō         rapere         rapuī        raptus         seize
resistō       resistere      restitī       ----          resist
[2] faciō has an irregular passive which will be presented later.

CONJUGATION IV

mūniō       mūnīre       mūnīvī       mūnītus      fortify
reperiō     reperīre     rep´perī     repertus     find
veniō       venīre       vēnī         ventus       come

§209. Prepositions. 1. We learned in §§52, 53 that only the accusative and the ablative are used with prepositions, and that prepositions expressing ablative relations govern the ablative case. Those we have had are here summarized. The table following should be learned.

ā or ab,  from, by
cum,        with
dē,         down from, concerning
ē or ex,  out from, out of
prō,        before, in front of; for, in behalf of
sine,       without

2. Prepositions not expressing ablative relations must govern the accusative (§52). Of these we have had the following:

ad,    to;
apud,  among;
per,   through

There are many others which you will meet as we proceed.

3. The preposition in when meaning in or on governs the ablative; when meaning to, into, against (relations foreign to the ablative) in governs the accusative.

§210. Yes-or-No Questions. Questions not introduced by some interrogative word like who, why, when, etc., but expecting the answer yes or no, may take one of three forms:

1. Is he coming? (Asking for information. Implying nothing as to the answer expected.) 2. Is he not coming? (Expecting the answer yes.) 3. He isn´t coming, is he? (Expecting the answer no.)

These three forms are rendered in Latin as follows:

1. Venitne? is he coming?
2. Nōnne venit? is he not coming?
3. Num venit? he isn´t coming, is he?

a. -ne, the question sign, is usually added to the verb, which then stands first.

b. We learned in §56.b that yes-or-no questions are usually answered by repeating the verb, with or without a negative. Instead of this, ita, vērō, certē, etc. (so, truly, certainly, etc.) may be used for yes, and nōn, minimē, etc. for no if the denial is emphatic, as, by no means, not at all.

D'Ooge, Latin for Beginners (1911), Lesson I, §§19-22

§19. Subject and Predicate. 1. Latin, like English, expresses thoughts by means of sentences. A sentence is a combination of words that expresses a thought, and in its simplest form is the statement of a single fact. Thus,

Galba is a farmer
  Galba est agricola
The sailor fights
  Nauta pugnat

In each of these sentences there are two parts:

SUBJECT               PREDICATE
  Galba                 is a farmer
    Galba
  The sailor            fights
    Nauta                 pugnat

2. The subject is that person, place, or thing about which something is said, and is therefore a noun or some word which can serve the same purpose.

a. Pronouns, as their name implies (pro, “instead of,” and noun), often take the place of nouns, usually to save repeating the same noun, as, Galba is a farmer; he is a sturdy fellow.

3. The predicate is that which is said about the subject, and consists of a verb with or without modifiers.

a. A verb is a word which asserts something (usually an act) concerning a person, place, or thing.

§20. The Object. In the two sentences, The boy hit the ball and The ball hit the boy, the same words are used, but the meaning is different, and depends upon the order of the words. The doer of the act, that about which something is said, is, as we have seen above, the subject. That to which something is done is the direct object of the verb. The boy hit the ball is therefore analyzed as follows:

SUBJECT        PREDICATE
             /-----------\
The boy      hit the ball
           (verb)  (direct object)

a. A verb whose action passes over to the object directly, as in the sentence above, is called a transitive verb. A verb which does not admit of a direct object is called intransitive, as, I walk, he comes.

§21. The Copula. The verb to be in its different forms--are, is, was, etc.--does not tell us anything about the subject; neither does it govern an object. It simply connects the subject with the word or words in the predicate that possess a distinct meaning. Hence it is called the copula, that is, the joiner or link.

§22. In the following sentences pronounce the Latin and name the nouns, verbs, subjects, objects, predicates, copulas:

1. America est patria mea
   America is fatherland my

2. Agricola fīliam amat
   (The) farmer (his) daughter loves

3. Fīlia est Iūlia
   (His) daughter is Julia

4. Iūlia et agricola sunt in īnsulā
   Julia and (the) farmer are on (the) island

5. Iūlia aquam portat
   Julia water carries

6. Rosam in comīs habet
   (A) rose in (her) hair (she) has

7. Iūlia est puella pulchra
   Julia is (a) girl pretty

8. Domina fīliam pulchram habet
   (The) lady (a) daughter beautiful has

a. The sentences above show that Latin does not express some words which are necessary in English. First of all, Latin has no article the or a; thus agricola may mean the farmer, a farmer, or simply farmer. Then, too, the personal pronouns, I, you, he, she, etc., and the possessive pronouns, my, your, his, her, etc., are not expressed if the meaning of the sentence is clear without them.

§32. Declension of Nouns. We learned above (§§19, 20) the difference between the subject and object, and that in English they may be distinguished by the order of the words. Sometimes, however, the order is such that we are left in doubt. For example, the sentence The lady her daughter loves might mean either that the lady loves her daughter, or that the daughter loves the lady.

1. If the sentence were in Latin, no doubt could arise, because the subject and the object are distinguished, not by the order of the words, but by the endings of the words themselves. Compare the following sentences:

Domina fīliam amat
Fīliam domina amat
Amat fīliam domina
Domina amat fīliam
  The lady loves her daughter

Fīlia dominam amat
Dominam fīlia amat
Amat dominam fīlia
Fīlia amat dominam
  The daughter loves the lady

a. Observe that in each case the subject of the sentence ends in -a and the object in -am. The form of the noun shows how it is used in the sentence, and the order of the words has no effect on the essential meaning.

2. As stated above (§23), this change of ending is called declension, and each different ending produces what is called a case. When we decline a noun, we give all its different cases, or changes of endings. In English we have three cases,--nominative, possessive, and objective; but, in nouns, the nominative and objective have the same form, and only the possessive case shows a change of ending, by adding ’s or the apostrophe. The interrogative pronoun, however, has the fuller declension, who? whose? whom?

§33. The following table shows a comparison between English and Latin declension forms, and should be thoroughly memorized:

Declension of who?  Name of case and use                Declension of domina and translation   Name of case and use
SINGULAR
Who?                Nominative-- case of the subject    do´min-a the lady                      Nominative-- case of the subject
Whose?              Possessive-- case of the possessor  domin-ae the lady’s of the lady        Genitive-- case of the possessor
Whom?               Objective-- case of the object      domin-am the lady                      Accusative-- case of the direct object
PLURAL
Who?                Nominative-- case of the subject    domin-ae the ladies                    Nominative-- case of the subject
Whose?              Possessive-- case of the possessor  domin-ā´rum the ladies’ of the ladies  Genitive-- case of the possessor
Whom?               Objective-- case of the object      domin-ās the ladies                    Accusative-- case of the direct object

When the nominative singular of a noun ends in -a, observe that

a. The nominative plural ends in -ae.

b. The genitive singular ends in -ae and the genitive plural in -ārum.

c. The accusative singular ends in -am and the accusative plural in -ās.

d. The genitive singular and the nominative plural have the same ending.

D'Ooge, Latin for Beginners (1911), Lesson VI, §§48-56

§48. The Ablative Case. Another case, lacking in English but found in the fuller Latin declension, is the ab´la-tive.

§49. When the nominative singular ends in -a, the ablative singular ends in -ā and the ablative plural in -īs.

a. Observe that the final -ă of the nominative is short, while the final -ā of the ablative is long, as,

Nom. fīliă
Abl. fīliā

b. Observe that the ablative plural is like the dative plural.

c. Form the ablative singular and plural of the following nouns: fuga, causa, fortūna, terra, aqua, puella, agricola, nauta, domina.

§50. The Ablative Relation. The ablative case is used to express the relations conveyed in English by the prepositions from, with, by, at, in. It denotes

1. That from which something is separated, from which it starts, or of which it is deprived--generally translated by from.

2. That with which something is associated or by means of which it is done--translated by with or by.

3. The place where or the time when something happens--translated by in or at.

a. What ablative relations do you discover in the following?

In our class there are twenty boys and girls. Daily at eight o’clock they come from home with their books, and while they are at school they read with ease the books written by the Romans. By patience and perseverance all things in this world can be overcome.

§51. Prepositions. While, as stated above (§41), many relations expressed in English by prepositions are in Latin expressed by case forms, still prepositions are of frequent occurrence, but only with the accusative or ablative.

§52. RULE. Object of a Preposition. A noun governed by a preposition must be in the Accusative or Ablative case.

§53. Prepositions denoting the ablative relations from, with, in, on, are naturally followed by the ablative case. Among these are

ā[1] or ab, from, away from
dē, from, down from
ē[1] or ex, from, out from, out of
cum, with
in, in, on
[1] ā and ē are used only before words beginning with a consonant; ab and ex are used before either vowels or consonants.

1. Translate into Latin, using prepositions. In the water, on the land, down from the forest, with the fortune, out of the forests, from the victory, out of the waters, with the sailors, down from the moon.

§54. Adjectives. Examine the sentence

Puella parva bonam deam amat,
  the little girl loves the good goddess

In this sentence parva (little) and bonam (good) are not nouns, but are descriptive words expressing quality. Such words are called adjectives,[2] and they are said to belong to the noun which they describe.
[2] Pick out the adjectives in the following: “When I was a little boy, I remember that one cold winter’s morning I was accosted by a smiling man with an ax on his shoulder. ‘My pretty boy,’ said he, ‘has your father a grindstone?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ said I. ‘You are a fine little fellow,’ said he. ‘Will you let me grind my ax on it?’”

You can tell by its ending to which noun an adjective belongs. The ending of parva shows that it belongs to puella, and the ending of bonam that it belongs to deam. Words that belong together are said to agree, and the belonging-together is called agreement. Observe that the adjective and its noun agree in number and case.

§55. Examine the sentences

Puella est parva,
  the girl is little
Puella parva bonam deam amat,
  the little girl loves the good goddess

In the first sentence the adjective parva is separated from its noun by the verb and stands in the predicate. It is therefore called a predicate adjective. In the second sentence the adjectives parva and bonam are closely attached to the nouns puella and deam respectively, and are called attributive adjectives.

a. Pick out the attributive and the predicate adjectives in the following:

Do you think Latin is hard? Hard studies make strong brains. Lazy students dislike hard studies. We are not lazy.

a. When a person is called or addressed, the case used is called the voc´ative (Latin vocāre, “to call”). In form the vocative is regularly like the nominative. In English the name of the person addressed usually stands first in the sentence. The Latin vocative rarely stands first. Point out five examples of the vocative in this dialogue.

b. Observe that questions answered by yes or no in English are answered in Latin by repeating the verb. Thus, if you wished to answer in Latin the question Is the sailor fighting? Pugnatne nauta? you would say Pugnat, he is fighting, or Nōn pugnat, he is not fighting.

§64. We have for some time now been using adjectives and nouns together and you have noticed an agreement between them in case and in number (§54). They agree also in gender. In the phrase silva magna, we have a feminine adjective in -a agreeing with a feminine noun in -a.

§65. RULE. Agreement of Adjectives. Adjectives agree with their nouns in gender, number, and case.

§66. Feminine adjectives in -a are declined like feminine nouns in -a, and you should learn to decline them together as follows:

        NOUN               ADJECTIVE
domina (base domin-),  bona (base bon-),
   f., lady                  good

        SINGULAR                TERMINATIONS
Nom.    do´mina             bona        -a
Gen.    dominae             bonae       -ae
Dat.    dominae             bonae       -ae
Acc.    dominam             bonam       -am
Abl.    dominā              bonā        -ā

        PLURAL
Nom.    dominae             bonae       -ae
Gen.    dominā´rum          bonā´rum    -ārum
Dat.    dominīs             bonīs       -īs
Acc.    dominās             bonās       -ās
Abl.    dominīs             bonīs       -īs

a. In the same way decline together puella mala, the bad girl; ancil´la parva, the little maid; fortū´na magna, great fortune.

§67. The words dea, goddess, and fīlia, daughter, take the ending -ābus instead of -īs in the dative and ablative plural. Note the dative and ablative plural in the following declension:

dea bona (bases de- bon-)

        SINGULAR      PLURAL
Nom.    dea bona      deae bonae
Gen.    deae bonae    deā´rum bonā´rum
Dat.    deae bonae    deā´bus bonīs
Acc.    deam bonam    deās bonās
Abl.    deā bonā      dea´bus bonīs

a. In the same way decline together fīlīa parva.

§68. Latin Word Order. The order of words in English and in Latin sentences is not the same.

In English we arrange words in a fairly fixed order. Thus, in the sentence My daughter is getting dinner for the farmers, we cannot alter the order of the words without spoiling the sentence. We can, however, throw emphasis on different words by speaking them with more force. Try the effect of reading the sentence by putting special force on my, daughter, dinner, farmers.

In Latin, where the office of the word in the sentence is shown by its ending (cf. §32.1), and not by its position, the order of words is more free, and position is used to secure the same effect that in English is secured by emphasis of voice. To a limited extent we can alter the order of words in English, too, for the same purpose. Compare the sentences

I saw a game of football at Chicago last November (normal order) Last November I saw a game of football at Chicago At Chicago, last November, I saw a game of football

1. In a Latin sentence the most emphatic place is the first; next in importance is the last; the weakest point is the middle. Generally the subject is the most important word, and is placed first; usually the verb is the next in importance, and is placed last. The other words of the sentence stand between these two in the order of their importance. Hence the normal order of words--that is, where no unusual emphasis is expressed--is as follows:

subject--modifiers of the subject--indirect object--direct object--adverb--verb

Changes from the normal order are frequent, and are due to the desire for throwing emphasis upon some word or phrase. Notice the order of the Latin words when you are translating, and imitate it when you are turning English into Latin.

2. Possessive pronouns and modifying genitives normally stand after their nouns. When placed before their nouns they are emphatic, as

fīlia mea, my daughter;
  mea fīlia, my daughter;
casa Galbae, Galba’s cottage;
  Galbae casa, Galba’s cottage.

Notice the variety of emphasis produced by writing the following sentence in different ways:

Fīlia mea agricolīs cēnam parat (normal order)
Mea fīlia agricolīs parat cēnam (mea and cēnam emphatic)
Agricolīs fīlia mea cēnam parat (agricolīs emphatic)

3. An adjective placed before its noun is more emphatic than when it follows. When great emphasis is desired, the adjective is separated from its noun by other words.

Fīlia mea casam parvam nōn amat (parvam not emphatic) Fīlia mea parvam casam nōn amat (parvam more emphatic) Parvam fīlia mea casam nōn amat (parvam very emphatic)

4. Interrogative words usually stand first, the same as in English.

5. The copula (as est, sunt) is of so little importance that it frequently does not stand last, but may be placed wherever it sounds well.

§83. Adjectives of the first and second declensions are declined in the three genders as follows:

        MASCULINE  FEMININE   NEUTER
        SINGULAR
Nom.    bonus      bona       bonum
Gen.    bonī       bonae      bonī
Dat.    bonō       bonae      bonō
Acc.    bonum      bonam      bonum
Abl.    bonō       bonā       bonō
Voc.    bone       bona       bonum

      PLURAL
Nom.    bonī       bonae      bona
Gen.    bonōrum    bonārum    bonōrum
Dat.    bonīs      bonīs      bonīs
Acc.    bonōs      bonās      bona
Abl.    bonīs      bonīs      bonīs

a. Write the declension and give it orally across the page, thus giving the three genders for each case.

b. Decline grātus, -a, -um; malus, -a, -um; altus, -a, -um; parvus, -a, -um.

§84. Thus far the adjectives have had the same terminations as the nouns. However, the agreement between the adjective and its noun does not mean that they must have the same termination. If the adjective and the noun belong to different declensions, the terminations will, in many cases, not be the same. For example, nauta, sailor, is masculine and belongs to the first declension. The masculine form of the adjective bonus is of the second declension. Consequently, a good sailor is nauta bonus. So, the wicked farmer is agricola malus. Learn the following declensions:

§85. nauta bonus (bases naut- bon-), m., the good sailor

        SINGULAR
Nom.    nauta     bonus
Gen.    nautae    bonī
Dat.    nautae    bonō
Acc.    nautam    bonum
Abl.    nautā     bonō
Voc.    nauta     bone

        PLURAL
Nom.    nautae    bonī
Gen.    nautārum  bonōrum
Dat.    nautīs    bonīs
Acc.    nautās    bonōs
Abl.    nautīs    bonīs
Voc.    nautae    bonī

D'Ooge, Latin for Beginners (1911), Lesson III, §§32-33

§32. Declension of Nouns. We learned above (§§19, 20) the difference between the subject and object, and that in English they may be distinguished by the order of the words. Sometimes, however, the order is such that we are left in doubt. For example, the sentence The lady her daughter loves might mean either that the lady loves her daughter, or that the daughter loves the lady.

1. If the sentence were in Latin, no doubt could arise, because the subject and the object are distinguished, not by the order of the words, but by the endings of the words themselves. Compare the following sentences:

Domina fīliam amat
Fīliam domina amat
Amat fīliam domina
Domina amat fīliam
  The lady loves her daughter

Fīlia dominam amat
Dominam fīlia amat
Amat dominam fīlia
Fīlia amat dominam
  The daughter loves the lady

a. Observe that in each case the subject of the sentence ends in -a and the object in -am. The form of the noun shows how it is used in the sentence, and the order of the words has no effect on the essential meaning.

2. As stated above (§23), this change of ending is called declension, and each different ending produces what is called a case. When we decline a noun, we give all its different cases, or changes of endings. In English we have three cases,--nominative, possessive, and objective; but, in nouns, the nominative and objective have the same form, and only the possessive case shows a change of ending, by adding ’s or the apostrophe. The interrogative pronoun, however, has the fuller declension, who? whose? whom?

§35. We learned from the table (§33) that the Latin nominative, genitive, and accusative correspond, in general, to the nominative, possessive, and objective in English, and that they are used in the same way. This will be made even clearer by the following sentence:

Fīlia agricolae nautam amat,
  the farmer’s daughter (or the daughter of the farmer)
  loves the sailor

What is the subject? the direct object? What case is used for the subject? for the direct object? What word denotes the possessor? In what case is it?

§36. RULE. Nominative Subject. The subject of a finite verb is in the Nominative and answers the question Who? or What?

§37. RULE. Accusative Object. The direct object of a transitive verb is in the Accusative and answers the question Whom? or What?

§38. RULE. Genitive of the Possessor. The word denoting the owner or possessor of something is in the Genitive and answers the question Whose?

D'Ooge, Latin for Beginners (1911), Lesson XIV, §§97-98

§97. Observe the sentences

This is my shield
This shield is mine

In the first sentence my is a possessive adjective; in the second mine is a possessive pronoun, for it takes the place of a noun, this shield is mine being equivalent to this shield is my shield. Similarly, in Latin the possessives are sometimes adjectives and sometimes pronouns.

§98. The possessives my, mine, your, yours, etc. are declined like adjectives of the first and second declensions.

             SINGULAR
1st Pers.    meus, mea, meum          my, mine
2d Pers.     tuus, tua, tuum          your, yours
3d Pers.     suus, sua, suum          his (own), her (own),
                                         its (own)
             PLURAL
1st Pers.    noster, nostra, nostrum  our, ours
2d Pers.     vester, vestra, vestrum  your, yours
3d Pers.     suus, sua, suum          their (own), theirs

NOTE. Meus has the irregular vocative singular masculine mī, as mī fīlī, O my son.

a. The possessives agree with the name of the thing possessed in gender, number, and case. Compare the English and Latin in

Sextus is calling his boy    Sextus } suum puerum vocat
Julia is calling her boy     Iūlia    }

Observe that suum agrees with puerum, and is unaffected by the gender of Sextus or Julia.

b. When your, yours, refers to one person, use tuus; when to more than one, vester; as,

Lesbia, your wreaths are pretty
  Corōnae tuae, Lesbia, sunt pulchrae
Girls, your wreaths are pretty
  Corōnae vestrae, puellae, sunt pulchrae

c. Suus is a reflexive possessive, that is, it usually stands in the predicate and regularly refers back to the subject. Thus, Vir suōs servōs vocat means The man calls his (own) slaves. Here his (suōs) refers to man (vir), and could not refer to any one else.

d. Possessives are used much less frequently than in English, being omitted whenever the meaning is clear without them. (Cf. §22.a.) This is especially true of suus, -a, -um, which, when inserted, is more or less emphatic, like our his own, her own, etc.