Latin Lesson 1 Simple Present And 1st Declension

Phrasebase Archive

Alec

Tuesday 12th of September 2006 04:04:21 PM

LESSON 1 - Latin verbs are clssificated in four conjugation. This classification is based on the terminations of the infinitive forms. So:

1st conjugation= termination: are. Ex: Laudare (to praise), Dare (to give)...
2nd conjugation= termination: ēre. Ex: Tenēre (to keep), Movēre (to move)...
3rd conjugation= termination: ĕre. Ex: Legĕre (to read), Scribĕre (to write)...
4th conjugation= termination: ire. Ex: Audire (to hear), Dormire (to sleep)...

Please note that looking up the dictionary, you won’t find only the infinitive. You will find the whole paradigm that is composed all the forms you need to meke every tense of the verb.
A Latin paradigm is composed by:
1st and 2nd persons singular of the Simple Present, 1st person singular of the Past Perfect, the supine, the infinitive.
Here some examples (you should ty to memorize as many paradigms as you can:
Laudo, as, avi atum, are 1: to praise
Do, das, dedi, datum, dare 1: to give
Amo, as, avi, atum ,are 1: to love
Cogito, as, avi, atum, are 1: to think
Moneo, es monui, monitum, ēre 2: to admonish
Teneo, es, tenui, tentum, ēre 2: to keep
Video, es, vidi, visum, ēre 2: to see
Moveo, es, movi, motum, ēre 2: to move
Studeo, es, studui, ēre 2: to study
Habeo, es, habui, habitum, ēre 2: to have
Lego, is, legi, lectum, ĕre 3: to read
Scribo, is, scripsi, scriptum, ĕre 3: to write
Facio, is, feci, factum, facĕre 3: to do
Curro, is, cucurri, cursum, ĕre 3: to run
Audio, is, audivi, auditum, ire 4: to hear
Dormio, is, dormivi, dormitum, ire 4: to sleep

Sum, es, fui, esse: to be

The verb SUM has its own conjugation and, of course, is irregular.
Please note also that some verbs such as SUM and STUDEO have only 4 forms in their paradigms. That’s because not all the verbs have the supine.

And now, let’s go to the Present of the Indicative:
I\'ll write the Acitve form next to the Passive one
Active form Passive form
1st conjugation:
Laudo - Laudor
Laudas - Laudaris
Laudat - Laudatur
Laudamus - Laudamur
Laudatis - Laudamini
Laudant - Laudantur

2nd conjugation:
Moneo - Moneor
Mones - Moneris
Monet - Monetur
Monemus - Monemur
Monetis - Monemini
Monent - Monentur

3rd conjugation:
Lego - Legor
Legis - Legeris
Legit - Legitur
Legimus - Legimur
Legitis - Legimini
Legunt - Leguntur

4th conjugation:
Audio - Audior
Audis - Audiris
Audit - Auditur
Audimus - Audimur
Auditis - Audimini
Audiunt - Audiuntur

Now try and conjugate the other verbs....

I\'ll add also the Present Indicative of the verb sum:
Sum
Es
Est
Sumus
Estis
Sunt

Alec

Tuesday 12th of September 2006 04:39:12 PM

- As I said I\'ll add also a lesson about the first declension:
Latin cases are six:
Nominative: it is the case of the subject
Gentive: it is the case of the owner of something
Dative: it is the case of the indirect object
Accusative: it is the case of the object
Vocative: it is used to call peoplethis case is not very common.
Ablative: has many functions. It can express the mean, the cause, the time and many ohter things that I will omitt now.

Let\'s go immediatly to the first declension:
Singular:
Rosa (the rose, subj)
Rosae (of the rose)
Rosae (to the rose)
Rosam (the rose, obj)
Rosa (O rose)
Rosa (various)

Plural:
Rosae (the roses, subj)
Rosarum (of the roses)
Rosis (to the roses)
Rosas (the roses, obj)
Rosae (O roses)
Rosis (various)

There are some exception, but now I\'ll tell you only one:
There are some nouns called \"Pluralia tantum\", which have only the Plural form. As a consequence also the adjectives and the verbs which refer to those nouns must be plural. However they must be translated with the singular form.
Here some example:
Divitiae, arum: richness
Deliciae, arum: delight
Insidiae, arum: dangers
Epulae, arum: banquet
Nuptiae, arum: nuptials, wedding
Athenae, arum: Athens
Pisae, arum: Pisa

BCS

Monday 30th of April 2007 01:02:01 AM

- Just one small correction, Alec, your definition of the dative should include for i.e. Rosae - To/for the rose, not just to the rose