Latin for Beginners

 Get the Book | Del.icio.us 

  Naut-a pugnat
    _The sailor fights_
  Naut-ae pugnant
    _The sailors fight_

_25._ RULE. _Nouns that end in -a in the singular end in -ae in the
plural_.

_26._ Learn the following nouns so that you can give the English for the
Latin or the Latin for the English. Write the plural of each.

  agri'cola, _farmer_ (agriculture)[1]
  aqua, _water_ (aquarium)
  causa, _cause, reason_
  do'mina, _lady of the house, mistress_ (dominate)
  filia, _daughter_ (filial)
  fortu'na, _fortune_
  fuga, _flight_ (fugitive)
  iniu'ria, _wrong, injury_
  luna, _moon_ (lunar)
  nauta, _sailor_ (nautical)
  puel'la, _girl_
  silva, forest (silvan)
  terra, _land_ (terrace)

    [Footnote 1: The words in parentheses are English words related to
    the Latin. When the words are practically identical, as /causa\,
    _cause_, no comparison is needed.]

_27._ Compare again the sentences

  Nauta pugna-t
    _The sailor fights_
  Nautae pugna-nt
    _The sailors fight_

In the first sentence the verb /pugna-t\ is in the third person
singular, in the second sentence /pugna-nt\ is in the third person
plural.

_28._ RULE. Agreement of Verb. _A finite verb must always be in the
same person and number as its subject._

_29._ RULE. _In the conjugation of the Latin verb the third person
singular active ends in -t, the third person plural in -nt. The
endings which show the person and number of the verb are called
/personal endings\._

_30._ Learn the following verbs and write the plural of each. The
personal pronouns _he_, _she_, _it_, etc., which are necessary in the
inflection of the English verb, are not needed in the Latin, because the
personal endings take their place. Of course, if the verb's subject is
expressed we do not translate the personal ending by a pronoun; thus
/nauta pugnat\ is translated _the sailor fights_, not _the sailor he
fights_.

  ama-t _he (she, it) loves, is loving, does love_ (amity, amiable)
  labo:'ra-t " " " _labors, is laboring, does labor_
  nu:ntia-t[2] " " " _announces, is announcing, does announce_
  porta-t " " " _carries, is carrying, does carry_ (porter)
  pugna-t " " " _fights, is fighting, does fight_ (pugnacious)

    [Footnote 2: The _u_ in /nu:ntio:\ is long by exception.
    (Cf. Sec. 12.2.)]

_31._ EXERCISES

I. 1. The daughter loves, the daughters love. 2. The sailor is carrying,
the sailors carry. 3. The farmer does labor, the farmers labor. 4. The
girl is announcing, the girls do announce. 5. The ladies are carrying,
the lady carries.

II. 1. Nauta pugnat, nautae pugnant. 2. Puella amat, puellae amant.
3. Agricola portat, agricolae portant. 4. Filia laborat, filiae
laborant. 5. Nauta nuntiat, nautae nuntiant. 6. Dominae amant, domina
amat.

  [Illustration: DOMINA]


LESSON III

FIRST PRINCIPLES (_Continued_)

_32._ Declension of Nouns. We learned above (Secs. 19, 20) the
difference between the subject and object, and that in English they
may be distinguished by the order of the words. Sometimes, however, the
order is such that we are left in doubt. For example, the sentence _The
lady her daughter loves_ might mean either that the lady loves her
daughter, or that the daughter loves the lady.

  1. If the sentence were in Latin, no doubt could arise, because the
  subject and the object are distinguished, not by the order of the
  words, but by the endings of the words themselves. Compare the
  following sentences:

  Domina filiam amat
  Filiam domina amat
  Amat filiam domina
classics

Next Page