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Complete Latin

Lesson 1 Pronunciation and first declension

The alphabet

1. There are 23 letters in the Latin alphabet.

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg

Hh Ii Kk Ll Mm Nn

Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt

Vv Xx Yy Zz

Note that English letters J, U, and W are not in Latin alphabet.

2. Today, Latin is printed in both upper- and lower-case, although this distinction was not made by the Romans, who used capitals.

3. The letter K is a doublet of C and only occurs (as an alternative for it) in a very few words.

4. Y and Z were only used in borrowed Greek words.

5. I and V er each given two values, one as a consonant, the other as a vowel.

6. J, U, and W are additions in the Engilsh alphabet, and of these U is used in this book for the vocalic V, while V itself is used for the consonant.

7. Up to a century ago J was used for consonantal I, but this has now been universally abandoned.

Consonants

b same as b in English, except before s and t where it is p, for example urbs [urps]

c always as in come, call (never as in city): Cicero [kikero]

ch makes an emphasized c: pulcher (pulKer)

g always as in game, go (never as in gesture)

i always as y in yes, yellow (never as j in jam)

s always as in sun, sing (never as in is)

t always as in table, tangle (never as t in nation)

v always as w in wish, want (never as a normal English v)

x always as [ks] in exceed (never as [gz] in example)

Two-letter consonants

ph as ph in philosophy

th as th in theory

gu [gw]: sanguis [sangwis]

qu [kw]: quod [kwod]

su [sw]: suavis [swawis]

[su]: sui [su-ee]

Vowels

Long vowels are indicated by a macron (-) placed above them.

The short vowels are left unmarked.

ā as in father

a as u in but

ē as ey in they

e as in net

ī as ee in sheep

i as in pit

ō as in note

o as in not

ū as oo in food

u as in put

y only occurs in Greek words, a French u or a Pinyin ü

Diphthongs

A diphthong is a combination of two vowels.

ae as i in pile

au as ow in cow

oe as oi in soil

ei eī [e-ees], meī [me-ee]

eu [iu] as in Pinyin

ui quid [kwid], cuius [kuy-yus]

Syllables

A word contains as many syllables as it does vowels and diphthongs.

(1) A single consonant between vowels or diphthongs is taken with the second: a-va-rus, e-me-ti-or

(2) An initial consonant (or consonants) belongs to the first syllable, a final consonant (or consonants) to the last: ge-li-dus,

stri-dor, a-mant

(3) Where two or more consonants occurs between two vowels or diphthongs, the syllable division is immediately befor the last consonant: e-mer-go, in-for-tu-ni-um

Word accent

The position of accent is determined by the quantity of the last syllable but one.

If the penultimate syllable of a word is long, it takes the accent, but if it's short, the accent falls on the preceding syllable.

Grammar

Nouns in general
1. In English, the gender of a noun is determined by its meaning: man is masculine, woman is feminine, car is neuter
2. In Latin, the gender is arbitrary: insula (island) is feminine, murus (wall) is masculine
3. In general, we can't directly tell the gender according to the meaning of it. However, we can tell the gender by the word
ending.
4. Latin nouns are grouped into five classes, which are called declensions. Each declension has a distinctive set of endings.
5. There are six cases for nouns: nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative and ablative
A case tells the function the noun plays in a sentence.
First declension
All nouns in the first declension end in -a.
Eg. puella (girl)
Note that different endings are added to the same stem puell-.

Singular

Nominative: puell-a

Vocaive: puell-a

Accusative: puell-am

Genitive: puell-ae

Dative: puell-ae

Ablative: puell-a

Plural

Nominative: puell-ae

Vocaive: puell-ae

Accusative: puell-as

Genitive: puell-arum

Dative: puell-is

Ablative: puell-is

As you can see from the above, Latin doesn't have definite article (the) or indefinite articles (a, an).

You have to refer to the context in order to make sure whether puellae is genitive or dative.

Most of the first-declension nouns are feminine. Exceptions are some of the old male occupations: nauta (sailor), agricola

(farmer).

Basic uses of cases
(1) The subject of a sentence must be in the nominative.
(2) The vocative case is used for addressing a person.
(3) The direct object of a sentence must be in the accusative.
(4) The genitive can be translated as Caesar's chariot, or the chariot of Caesar.
(5) The dative case is for indirect object: Calpurnia gave a new toga to Caesar. Caesa here is in genitive case.
(6) With living beings such as puella is used in conjunction with certain prepositions:
a puella, by a (the) girl
cum puelis, with (the) girls

Word order

Let's see several examples.

Note that it's useful for your doing the practices.

Example 1

English: Julia loves Portia.

Latin: Iulia Portiam amat.

This is the standard word order: subject + object + verb

If it is written as: Portiam Iulia amat.

An emphasis of Portiam is shown by putting it at the start of the sentence.

Example 2

English: Julia loves Portia less.

Latin: Iulia Portiam minus amat.

Adverb is placed before the verb (before the word it modifies).

Example 3

English: Julia does not love Portia.

Latin: Iulia Portiam non amat.

Example 4

Adjective is after the noun it modifies when used attributively.

English: the beautiful Julia

Latin: Iulia pulchra

Example 5

English: Julia's daughter

Latin: fillia Iuliae

The genitive case noun is also after the noun it modifies.

Example 6

English: Julia's beautiful daughter

Latin: pulchra Iuliae filia

When both genitive noun and adjective are both used, then they are place before the noun.

Example 7

English: Julia is in the island with Portia.

Latin: Iulia in insula cum Portia est.

Practice

Translate the following sentences. Use the vocabulary table for finding the meanings of the new words.

1. Ubi sunt nautae?

2. Nautae in taberna sunt.

3. In tabernis puellae non sunt.

4. Ubi est Roma?

5. Roma in Italia est.

6. Aqua vitae.

7. Insula agricolarum.

8. Incolis Hispaniae et Italiae.

9. Victoriarum Romae.

10. In tabernis nautarum.

Vocabulary

ubi where, sunt they are, nauta sailor, in in, taberna, tavern

puella girl, non not, est it is, Roma Rome, Italia Italy, aqua water

vita life, insula island, agricola farmer, incola inhabitant

Hispania Spain, et and, victoria victory