A noun is a naming word eg. man, animals, Julius, idea.

A verb is a doing word eg. run, will run, did make, made.

An adjective is a word that adds itself to a noun eg. small, clever, green, your.

An adverb is a word that adds itself to a verb eg. quickly, modestly, from, soon.

A conjunction is a word that joins phases together eg. and, or, but, with.

A declension is a group of nouns which follow the same language rules.

A conjugation is a group of verbs which follow the same language rules.

Latin is an Indo-European language which has enormous influence on most current European languages, particularly the Romance group of languages - French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian. (Romance in this case means being derived from the Romans.)

As an aside, slightly over 52% of English derives from Latin, with 28% from Anglo-Saxon, 11% from Greek and 9% from other sources. English can be described as a bastard cousin of the Romance languages, sharing development from both Latinate and Germanic sources.

The Latin Alphabet consists of 22 letters, namely the English alphabet less J, W, Y and Z.

J is a modern consonant form of I, such as in Iupiter Jupiter.

W is a modern consonant derived from V.

Y and Z are Greek letters, and do occur in words Latin borrowed from Greek, but are not strictly Latin letters.

Also; U and V are effectively one letter, U being the vowel form and V the consonant form, such as in unum one & video I see.

These collegia are concerned with both written and verbal language acquisition. Unfortunately, the basis for either inevitably includes a considerable amount of tedious rote learning of nouns and verbs. Declensions of nouns and conjugations of verbs attempt to make this easier by defining groups of nouns and verbs, respectively, which follow the same language rules. If you know the basic form of a noun or verb, then by following the rules associated with the appropriate declension or conjugation, you may derive a set of all the different forms of that noun or verb, describing its possibilities in person, number, tense, etc. eg. I run, you run; he runs, they run; I ran (I did run), I will run.

There are five declensions of nouns. The first and second declensions are relatively easy to use. The first declension is primarily feminine, the second primarily masculine and neuter. The fourth and fifth declensions are also easy, but are relatively small collections of nouns, whereas the third declension is the largest group of nouns, but also the most complicated. Latin is engendered, in that nouns and adjectives are either masculine, feminine or neuter, and follow slightly different rules in each case.

There are four conjugations of verbs. The third conjugation also has two distinct subgroups, and some important verbs are IRREGULAR, ie. they do not fit into one of the four regular conjugations; such as sum I am, eo I go, volo I wish/I want and possum I am able/I can.

We will use Ecclesiastical (or Vulgar) Latin pronunciation, as opposed to Classical Latin pronunciation. This ought to be closer to the pronunciation in the medieval period, however both the medieval and antique forms are noted herein.

Where pronunciation does not differ from modern English, no notes have been included; thus the Ecclesiastical Latin V is pronounced like modern V.

cum, with (ablative case)
et, and
in, into (accusative case), in or on (ablative case)
ne, non, num, no
si, sic, vero, yes
vel, or

The literal meaning of "vero" is I agree. The literal meaning of "non" is not. It is also used to negate the meaning of a verb eg. non recita do not read aloud.

The noun referred to by "cum" must be in the ablative case eg. cum epistulis ambulamus we walk with letters.

The meaning of "in" is into if it is in the accusative case, or in or on if it is in the ablative case, depending upon the context, or what is being done to, the noun. eg. in villam ambulas you walk into the house; in via ambulatis you all walk on the road; in silvis ambulant they walk in the forests.

Latin nouns have a stem and an ending, or inflexion. The stem describes what sort of thing that is being talked about; the ending defines its number, case and gender.

Number

Singular - eg. puell-a a girl, the girls
Plural - eg. puell-ae the girls

Case

Nominative - the subject; eg. Aemilia aquam portat Aemilia carries the water.
Vocative - as an address; eg. Aemilia aquam porta carry the water, Aemilia.
Accusative - the object; eg. Aemiliam aqua portas The water carries Aemilia.
Genitive - as a possession; eg. Aemiliae aqua Aemilia’s water, the water of Aemilia.
Dative - to or for the subject, in a personal rather than a directional sense; eg. aqua Aemiliae portamus we carry water for Aemilia, we carry water to Aemilia.
Ablative - frequently meaning by, with, from; used with certain prepositions; eg. aqua cum Aemilia portamus we carry water with Aemilia.

Gender

Feminine - vill-a, country-house
Masculine - dom-us, town-house
Neuter - templ-um, temple

Note there in no definite article such as a or the in Latin. Also, almost all first declension nouns are feminine.

FIRST DECLENSION

puell-a, puell-ae, f. girl
Case Singular Plural
Nominative puell-a puell-ae
Vocative puell-a puell-ae
Accusative puell-am puell-as
Genitive puell-ae puell-arum
Dative puell-ae puell-is
Ablative puell-a puell-is
aqua, -ae, f. water
epistula, -ae, f. letter
femina, -ae, f. woman
cathedra, -ae, f. chair
cena, -ae, f. dinner
hirnea, -ae, f. jug, pitcher
insula, -ae, f. island
silva, -ae, f. forest
taberna, -ae, f. shop, tavern
via, -ae, f. road
villa, -ae, f. house, country-house

Latin verbs also use a stem and an inflexion. The inflexion or ending defines a verb's person, number, tense, mood, and/or voice. We will concern ourselves, for the moment, primarily with person and number.

Note that in the 3rd person singular, the gender (he, she or it) is given by the context, particularly the gender of the noun that the verb is describing the action of. Also note that the Imperative tense is meant as a command, eg. portate I command you all to carry!

FIRST CONJUGATION

port-o, port-are, carry
Present Indicative Tense (Active)

1st person sing. port-o I carry
2nd person sing. port-as you carry
3rd person sing. port-at he, she, it carries
1st person plur. port-amus we carry
2nd person plur. port-atis you all carry
3rd person plur. port-ant they carry

Imperative Tense (Active)

Singular port-a (you) carry!
Plural port-ate (you all) carry!
Infinitive Tense (Active)
Present port-are to carry

ambulo, -are, walk
amo, -are, like, love
do, -are give
habito, -are, live
laboro, -are work
lusito, -are, play
monstro, -are, show
recito, -are, read aloud
specto, -are, look at, examine
vero, -are, agree
veto, -are, forbid

epistulam porto I carry the letter
epistulam monstras you show the letter
epistulam spectat he examines the letter, she examines the letter, it examines the letter
epistulam damus we give the letter
epistulam amatis you all like the letter
epistulam recitant they read the letter aloud

In all these cases the letter is the object (thus is in the accusative case) and the people involved (I, you, we, etc.) are the subject.

femina tabernam amat the woman [she] likes the shop
feminae insula amat the women [they] like the island
non puella tabernas amant the girls [they] do not like the shops
puellae insulas non amant the girls [they] do not like the islands

Note how noun endings change a noun's meaning; from subject to object and from singular to plural.
Also note how the positioning of non not can change, yet still has the same effect on the verb.

villa feminae the house of the woman, the woman's house
villae feminae the houses of the woman, the woman's houses
villam puellarum amas you like the house of the girls, you like the girl's house
puella villas feminarum amat the girl likes the houses of the women; the girl likes the women's houses

Note the possessive, genitive case requires careful reading of singular and plural endings.
Normally, the possession is given first and the possessor second.
Note the differences where the possession is the subject or the object.

in insulis villas spectant they examine the houses on the island
insula villarum spectant they examine the houses of the island; they examine the island's houses

Note how the first sentence is written in terms of location, the second in terms of possesion.

cena puellae the dinner for the girl
cenae puellae the dinners for the girl
cenas puellis dant they give the dinners to the girls
feminae cenas puellis dant the women [they] give the dinners to the girls

Note the dative case is personal or causal, but not possessive. The use of to or for to translate is purely for context.

ambulo means I walk; ambulas means ?

damus means we give; dant means?

spectat means she examines; spectatis means?

laborare means to work; labora means?

feminam means the woman; feminas means?

silvae means of the forest; silvarum means?

cum hirnea means with the jug; cum hirneis means?

in viam means into the road; in vias means?

in villa means in the house; in villis means?

Puella means the girl; puellae means?

(* puellae has two possible meanings)

Translate into good English.

Translate into good Latin.

they walk

we examine the island

the girl likes the forest

I do not work on the island

it plays with the water or the dinner

the girls like to look at the shops

the woman does not like the tavern

the women walk in the street

you all like water in the jug with dinner

give the chair to the women of the villa for the dinner in the forest

(* because of the dinner- use the dative sense)

Next Time:
Neuter 2nd Declension Nouns
4th Conjugation Verbs
Irregular Verbs: sum I am & eo I go
Adverbs: questions & answers