#latin basics

[teachmelatin]

Declension and Conjugation

In Latin, most words are actually "stem + ending". The stem tells you the basic meaning (man, woman, large, small, run, sit, etc.) and the ending tells you how to use it in the sentence (subject vs. object, describes THIS vs. THAT, happens now vs. earlier, etc.).

Declensions are groups of nouns (and adjectives). There are five declensions in Latin (nouns use all five; adjectives use the first three), and each declension has a different set of endings to use for its nouns. Nouns and adjectives are grouped in another way: by gender. Latin has three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and most declensions will include two or more genders. When this happens, you often have similar-but-different endings for the different genders.

For example, in the dictionary, a 2nd declension masculine noun ends in -us or -r (equus=horse; puer=boy), but a 2nd declension neuter noun ends in -um (templum=temple).

(Why do I say "in the dictionary"? Nouns can change their endings, but they're always listed with two forms and their gender. The different forms are because the first form - called the nominative singular - often has a different spelling in its stem than the rest of the forms. The second form - called the genitive singular - gives the stem for the rest of the forms.)

Conjugations are groups of verbs. There are four (and a half) conjugations in Latin, and each conjugation has a different vowel in its infinitive. Usually all the conjugations use the same sets of endings, but sometimes 3rd conjugation, 3rd -io conjugation, and 4th conjugation like to use different endings.

In a dictionary, verbs are listed with four forms. The different forms exist because verbs (like nouns) have different spelling in their stems based on what form the verb is. However, verbs have THREE different stems whereas nouns just have one. (I am not including the first form for either nouns or verbs as a separate stem because in both cases, that form is only used in one place.) Having three different stems means that Latinists (people who know Latin) need to know the different stems...which are shown in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th form listed in the dictionary.

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[teachmelatin]

Inflected Languages

To inflect a word means to change its spelling to make it mean something different. Inflected languages use those spelling changes (usually the ending of a word, AKA the suffix) to show how words relate to each other in a sentence (and consequently, what the sentence means). Non-inflected languages DON'T use spelling changes to change a word's or a sentence's meaning.

"But wait!" you cry. "English uses endings! It has -s and -ing and -ed! You use those all the time!"

And you're right, English does use those. But non-inflected languages (like English) use word order the way that inflected languages (like Latin) use spelling changes: change or remove it, and you've changed or removed the meaning.

Conversely, non-inflected languages don't use spelling changes very much -- and inflected languages don't use word order very much -- and so those will rarely change the meaning. (And even if it does change the meaning, it changes it LESS than changing the other thing.)

Want an example? Me too.

The pretty girls carried water.

a. The pretty girl carry water. (spelling change/removed endings)

b. Girls water carried pretty the. (word order change)

Option A still makes sense...mostly. You see one girl instead of multiple girls, and the carrying happens now instead of before now...but it's still the same basic idea, right? Whereas option B is gibberish. If you're fluent in English, you can GUESS that the writer meant "the pretty girls carried the water" (or "pretty girls carried the water"), but only because that's the only logical arrangement of those words.

In Latin, this example would be:

Puellae bellae aquam portāvērunt.

a. Bellae portāvērunt aquam puellae. (word order change)

b. Puella bella aqua portāre. (spelling change/removed endings)

Once again, option A still makes sense, because the inflected language cares about spelling and NOT word order. This sentence actually makes MORE sense than its English counterpart because English does use some inflections (spelling changes), whereas Latin does not care about word order.* Option B, however, is gibberish despite using the same word order as the original sentence.

What does this mean for a Latin student?

YOU HAVE TO TRANSLATE THE GRAMMAR AS WELL AS THE INDIVIDUAL WORDS. You have to know the grammar backwards and forwards -- in both languages! -- in order to translate accurately between them.

* Latin has a "common" word order...but because it doesn't actually affect meaning, authors can play with word order to emphasize relationships in their sentences. Want to say "the flower is in between the rocks"? You can say "the rocks the flower in between" and it still means the same thing, but now you have a pretty little word picture where the word for "flower" is in between the words for "in between" and "the rocks"...just like the meaning of the sentence!

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[teachmelatin]

Latin Pronunciation

Now that you’re familiar with the alphabet, let’s look at how to pronounce things!

Classical Latin is easy to pronounce because every consonant, every short vowel, every long vowel, and every diphthong has its own sound. These sounds rarely overlap, and as long as you know your vocabulary and endings, there is never any question over “should this vowel be long or short? Should this I or V be a consonant or a vowel?” You’ll know.

Some shortcuts, before we begin:

Consonants are ALWAYS hard. (C is K not S; G is G not J.) When in doubt, say it harder. (D is “DAMN!” not “...darn.”)

Vowels have two possible sounds: short and long.

I and V can both be a vowel or a consonant. Later writers (and some modern text editors) distinguish between these: I becomes I and J; V becomes U and V.

Consonantal I (or J) is a consonantal Y (yellow, yawn, yikes).

Consonantal V is a W (water, wind).

With those in mind, let’s look at the alphabet in detail! I’ll list the diphthongs immediately after the alphabet, since you should memorize them together.

A: short a (A in about) and long ā (A in father)

B: same as English C: hard consonant (C in cat, NOT C in cellar) D: same as English E: short e (E in met) and long ē (E in prey; ay in pray)

F: same as English

G: hard consonant (G in gum, NOT G in ginger)

H: same as English OR SOFTER; this is the one exception to the “when in doubt, pronounce it harder” rule!

I: short i (I in minute) and long ī (I in machine; EE in feet); I as a consonant (Y in yellow); I was only a consonant if it appeared between two vowels - then it formed a diphthong (if possible; if not, it dropped out) and added the consonant sound (ex: maiestas = ma-yes-tas)

J: does not exist; later writers and some editors use it to show I as a consonant (Y in yellow, NOT Y in by)

K: appears ONLY in Greek words; same as English

L: same as English

M: same as English

N: same as English

O: short o (O in octopus) and long ō (O in hope)

P: same as English

Q(U): same as English; sounds almost like KW

R: same as English

S: soft consonant (S in soft, NOT S in rose)

T: always hard (T in tone, NOT T in caption)

U: short u (U in put) and long ū (U in cute; OO in foot)

V: originally showed both U and V; as a consonant, sounds like W in water (NOT V in vine)

W: does not exist

X: same as English

Y: appears ONLY in Greek words; sounds like a long E (EE in feet)

Z: appears ONLY in Greek words; same as English

AE: sounds like I in kite or hi

AU: sounds like OU in doubt or mouse

EI: sounds like EI in reign or deign

EU: sounds like (Latin) e + u; eh-oo (rare in Latin and nonexistent in English)

OE: sounds like oi in foil or oil

UI: sounds like (Latin) u + e; like gooey (only appears in huius, cuius, hui, cui, huic)

PRACTICE

See if you can remember the five shortcut tips I gave you above – without looking!

Say the sounds of the short vowels.

Say the sounds of the long vowels.

Say the sounds of each diphthong.

Say all the sounds that each vowel makes – including short sounds, long sounds, and diphthongs.

Remember which consonants change their sound compared to English. Say the correct Latin sound.

Why am I asking you to practice? Or to say things aloud, or sort the letter sounds in different ways? Because the more times that you practice something and the more senses that you use while practicing it, the better and sooner you will learn it! You can sort them in other ways too: letters that don’t change their sound, which letters sound like an English letter, etc.

BONUS ROUND:

Try to pronounce the following Latin sentences! They are the opening lines of three famous works from three famous authors.

Gallia est omnis dīvīsa in partēs trēs, quārum ūnam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquītānī, tertiam quī ipsōrum linguā Celtae, nostrā Gallī appellantur. (Caesar’s Gallic Wars)

Quō ūsque tandem abūtēre, Catilīna, patentiā nostā? Quam diū etiam furor iste tuus nōs ēlūdet? (Cicero’s “First Oration Against Catiline”)

Arma virumque canō, Troiae quī prīmus ab ōrīs Ītaliam fātō profugus Lāvīniaeque vēnit lītora, multum ille et terrīs iactātus et alto vī superum, saevae memorem Iūnōnis ob īram, multa quoque et bellō passus, dum conderet urbem īnferretque deōs Latiō; genus unde Latīnum Albānīque patrēs atque altae moenia Rōmae. (Vergil’s Aeneid)

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[teachmelatin]

Latin Alphabet

Latin uses almost the same alphabet as English - in fact, the differences are mainly where English has absorbed words from other languages (like Greek or German) and needed letters for those sounds. (Latin stole words and letters too, actually.)

Since (I'm assuming that) you're familiar with the English alphabet, I’ll just point out the differences:

J: does not exist; it was invented in the Middle Ages to denote consonantal I

K: only used in (stolen) Greek words (ex: kalends = first day of the month)

W: does not exist; it is never used in Latin (although a V sounds like it)

Y: only used in (stolen) Greek words (ex: Dionysius = Dionysus, Greek god of wine); sometimes used as an alternate spelling for I

Z: only used in (stolen) Greek words (ex: Zephyrus = a west wind)

You will NEVER see a W (unless it’s a foreign name, maybe), and the other four letters are all rare. (Unless the editor of your text replaced all consonantal I’s with J.)

Diphthongs are two letters which are pronounced together. English has several: ch, sh, th, oi, ay, ei...plus doubled consonants. Latin only has six, and they are all vowels. These are:

AE

AU

EI

EU

OE

UI

Remember...except for these six combinations, every letter makes its own sound – even if you have doubled consonants!

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[neptunehenriksen]

I’ve set myself the challenge of learning basic phrases in every language. Join me if you like. This time: Latin

Hello: Salve (pronounced: Saahl-weh)

Goodbye: Vale (pronounced: Wahh-leh)

Yes: Immo (pronounced: Ee-moh)

No: Non (pronounced: Nohn)

Please: Amabo (pronounced: Aah-ma-bow)

Thanks: Gratias (pronounced: G-raah-tee-us) with a rolled "r", which I can't do.

Note: All pronunciations are my interpretation of the word from Google Translate for my reference. I’m Australian, so this may affect the letters I’ve used to write the pronunciations.