Latin Online

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Grammar

1 Latin, a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) Language.

The basic word order of Latin is SOV. Typical sentences then have the verb in final position, as in the sentence Oppidum condunt. Because personal subjects are included in the verb form, a separate subject may be lacking.

A fuller pattern is found in the following sentence: Aeneas ab nomine uxoris Lavinium appellat. The sentence also includes an adverbial phrase placed, as frequently, before the object, which typically stands directly before the verb. Similar sentences are found at the beginning of this passage.

2 Modifications of the basic sentence pattern, with non-finite forms making up the verbs in clauses.

Like many writers in the Classic Latin period, Livy introduced many modifications of the basic sentence pattern. As in this passage, he often used clauses with nominal forms of verbs, such as infinitives, participles, gerunds and gerundives rather than finite verbs.

Among them are clauses consisting of an infinitive with an accusative as subject, as in processisse Latīnum 'Latinus advanced', (Latinum) evocāsse 'Latinus summoned', Latīnum adiunxisse 'Latinus added'. As in the translations here, these are best treated as finite clauses in English. But many infinitives are used, like in English, as complements to finite verbs, e.g. postquam audierit multitudinem Trōiānōs esse 'after he heard that the people were Trojans'.

Participles may also be used instead of finite verbs, as in Inde foedus ictum 'Then a treaty was struck'. Such clauses may be viewed as simple sentences with a form of 'be' as verb omitted. The passage contains many examples, such as percunctatum, profectī, quaerentēs and so on. But a highly characteristic use of participles in Latin is found with both a noun and a participle in the ablative case -- the so-called ablative absolute construction. These are comparable to subordinate clauses; an example is dextrā datā, literally 'the right hand given' but often best treated as a finite clause as in 'he gave him his right hand'. The later example, filiā datā, literally 'daughter given', could be treated similarly, though here it is translated as a participial clause.

Gerundives are adjectival and gerunds are nominals that may be inflected in the oblique cases. They are characterized by an -nd- ending. An example of a gerundive in the text is condendae urbī 'for founding a city'. An example of a gerund is finiendī erroris 'for ending of their wandering'.

As this text illustrates, classical Latin syntax is highly stylized. It should be noted that it contains few particles. These are used in many languages for indicating emphasized items. In Latin such emphasis is indicated by shifts in word order, and often with separation of connected words. Besides shifts in word order, the inflection of nouns and of verbs is highly important for conveying nuances of meaning in the language.

3 Noun inflection.

Latin nouns are classed in five declensions that are determined by their endings. In this unit we will exemplify the first declension, which has final -a in the stem form, e.g. patria 'fatherland', and the second, most of which have final -us (from Proto-Indo-European -os), e.g. filius 'son'. Second declension nouns with bases ending in -r, e.g. vir 'man', may lack the final ending. Neuter nouns end in -um.

Nouns are inflected for gender, number, and case. There are three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Most nouns of the first declension are feminine; those of the second are masculine, e.g. filius 'son', or neuter, e.g. bellum 'war'.

There are two numbers: singular, and plural.

There are five cases -- plus the vocative, a case of address for nouns to which it may apply, such as proper nouns. In declensions, the cases are listed as follows; the basic uses given here:

• Nominative, the case of the subject
• Genitive, the case indicating possession and relationship
• Dative, the case of the indirect object and to indicate direction
• Accusative, the case of the direct object
• Ablative, the case indicating separation

		1st declension				2nd declension
Case		Sg.		Pl.		Sg.		Pl.		Sg.		Pl.		Sg.		Pl.
Nom.		patria		patriae	|	filius		filiī		vir		virī		bellum		bella
Gen.		patriae		patriārum	|	filiī		filiōrum		virī		virōrum		bellī		bellōrum
Dat.		patriae		patriīs	|	filiō		filiīs		virō		virīs		bellō		bellīs
Acc.		patriam		patriās	|	filium		filiōs		virum		virōs		bellum		bella
Abl.		patriā		patriīs	|	filiō		filiīs		virō		virīs		bellō		bellīs

Greek nouns of the first declension, e.g. Aeneas and Anchises, have a final -s in the nominative, but are regular in the other cases. Like other first declension nouns they have -a in the vocative.

The vocative of regular second declension nouns ends in -e, e.g. filie 'oh son'; those nouns ending in -r have no ending, e.g. vir 'oh man'.

Adjectives are inflected like nouns, but may be inflected for all three genders, e.g. m. certus, f. certa, n. certum 'certain'.

4 Verb inflection.

Verbs are classed in four conjugations, in accordance with their stem vowels:

1. those with infinitive ending in -āre belong to the first conjugation;
2. those ending in -ēre belong to the second;
3. those ending in -ere belong to the third;
4. those ending in -īre belong to the fourth.

Verbs are inflected for two voices (active and passive), six tenses (present, imperfect, future, perfect, past perfect and future perfect), and for two moods (indicative and subjunctive). In addition there are two numbers (singular and plural), and three persons (first, second, and third). Moreover, there is an imperative for second and third persons.

Verbs have nominal forms: three infinitives (present, perfect, and future), two participles (present and future), a gerund, gerundive, and a supine.

Dictionaries list verbs in their first person singular present indicative, or a comparable form if the verb in question is inflected only in the passive. Moreover, dictionaries and grammars provide four principal parts, from which all forms can be made. These are given below, with examples from each of the four conjugations.

Conj.		Pres. Indic.		Pres. Infin.		Perf. Indic.		Perf. Part. Passive
1		laudō 'praise'		laudāre		laudāvī		laudātum
2		moneō 'advise'		monēre		monuī		monītum
3		tegō 'cover'		tegere		tēxī		tectum
4		audiō 'hear'		audīre		audīvī		audītum

Although the texts included in the ten units present historical and literary information, so that verbs are chiefly in the third person, the six present indicative forms are given here to provide a basis for recognizing all forms.

			Conjugation
			1		2		3		4
	1 sg.		laudō		moneō		tegō		audiō
	2 sg.		laudās		monēs		tegis		audīs
	3 sg.		laudat		monet		tegit		audit
	1 pl.		laudāmus		monēmus		tegimus		audīmus
	2 pl.		laudātis		monētis		tegitis		audītis
	3 pl.		laudant		monent		tegunt		audiunt

5 The phonological system.

The phonological system of Latin is remarkably simple. It consists of sixteen consonants and five vowels, which may be long or short. In printed texts, length is not usually marked; when it is, a macron is placed over the long vowels.

The system is as follows:

		Labials		Dentals		Palato-velars
Voiceless:		p		t		k (also spelled c and q)
Voiced:		b		d		g
Fricatives:		f		s		h
Nasals:		m		n		ŋ (before k, g)
Semivowels:		w (v)				j (often spelled i)
Liquids:			l		r
Vowels:		i				u
			e		o
				a

The vowels have "continental" values: i and e are pronounced as in cliché; a as in father, o as in note, u as in flute.

Diphthongs are pronounced as sequences of the two successive vowels, e.g. ae as in aisle, oe as in soil, ei as in rein, au as in rout.

Latin has a stress accent. In words of more than one syllable, the stress falls on the second to last syllable if it is long, but if not, then on the third to last.

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