| Latin grammar |
|---|
|
Conjugation |
The grammar of Latin, like that of other ancient Indo-European languages, is highly inflected; consequently, it allows for a large degree of flexibility in choosing word order. For example, femina togam texuit, "the woman wove a toga," which is the preferred word order, could be expressed as texuit togam femina or togam texuit femina. In each word the suffix: -a, -am and -uit, and not the position in the sentence, marks the word's grammatical function. Word order, however, is generally subject–object–verb, although variations on this are especially common in poetry and express subtle nuances in prose.[1]
In Latin, there are five declensions of nouns and four conjugations of verbs (although some words are inflected according to irregular patterns). Latin does not have articles and so does not generally differentiate between, for example, "a girl" and "the girl": puella amat means both "a girl loves" and "the girl loves". Latin uses prepositions, and usually places adjectives after nouns. The language can also omit pronouns in certain situations, meaning that the form of the verb alone is generally sufficient to identify the agent; pronouns are most often reserved for situations where meaning is not entirely clear. Latin exhibits verb-framing, in which the path of motion is encoded into the verb; e.g., exit (a compound of ex and it) means "he/she/it goes out."
Contents |
Detailed information and conjugation tables can be found at Latin conjugation.
Latin verbs have numerous conjugated forms. Verbs have three moods (indicative, imperative, and subjunctive), two voices (active and passive), two numbers (singular and plural), three persons (first, second and third); are conjugated in six main tenses (present, imperfect, future, perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect); have the subjunctive mood for the present, imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect. Infinitives and participles occur in the present, perfect, and future tenses; and have the imperative mood for present and future.
Conjugation is the process of inflecting verbs; a set of conjugated forms for a single word is called a conjugation. Latin verbs are divided into four different conjugations by their infinitives, distinguished by the endings -āre, -ēre, -ere, and -īre.
There are six tenses (Latin: tempus) in Latin. They are:
Building the tense: [present basis of the verb]+[personal endings] Example: the verb 'amo' (to love), teneo (to hold), dico (to say), audio (to listen)
| Person | Singular | Plural | Sing. | Pl. | Sing. | Pl. | Sing. | Pl. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | amo | amamus | teneo | tenemus | dico | dicimus | audio | audimus |
| 2nd | amas | amatis | tenes | tenetis | dicis | dicitus | audis | auditis |
| 3rd | amat | amant | tenet | tenent | dicet | dicunt | audit | audiunt |
Building the tense: [present basis of the verb]+[temporal modal morpheme]+[personal endings]
| Person | Singular | Plural | Sing. | Pl. | Sing. | Pl. | Sing. | Pl. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | amabam | amabamus | tenebam | tenebamus | dicebam | dicebamus | audiebam | audiebamus |
| 2nd | amabas | amabatis | tenebas | tenebatis | dicebas | dicebatis | audiebas | audiebatis |
| 3rd | amabat | amabant | tenebat | tenebant | dicebat | dicebant | audiebat | audiebant |
There are three moods (Latin: modus):
The subjunctive is also used with the formation of subordinate clauses:
There are two voices:
Detailed information and declension tables can be found at Latin declension.
Nouns (including proper nouns and pronouns) have:
Declining is the process of inflecting nouns; a set of declined forms of the same word is called a declension. Most adjectives, pronouns, and participles indicate the gender of the noun they refer to or modify.
Most nouns in the 1st declension are feminine;[2] most in the 2nd are either masculine or neuter;[3] Nouns in the 3rd can be masculine, feminine and neuter(3rd consonant decl.), feminine and neuter(3rd vocal decl.) and masculine and feminine(3rd mixed(?) decl.); nouns in the 4th are usually masculine;[4] and in the 5th they are all feminine except two.[5]
It is necessary to learn the gender of each noun because it is impossible to discern the gender from the word itself sometimes. One must also memorize to which declension each noun belongs in order to be able to decline it. Therefore, Latin nouns are often memorized with their genitive (rex, regis) as this gives a good indication for the declension to use and reveals the stem of the word (reg, not rex).
N.B. The dative is never the object of a Latin preposition.
Detailed information and declension tables can be found at Latin declension.
In Latin there is no indefinite article or definite article (the, a, an) though there are demonstratives, such as hic, haec, hoc (masculine, feminine and neuter proximal, corresponding to English this), ille, illa, illud (distal, English that), iste, ista, istud (medial, for something not very far), and is, ea, id ("weak" demonstrative, he, she, it). As in English, these can act as pronouns as well. There are also possessive adjectives and pronouns, cardinal and ordinal numbers, quantifiers, interrogatives, etc.
Personal pronouns also exist, for first and second person, in both singular and plural: ego, nos (I, we) in the first, tu, vos (you, you all) in the second. Ordinarily a pronoun is not used for the subject of a verb, the function being served by the inflection of the verb.
Detailed information and declension tables can be found at Latin declension.
In Latin, adjectives must agree with the nouns they modify in case and number and gender. Because of this, Latin adjectives must also be declined. First and second declension adjectives are declined identically to nouns of the first and second declension. Unless the word in question is in poetry, adjectives are generally placed after the nouns they modify.
Adjectives exist, like in English, with positive, comparative and superlative forms. Superlative adjectives are declined according to the first and second declension noun paradigm, but comparative adjectives are declined according to the third declension noun paradigm. When used in sentences, the comparative adjective (better, faster, brighter) may be put in the ablative or with the addition of 'quam' (Latin: than).
| POSITIVE | COMPARATIVE | SUPERLATIVE |
|---|---|---|
| exterus, -a, -um | exterior, -ius | extrēmus, -a, -um |
| novus, -a, um | novior, -ius | novissimus, -a, -um |
| posterus, -a, -um | posterior, -ius | postrēmus, -a, -um |
| pulcher, -chra, -chrum | pulchrior, -ius | pulcherrimus, -a, -um |
| superus, -a, -um | superior, -ius | suprēmus, -a, -um |
| POSITIVE | COMPARATIVE | SUPERLATIVE |
|---|---|---|
| bonus, -a, -um | melior, -ius | optimus, -a, -um |
| magnus, -a, -um | māior, -ius | maximus, -a, -um |
| malus, -a, -um | pēior, -ius | pessimus, -a, -um |
| multus, -a, -um | plus; pl. plūres, plūra | plūrimus, -a, -um |
| parvus, -a, -um | minor, -us | minimus, -a, -um |
Detailed information and declension tables can be found at Latin declension.
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs by indicating time–place, or manner. Latin adverbs are indeclinable. Like adjectives, adverbs have positive, comparative, and superlative forms.
The positive form of an adverb can be formed from an adjective by appending an adverbial suffix to the base, typically -e, -er, -iter, -itus, more rarely -o, or -um. Contrast the adjective clarus, -a, -um, which means bright, to the adverb clare, which means brightly.
The comparative form of an adverb, formed from third declension adjectives, is extremely simple. It is the same as the neuter nominative singular form of a comparative adjective and it usually ends in -ius. Instead of the adjective clarior, which mean brighter, the adverb is clarius, which means more brightly.
The superlative form as well is extremely simple. It has exactly the same base as the superlative adjective and it always ends in a long -e. Instead of the adjective clarissimus, which mean brightest, the adverb is clarissime, which means most brightly.
A prepositional phrase in Latin is made up of a preposition followed by (usually, but there are a few postpositives) a noun phrase in an oblique case (ablative, accusative and rarely genitive). The preposition determines which case is used, with some prepositions allowing different cases depending on the meaning. For example, Latin in takes the accusative case when motion is involved (English into) and ablative when it indicates position (English on or inside of).
In Latin, Roman Numerals can be used:
I - 1 II - 2 III -3 IV or IIII - 4 V - 5 VI - 6 VII - 7 VIII - 8 IX or VIIII - 9 X - 10 XX - 20 XXX - 30 XL - 40 L - 50 LX - 60 LXX - 70 LXXX - 80 XC - 90 C - 100 D - 500 M -1,000
But for spelled out words for numbers, the first three have masculine, feminine and neuter forms which are fully declined:
ūnus, ūna, ūnum; duo, duae, duo; trēs, trēs, tria
ūnus has mostly first- and second-declension endings, but -īus is the normal genitive singular and -ī the normal dative singular ending (all three genders) (cf. the adjectives ūllus, -a, -um; tōtus, -a, -um; etc.).
duo has an irregular declension:
duo duae duo duōrum duārum duōrum duōbus duābus duōbus duo duās duo duōbus duābus duōbus
trēs, tria is a regular third-declension adjective with the stem tr-.
The numbers four through ten are not declined:
quattuor; quīnque; sex; septem; octō; novem; decem
The "tens" numbers are:
vīgintī (20); trīgintā (30); quadrāgintā (40); quīnquāgintā (50); sexāgintā (60); septuāgintā (70); octōgintā (80); nōnāgintā (90)
Up to 200, only numbers 1 - 3, or compounds containing these numbers, decline; e.g.:
I saw 20 blackbirds = vīgintī merulās vīdī
I saw 22 blackbirds =vīgintī duās merulās vīdī (where duās changes to agree with merulās)
The numbers 11-17 are formed by adding the words for digits directly onto the beginning of the word for "ten," hence ūndecim, duodecim, tredecim, quattuordecim, quīndecim, sēdecim, septendecim. The numbers 18 and 19 are formed by subtracting 2 and 1, respectively, from 20: duodēvīgintī and ūndēvīgintī. For the numbers 21-27, the digits are not added directly to the word for "twenty," but a process of addition is nevertheless enacted: vīgintī ūnus, -a, -um (or ūnus, -a, -um et vīgintī), vīgintī duo (or duo et vīgintī), etc. The numbers 28 and 29 are written duodētrīgintā and ūndētrīgintā. Each group of ten numerals through 100 follows the patters of the twenties, although 99 is written nōnāgintā novem rather than *ūndēcentum.
The "hundreds" numbers are:
centum (indeclinable) ducentī, -ae, -a - 200 trecentī, -ae, -a - 300 quadringentī, -ae, -a - 400 quīngentī, -ae, -a - 500 sēscentī, -ae, -a - 600 septingentī, -ae, -a - 700 octingentī, -ae, -a - 800 nōngentī, -ae, -a - 900
mīlle - 1,000 (N.B. mīlle is an indeclinable adjective) duo mīlia - 2,000 ( mīlia is a neuter plural substantive, which is followed by a partitive genitive) e.g.:
I saw a thousand lions = mīlle leōnēs vīdī I saw three thousand lions = tria milia leōnum vīdī
Ordinal numbers are all adjectives with regular first- and second-declension endings. Most are built off of the stems of cardinal numbers (e.g., trīcēsimus, -a, -um ("thirtieth") from trīgintā ("thirty"), sēscentēsimus, -a, -um nōnus, -a, -um ("six hundred and ninth") for sēscentī novem ("six hundred nine"). However, "first" is prīmus, -a, -um , and "second" is secundus, -a, -um (literally, "following" the first; cf. sequī "to follow").
Latin allows a very flexible word order because of its inflectional syntax. Ordinary prose tended to follow the pattern of Subject, Indirect Object, Direct Object, Adverbial Words or Phrases, Verb (SIDAV). Any extra, though subordinate verbs, are placed before the main verb; for example infinitives. Adjectives and participles usually directly followed nouns, unless they were adjectives of beauty, size, quantity, goodness, or truth, in which case they preceded the noun being modified. Relative clauses were commonly placed after the antecedent which the relative pronoun describes. While these patterns of word order were the most frequent in Classical Latin prose, they are frequently varied; and it is important to recall that there is virtually no evidence surviving that suggests the word order of colloquial Latin (see Vulgar Latin).
In poetry, however, word order was often changed for the sake of the meter, for which vowel quantity (short vowels vs. long vowels and diphthongs) and consonant clusters, not rhyme and word stress, governed the patterns. It is, however, important to bear in mind that poets in the Roman world wrote primarily for the ear, not for the eye; many premiered their work in recitation for an audience. Hence, variations in word order served a rhetorical, as well as a metrical purpose; they certainly did not prevent understanding. In Virgil's Eclogues, for example, he writes, Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori!: Love conquers all, let us yield to love!. The words omnia (all), amor (love) and amori (to love) are thrown into relief by their unusual position in their respective phrases. The meter here is dactylic hexameter, in which Virgil composed The Aeneid, Rome's national epic.
The ending of the common Roman name Marcus is different in each of the following examples due to its grammatical usage in that sentence. The ordering in the following sentences would be perfectly correct in Latin and no doubt understood with clarity, despite the fact that in English they are awkward at best and senseless at worst:
In Latin grammar, the ablative absolute (Latin: ablativus absolutus) is a noun phrase cast in the ablative case. More specifically, it consists of a noun or pronoun and either a past participle, a present participle, an adjective, or an appositive noun, all in the ablative. In the case of sum "to be", a zero morpheme often has to be used as the past and present participle do not exist, only the future participle.
The ablative absolute indicates the time, condition, or attending circumstances of an action being described in the main sentence. It takes the place of, and translates, many phrases that would require a subordinate clause in English. However, the noun in the ablative case cannot recur in the same sentence, hence the name absolute, derived from the Latin word absolvere, meaning to loosen from. The unfamiliarity of this construction makes it sometimes difficult for Latin students to grasp; however, mastery of this construction is needed to write Latin well, and its availability makes Latin prose quite concise. The closest English equivalent is the nominative absolute.
The closest translation to the Latin follows the paradigm, with the Noun Participle. This construction often sounds awkward in English, however, it is often finessed into some other, more English-like, construction. In the following examples, the first line is the direct translation from Latin, while the second has been construed to sound more at home in English. The usage of present, passive or future participles will determine the verbal idea in the ablative absolute.
The ablative absolute indicates the time when things happened or the circumstances when they occurred:
It also indicates the causes of things, as in:
It can be used to add descriptions:
Sometimes an infinitive or clause occurs in the ablative absolute construction, especially in Livius and later authors:
An English example appears in a line spoken by Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act 1, Scene 1):
The ablative absolute construction is sometimes imitated in English in a construction called the nominative absolute: "The Americans, (with) their independence secured, formed a government." Nevertheless, the construction is rarer and less natural in English than it is in Latin. It was introduced by early modern authors heavily influenced by Latin, for example, John Milton, whose Paradise Lost makes frequent use of the construction.