Latin Grammar Guide Level 2

Cranleigh Prep School

Grammar Guide for Level 2 CE

Contents

1. Grammatical Terms

2. Nouns

3. Verbs- Active Voice, Infinitives and Imperatives, possum

4. Adjectives and Comparison of Adjectives, Demonstrative Adjectives

5. Pronouns

1.Grammatical Terms

adjectives	These are words that describe nouns. e.g. bonus (good), tristis (sad).

adverbs	These are words which describe verbs. e.g. celeriter (quickly), statim (immediately)

cardinal number	unus (one), duo (two), tres (three) etc. Note carefully the difference between this and an ORDINAL NUMBER.

case	nominative (subject), vocative (person spoken to), accusative (object), genitive (of), dative (to or for) or ablative (by, with, from).

comparative adjective	An adjective ending in -or meaning ‘more....' e.g. latior (wider). See Comparison of Adjectives in your grammar notes.

conjugation	A family of verbs. e.g. amo (1) is in the first conjugation; audio (4) is in the fourth conjugation.

conjunction	A joining word. e.g. et (and), sed (but).

declension	A family of nouns. e.g. puella (girl) in in the first declension; servus (slave) is in the second declension; rex (king) is in the third declension. There are five declensions in all.

derivation	A word which has come from a Latin word, but which is NOT a translation of a Latin word. e.g. aqua - ‘water' is a translation of this word, but possible derivations are aquarium, aquatic etc.

gender	Whether a noun or adjective is masculine, feminine or neuter.

imperative	An order.
	e.g. audi! (listen!), amate! (love!).

infinitive	A to word, the second principal part of a verb, usually ending in -re in Latin. e.g. amare (to love). But beware of esse (to be).

number	Whether a noun or verb is SINGULAR or PLURAL.

ordinal number	primus (first), secundus (second), tertius (third) and so on. Note carefully the difference between this an a CARDINAL NUMBER.

past participle passive	The supine with the final -m relaced with an -s. e.g. supine amatum gives the ppp amatus (having been loved).

person	1^st person singular = I 2^nd person singular = You 3^rd person singular = He, She, It 1^st person plural = We 2^nd person plural = You 3^rd person plural = They

prepositions	Little words like cum (with), ad (to, towards), in (in). In Latin, some prepositions are followed by accusative nouns, others by ablative nouns.

relative pronoun	The qui, quae, quod table. See Relative Pronoun in your grammar notes.

superlative adjective	An adjective ending in -issimus or -errimus, meaning ‘very' or ‘most'. e.g. latissimus (very wide, widest). See Comparison of Adjectives in your grammar notes.

supine	The fourth principal part, ending in -um. e.g. amatum.

tense	Present, future, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect or future perfect.

voice	Active or passive. e.g. amo (I love) is in the active voice, but amor (I am loved) is in the passive voice.

2.NOUNS

A noun is the name of a person or thing., e.g. girl, chair, beauty, London.

The Cases.

Latin nouns have six cases. The case ending of a noun tells you what job the noun is doing in the sentence.

*name of case*	*job*	English example in CAPITALS
nominative	subject (doer) of verb	THE BOY is working hard.
vocative	person spoken to	BOY, what are you doing?
accusative	object (receiver) of verb	The teacher punishes THE BOY.
genitive	‘of'	The teacher OF THE BOY is clever.
dative	‘to', ‘for'	I give money TO THE BOY.
ablative	‘by', ‘with', ‘from'	He hits the boy WITH HIS HAND.

1^st and 2^nd Declensions

Declension:	1	2	2	2	2
Gender:	f	m	m	m	n
	table	master	boy	master	war
SINGULAR
nominative	mensA	dominUS	puER	magistER	bellUM
vocative	mensA	dominE	puER	magistER	bellUM
accusative	mensAM	dominUM	puerUM	magistrUM	bellUM
genitive	mensAE	dominI	puerI	magistrI	bellI
dative	mensAE	dominO	puerO	magistrO	bellO
ablative	mensA	dominO	puerO	magistrO	bellO

PLURAL	tables	masters	boys	masters	wars
nominative	mensAE	dominI	puerI	magistrI	bellA
vocative	mensAE	dominI	puerI	magistrI	bellA
accusative	mensAS	dominOS	puerOS	magistrOS	bellA
genitive	mensARUM	dominORUM	puerORUM	magistrORUM	bellORUM
dative	mensIS	dominIS	puerIS	magistrIS	bellIS
ablative	mensIS	dominIS	puerIS	magistrIS	bellIS

3^rd Declension Nouns

Table of masculine noun rex.

Using the example of rex, regis, m., king (stem: reg-), applying the above endings we get:

rex, regis, m., king

	*singular*	plural
nominative	rex	regES
vocative	rex	regES
accusative	regEM	regES
genitive	regIS	regUM
dative	regI	regIBUS
ablative	regE	regIBUS

3. Verbs	1	2	3	4	sum
	love	warn	rule	hear
Present (is/are)
I	amO	monEO	regO	audIO	sum
You (singular)	amAS	monES	regIS	audIS	es
He/She/It	amAT	monET	regIT	audIT	est
We	amAMUS	monEMUS	regIMUS	audIMUS	sumus
You (plural)	amATIS	monETIS	regITIS	audITIS	estis
They	amANT	monENT	regUNT	audIUNT	sunt

Imperfect (was/were ~ing)
I	amABAM	monEBAM	regEBAM	audIEBAM	eram
You (singular)	amABAS	monEBAS	regEBAS	audIEBAS	eras
He/She/It	amABAT	monEBAT	regEBAT	audIEBAT	erat
We	amABAMUS	monEBAMUS	regEBAMUS	audIEBAMUS	eramus
You (plural)	amABATIS	monEBATIS	regEBATIS	audIEBATIS	eratis
They	amABANT	monEBANT	regEBANT	audIEBANT	erant

Future (will)
I	amaBO	moneBO	regAM	audiAM	ero
You (singular)	amaBIS	moneBIS	regES	audiES	eris
He/She/It	amaBIT	moneBIT	regET	audiET	erit
We	amaBIMUS	moneBIMUS	regEMUS	audiEMUS	erimus
You (plural)	amaBITIS	moneBITIS	regETIS	audiETIS	eritis
They	amaBUNT	moneBUNT	regENT	audiENT	erunt

Perfect (did)
I	amavI	monuI	rexI	audivI	fui
You (singular)	amavISTI	monuISTI	rexISTI	audivISTI	fuisti
He/She/It	amavIT	monuIT	rexIT	audivIT	fuit
We	amavIMUS	monuIMUS	rexIMUS	audivIMUS	fuimus
You (plural)	amavISTIS	monuISTIS	rexISTIS	audivISTIS	fuistis
They	amavERUNT	monuERUNT	rexERUNT	audivERUNT	fuerunt

Pluperfect (had)
I	amavERAM	monuERAM	rexERAM	audivERAM	fueram
You (singular)	amavERAS	monuERAS	rexERAS	audivERAS	fueras
He/She/It	amavERAT	monuERAT	rexERAT	audivERAT	fuerat
We	amavERAMUS	monuERAMUS	rexERAMUS	audivERAMUS	fueramus
You (plural)	amavERATIS	monuERATIS	rexERATIS	audivERATIS	fueratis
They	amavERANT	monuERANT	rexERANT	audivERANT	fuerant

Infinitive (‘to')	amARE	monERE	regERE	audIRE	esse

Imperatives
singular:	amA	monE	regE	audI
plural:	amATE	monETE	regETE	audITE

Infinitives.

These are to-words (e.g. to run, to laugh, to play). Apart from irregular verbs like to be they are easy to spot in Latin: they all end in -RE.

*Conjugation*	Present	English	Infinitive	English
1	amo	I love	amARE	to love
2	moneo	I warn	monERE	to warn
3	rego	I rule	regERE	to rule
4	audio	I hear	audIRE	to hear
M	capio	I take	capERE	to take
irregular verb	sum	I am	esse	to be

Position: you will usually find these infinitives just before the main verb at the end of a Latin sentence.

Examples

puella currere parat. The girl prepares TO run.

puer ludere cupit. The boy wants TO play.

vir in proelio pugnare constituit. The man decides TO fight in battle.

dominus servum laborare iubet. The master orders the slave TO work.

Imperatives.

These are used for giving orders - telling people to do things. The singular imperative is used to give an order to one person; the plural imperative is used to give an order to more than one person.

	singular	plural
1	amA	amATE	Love!
2	monE	monETE	Warn!
3	regE	regITE	Rule!
4	audI	audITE	Hear!/Listen!
M	capE	capITE	Take!
sum	es	este	Be!

Examples

audi, puer! Listen, boy! (singular imperative)

audite, pueri! Listen, boys! (plural imperative)

Summary of possum, I am able/I can.

	Present	Imperfect	Perfect	Future	Pluperfect
	can	could	could	will be able	had been able
I	possum	poteram	potui	potero	potueram
You (singular)	potes	poteras	potuisti	poteris	potueras
He/She/It	potest	poterat	potuit	poterit	potuerat
We	possumus	poteramus	potuimus	poterimus	potueramus
You (plural)	potestis	poteratis	potuistis	poteritis	potueratis
They	possunt	poterant	potuerunt	poterunt	potuerant

Infinitive (‘to')	posse

4.ADJECTIVES

These are describing words. An adjective must have the same gender (masculine/feminine/neuter) case (nominative/vocative/accusative etc.) and number (singular/plural) as the noun it is describing.

Adjectives in -us.

e.g. bonUS, good

	masculine	feminine	neuter
SINGULAR
nominative	bonUS	bonA	bonUM
vocative	bonE	bonA	bonUM
accusative	bonUM	bonAM	bonUM
genitive	bonI	bonAE	bonI
dative	bonO	bonAE	bonO
ablative	bonO	bonA	bonO

PLURAL
nominative	bonI	bonAE	bonA
vocative	bonI	bonAE	bonA
accusative	bonOS	bonAS	bonA
genitive	bonORUM	bonARUM	bonORUM
dative	bonIS	bonIS	bonIS
ablative	bonIS	bonIS	bonIS

If you compare these endings with those of the nouns you will see that:

the masculine endings are the same as those of servus.
the feminine endings are the same as those of puella.
the neuter endings are the same as those of bellum.

Comparison of Adjectives

Comparison is all about comparing things.

Look at the underlined adjectives in these three examples:

Emily is cool.

Clementine is cooler than Emily.

Bass is the coolest (or very cool).

These adjectives show what are called the THREE DEGREES of comparison.

In the sentences above:

cool is called a POSITIVE adjective,
cooler is called a COMPARATIVE adjective (because a comparison is being made - Clementine is being compared to Emily),
and coolest (or very cool) is called a SUPERLATIVE adjective.

Here are some more examples in English:

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
wide	wider	widest / very wide / most wide
wise	wiser	wisest / very wise / most wise
good*	better (NOT gooder!)	best (NOT goodest!) / very good
beautiful*	more beautiful (NOT beautifuller!)	most / very beautiful (NOT beautifullest!) / most beautiful

* these are irregular in English. In other words it's not just a case of adding -er or -est!

Irregular Comparison of Adjectives

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
bonus, good	melior, better	optimus, very good, best
malus, bad	peior, worse	pessimus, very bad, worst
magnus, big	maior, bigger	maximus, very big, biggest
parvus, small	minor, smaller	minimus, very small, smallest
multus, much, many	plus, more	plurimus, most, very many

Demonstrative adjective: hic, haec, hoc = ‘this' (plural: ‘these').

‘Demonstrative' just means ‘pointing something out'. The word this points to something near the speaker.

	masculine	feminine	neuter
SINGULAR
nominative	hic	haec	hoc
accusative	hunc	hanc	hoc
genitive	huius	huius	huius
dative	huic	huic	huic
ablative	hoc	hac	hoc

PLURAL
nominative	hi	hae	haec
accusative	hos	has	haec
genitive	horum	harum	horum
dative	his	his	his
ablative	his	his	his

5. PRONOUNS

These are words which take the place of nouns, e.g. I, You, He, We, They.

First Person Pronouns: ego.

‘First person' means I and We.

	singular		plural
nominative	ego	I	nos	we
accusative	me	me	nos	us
genitive	mei	of me/my	nostrum	of us/our
dative	mihi	to/for me	nobis	to/for us
ablative	me	(by) me	nobis	(by) us
note:	mecum	with me	nobiscum	with us

Second Person Pronouns: tu.

‘Second person' means You.

	singular		plural
nominative	tu	you	vos	you
accusative	te	you	vos	you
genitive	tui	of you/your	vestrum	of you/your
dative	tibi	to/for you	vobis	to/for you
ablative	te	(by) you	vobis	(by) you
note:	tecum	with you	vobiscum	with you

Third Person Reflexive Pronoun: se.

	singular		plural
nominative	-		-
accusative	se	himself/herself	se	themselves
genitive	sui	of himself/herself	sui	of themselves
dative	sibi	to/for himself/herself	sibi	to/for themselves
ablative	se	(by) himself/herself	se	(by) themselves
note:	secum	with him / with her	secum	with them

Third Person Pronoun: is, ea, id (= he, she, it).

	masculine		feminine		neuter
SINGULAR
nominative	is	he	ea	she	id	it
accusative	eum	him	eam	her	id	it
genitive	eius	his	eius	her	eius	of it
dative	ei	to him	ei	to her	ei	to it
ablative	eo	by him	ea	by her	eo	by it

PLURAL
nominative	ei	they	eae	they	ea	they
accusative	eos	them	eas	them	ea	them
genitive	eorum	their	earum	their	eorum	their
dative	eis	to them	eis	to them	eis	to them
ablative	eis	by them	eis	by them	eis	by them

English example in CAPITALS

plural

Present

English

Infinitive

English

singular

plural

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