Chapter
IV
Minerva et Arachne (Pars Secunda)
 Dialogue
Tibi is dative; so is mihi.
The Romans said literally, Mihi nomen est ...,"The name to me
is ......" When a phrase can not be translated exactly from one language
to another, this is often called an "idiom." When you learn the language
of another culture, you also have to learn how that culture thinks.
We will learn more on how the Romans thought differently from now as
the course progresses.
Story
Reading and Pronunciation
This chapter concentrates on verbs.
As you first read the story outloud, be very careful on how you pronounce
the new verb forms. Accent the first syllable in two syllable words,
i.e., ha-bet and do-cet. Accent the first
syllable in three syllable words with no long mark on the middle syllable,
do-ce-o, sim-u-lat, am-bu-lat.
Accent the next-to-last syllable in three syllable words with a long
mark on the middle syllable, i.e., do-ce-re, af-fir-mat.
In Latin two consonants after a vowel make the vowel long as far
as pronunciation is concerned, i.e., ma-gis-tra, and
A-rach-ne, therefore, the next-to-last syllable of such
words should be accented even when the two consonants are not used
together, i.e., Mi-ner-va. Also note that it is ex-per-i-en-ti-a.
Now read the story outloud and pronounce the words carefully.
Verba
 Most
of the new nouns are feminine First Declension nouns. They should not
be a problem, but there are lots of verbs!
This is a very important chapter to understand how the Romans used
verbs. Turn, please, early to Structure Section 32 in this chapter.
If you look back and forth between Structure Section 32 and the Verba
section, you will see that verbs have suddenly become complicated.
The first form in Section 32 has several grammatical names: Present
Tense, First Person Singular; and, the First Principal Part. This
is the entry you will see in a Latin dictionary when you look up the
verb.
The Infinitive, or Second Principal Part, tells you what Conjugation
a verb is. First Conjugation has a long -a- in the Infinitive,
portare. Second Conjugation has a long -e- in the Infinitive,
habere. Third Conjugation has a short -e-, ducere, and
Fourth Conjugation has a long -i-, audire.
The Romans did not use long marks so how did they know the difference
between Second and Third Conjugations? By how they pronounced the
Infinitives. Second Conjugation has a long mark on the next-to-last
syllable, ha-be-re. Third Conjugation does not, du-ce-re.
First and Fourth Conjugations have long marks, therefore, por-tar-e
and au-di-re. This is also discussed in Structure Section
24 in this chapter. The other two principal parts will not be discussed
much at the moment by either myself or the text. However, Exercise
IIB does ask for all four Principal Parts.
From now on when you make vocabulary cards of verbs, you should
write out all four principal parts of all verbs. First Conjugation
example: affirmo, affirmare, affirmavi, affirmatum. You take
off the -o from the First Principal Part and add the rest of
the endings given. Second Conjugation examples: debeo, debere,
debui, debitum; respondeo, respondere, respondi, responsum. (Note
the consonant change in the Fourth Principal Part of respondeo.)
Adjectives are still given only for First Declension feminine nouns.
Structure Section 41 in Chapter VII will give you Second Declension
adjective forms.
Other Words are a mixed bag.
The first three are adverbs. Melius quam sets up a comparison
between two nouns which must be the same case. -que is stuck
on the end of a word to connect it to the previous word, and it means
"and." picturas fabulasque means "pictures and
stories."
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24.
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I have already
commented on the Infinitives for all four Conjugations. Translate
infinitives with the word "to" plus the simple verb in English:
vocare, "to call;" habere, "to have/hold," ducere,
to lead;" audire, "to hear;" etc. |
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24A.
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Complimentary
infinitives are used with another verb. We use the same verbal
construction in English: "I want to swim," volo natare.(
Note that desidero is not in the Verba list, but
you should add it to yours.) |
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24B.
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We are now getting
to the heart of understanding Latin verbs and increasing your
English vocabulary tremendously. Start with the Infinitive of
a Latin verb. Take off the suffix, -re. You then have the
verb stem, voca-. Take off the vowel, and you have the
root, voc-: vocare, voca-, voc-, "to call." How
many English words can you remember that use that root? "Vocation,
avocation, vocal, invoke, advocate, revoke, convocation, equivocate,"
etc. They all have something to do with "to call." Latin verbs
are the roots for many English words. Learn the Latin verbs; learn
the English vocabulary. |
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25.
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Both English
and Latin use the same sequence to tell a listener or reader who
is the subject of the verb. As this section says, "1st person
is the person speaking," and English uses the pronoun, "I," as a subject to indicate this. "2nd person is the person spoken to,"
and the English pronoun is "you" as a subject. 3rd person is the
person spoken of," and the pronouns in English can be "he/she/it."
In the plural the pronouns are, respectively, "we," "you," and
"they." This is all on page 30, but I repeat it here because an
understanding of these grammatical labels will make the learning
of Latin (and English) so much easier. Now for the new stuff! |
Latin,
however, normally does not use pronouns to indicate subjects of verbs
like English. The Romans used endings on the verb stem or root to
do this. The lists on page 30 are very traditional and, I hope, clear.
The First Principal Part of the verb is how you say, "I call," voco,
or "I teach," doceo. Take off the letter "-o" from
the First Principal Part, i.e. voc-, doce-. Now you have the
root of the verb. You will add the vowel of the conjugation, if necessary,
and the appropriate ending to this root to tell who the Latin subject
is.
Note, please, that this section says, "Memorize these endings."
That is an order!
The last paragraph of Section 25 says, "Conjugate...." and gives
you several Latin verbs to conjugate. "Conjugation" literally means
"to join together." In Latin or English grammar to "conjugate a verb"
is to make a list of the verb forms for the three persons of the verb,
singular and plural, with their definitions. I will conjugate voco,
vocare, vocavi, vocatum for you.
voco, I call
vocas, you call
vocat, he/she/it calls
vocamus, we call
vocatis, you call
vocant, they call
Remember that if the key vowel of a verb is an -a-, it is
a First Conjugation verb, and if the key vowel is a long -e-,
it is a Second Conjugation verb. Note, please, that there are also
long marks on the key vowels in 2nd Person Singular, 1st Person Plural,
and 2nd Person Plural in both First and Second Declension verbs.
Now, conjugate in the present tense the three verbs listed in the
last paragraph of 25 and send the list to me. Follow the examples
on page 30.
Click Here to Email Conjugated Verbs
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26.
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We have been
talking about Regular Latin Verbs. There are also Irregular Latin
Verbs. (I can hear the cry of anguish already!) Actually they
are not as irregular as they may seem. The endings, with one change,
are the same as above. The root you put them on appears to be
irregular. |
Sum, however, is the most important Irregular Verb in all of Latin,
just as its English translation is the most used English verb. The
four principal parts are sum, esse, fui, futurus. The section
is quite clear, and all I can add is "memorize these endings."
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27.
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Dative case
usually represents the Indirect Object in Latin, puella reginae
flores dat, "The girl gives the queen flowers," or
"the girl gives flowers to the queen." We can represent
this in two ways in English as shown, either by word order (S-V-IO-DO),
or with the preposition "to," followed by the noun which was
in the dative case in Latin. To make sure you are absolutely
clear on how to use the dative, I would recommend using the
prepositional phrase in your translations.
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28.
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We have talked
about ablative before. So far you have had three types of ablative:
Ablative of Place Where with in, Ablative of Accompaniment
with cum, and with de meaning "about." When cum
is with a pronoun, the Romans made it easier to pronounce by
sticking cum on the end of the pronoun: mecum, tecum,
vobiscum. Translate these as "with me," "with you" (sing),
and "with you" (plural), respectively. A priest may say, Pax
vobiscum, "Peace [be] with you."
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29.
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I have used
the word, Imperative, earlier to describe these Command forms.
To get a singular imperative, take off the -re from the
Infinitive of the verb: voca, "call;" doce, "teach."
If you want to teach your dog Latin commands, sto, stare
means "to stay," and sedeo, sedere means "to sit." So,
sta would be the command to "stay," and sede the
command to "sit." "Come" would be veni from venio,
venire, "to come." Add -te to the singular Imperative
for commands to more than one dog.
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30.
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When we directly
call someone in English, we do not change the original word.
In most cases, neither does Latin. "Hey, Claudia" would be Heus
Claudia. Most of the time in the textbook these Vocatives
will be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. In
real Latin that would not happen. Cavete discipuli.
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31.
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Evidens
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32.
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I have already
gone over this. Repetitio mater studiorum est.
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04-1
