Exam is in Merrifield 309

The exam is in Merrifield 309. I will post a sign on the door of our usual room in case of confusion.

Study aids for final exam (test over 10-12)

Topics for the Final

Fourth conjugation

3^rd –io conjugation

Personal pronouns ego, tu and is, ea, id; the adjective idem

The perfect, pluperfect and future perfect tenses

(I recommend you also specially review the following from previous chapters: 3^rd declension and hic, ille, iste and special –ius adjectives)

Key to the review paragraph (the translation paragraph on p. 102 in Wheelock):

Greetings, Marcellinus! I write these things to you about Fundanus, our friend, because he (has) lost his dear and beautiful daughter. That girl had not lived for 13 years, but nature had given to her much wisdom. She always loved (was loving) her mother and father, brother and sister, us and other friends, male teachers and female teachers, and we were loving and praising her. Doctors were not able to help her. However, since she had such great courage, she bore her very bad disease with patience. Now, my friend, send to Fundanus our letters about the bitter fate of his daughter. Goodbye!

3x5 card on exam

You will be allowed to bring one 3x5 notecard to the exam. If you don't have one you can cut out a 3x5 piece of paper.

Highlights from Tues. Dec. 6

 Here are the two charts we looked at today, the cases and the case endings:

Case endings are a good example of how its important to learn things both in and out of context. For example, you might know that the 1st declension accusative singular ending is -am when you're writing out all the forms together, but make sure you can also use that knowledge when you're working on a sentence.

Highlights Wed. 11/30

Translations of the assigned Sententiae Antiquae:
1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2. In his triumphal procession Cicero displayed this placard (poster): "I came, I saw, I conquered."
4. A young person wishes to live for a long time; an old man has lived for a long time.
7. Sophocles made (composed) tragedies at the height of old age / in extreme old age.
8. Those men poured forth not only money but also life for their homeland.
9. Kings held/ruled Rome from the beginning; Lucius Brutus gave freedom to the Romans.

We'll go over the Exercitationes in class.

Let's review the differences among the four past tenses. Imperfect and perfect are in bold because they are the most important:

Imperfect
-translate with "was" and a participle: bellum gerebat, "he was waging war"
-describes continued or repeated action


Perfect
-translate usually as a simple past tense, sometimes with "has" or "had": bellum gerit, "he waged war" or "he has waged war" Usually it doesn't matter what translation you use, occasionally it does.
-describes completed, single occasion actions


Pluperfect
-translated with "had"
-describes action that happened before another action in the past: bellum gererat, "he had waged war (before doing something else)"


Future Perfect
-translated with "will have"
-describes action that will be completed before something else happens: bellum gererit, "he will have waged war (by the time he conquers that city)."

Highlights Tues. 11/29

Please note: the chapter 12 quiz is now on Monday to allow us to spend more time with that chapter. (See the post below this one for details.)

I have attached to this post a copy of my "how to predict 3rd declension stems" handout. Remember that the third declension acts completely differently than the first and second: the stem for the word's forms comes from the genitive singular, the second form (ex. libertas, libertatis). By studying the chart at the bottom of the handout, you can learn to predict what the stem of a third declension noun will be.

Chapter 12 introduces us to what's called "the perfect system" -- three verb tenses that use the third principal part as their stem. (e.g. amo, amare amavi, amatum or facio, facere, feci, factum). Today we got as far as discussing how to translate them:

Perfect: "I did" (as opposed to "I was doing," which is the imperfect)
Pluperfect: "I had done"
Future perfect: "I will have done"

3rd Declension Hand Out

Ch. 12 Quiz moved to Monday

I am moving the Ch. 12 quiz to Monday (rather than Thursday) so that we can take more time with this chapter. Here is the adjusted schedule (I have also adjusted it in the original "Schedule for Weeks 14-16" post):

Monday 11/28 Summarize the chapter 12 grammar in your own words or complete four of the "unit 12" exercises at http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/latin/wheelock/contents.htm. 

Tuesday 11/29 Discuss Ch. 12 grammar

Wednesday 11/30 Prepare to translate Sententiae Antiquae 1,2,4, 7-9 and Exercitationes 12,15   

Thursday 12/1 Prepare to translate 38 Stories Ch. 12 and bring Scribblers, Sculptors and Scribes; take-home translation for Ch. 11 due

Monday 12/5 No Monday assignment

Tuesday 12/6 Ch 12 quiz; Exam review

Wednesday 12/7 Exam review

Thursday 12/8 Personal study day, optional in-class review

Final Exam: Tuesday Dec. 13th at 5:30

Highlights Tues. 11/22

Learning the forms of is, ea, id, can most easily be accomplished in 3 steps:

1. Learn the nominatives (is, ea, id), because they're somewhat irregular.

2. Learn the other semi-irregular forms (the genitive and dative singular, which are the same for all genders, and the neuter accusative singular and plural, which are the same as the neuter nominatives)

3. Learn the other forms, which consist of the letter e + the normal adjective endings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Online Exercises/Summaries for Ch. 11

I forgot to check your summaries or online exercises for Ch. 11. (For those who emailed them, I have those.) If you would like to email me your summary or set of exercises over the break, you are welcome to do so. If not, you can show them to me next Tuesday, with no penalty.

Class Cancelled Today

Class is cancelled today.* Please send me your 38 Stories translation so I can give you feedback. Have a great day and enjoy the snow!

*Office hours will still be held today from 3:30-4:30.

Schedule for Weeks 14-16

Monday 11/21 Summarize the chapter 11 grammar in your own words or complete four of the "unit 11" exercises at http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/latin/wheelock/contents.htm. 
Tuesday 11/22 Prepare to translate Sententiae Antiquae 1-7 and Exercitationes 14-15
Wednesday 11/23 Class cancelled; translate 38 Stories Ch. 11 Lines 1-7 as a take-home quiz (due next Wednesday)
Thursday 11/24 No class; Thanksgiving

Monday 11/28 Summarize the chapter 12 grammar in your own words or complete four of the "unit 12" exercises at http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/latin/wheelock/contents.htm. 

Tuesday 11/29 Discuss Ch. 12 grammar

Wednesday 11/30 Prepare to translate Sententiae Antiquae 1,2,4, 7-9 and Exercitationes 12,15   

Thursday 12/1 Prepare to translate 38 Stories Ch. 12 and bring Scribblers, Sculptors and Scribes; take-home translation for Ch. 11 due

Monday 12/5 Ch. 12 quiz; No Monday assignment

Tuesday 12/6 Exam review

Wednesday 12/7 Exam review

Thursday 12/8 Personal study day, optional in-class review

Final Exam: Tuesday Dec. 13th at 5:30

Highlights 11/15

The fourth conjugation is very predictable as far as recognizing it: usually the principal parts end in -io, -ire, -i(v)i, -itum.

The present forms take the stem from the second principal part (audi-) and add the personal endings: -o, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt. The third plural only has the letter u before the i of the stem: audiunt.

The imperfect is like all the other conjugations except there is -ie- before the -bam, -bas, -bat, etc.

The future is like the third conjugation except there is -i- before the -e-: audiam, audies, audiet, audiemus, audietis, audient.

-- Third cojugation -io verbs behave just like fourth conjugation verbs, but with fewer long marks.

Schedule for Week 13

Sorry this didn't get posted yesterday, my internet has been horrible. But it's the usual stuff...

Monday 11/14 Summarize the chapter 10 grammar in your own words or complete four of the "unit 10" exercises at http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/latin/wheelock/contents.htm. 

Tuesday 11/15 Prepare to translate Sententiae Antiquae 2-6 and Exercitationes 15-16 (I assigned fewer Sententiae Antiquae since this is slightly behind schedule.)

Wednesday 11/16 Prepare to translate 38 Stories Ch. 10. Translate lines 1-4 of the first paragraph on your own. Bring Scribblers, Sculptors and Scribes to class.

Thursday 11/17 Quiz on Ch. 10; introduction to Ch. 11

Highlights from Tues. 11/8

Knowing a word's vocabulary entry (nominative, genitive, gender) is important for translating it properly. The vocabulary entry tells you what the word's stem is (genitive - genitive case ending [ae, i or is]). It also tells you what declension the word is. This matters because certain endings (like -um) have different connotations based on what declension the word is.

amicum = friend, accusative singular (amicus, amici, m. is second declension)

corporum = bodies, genitive plural, therefore "of bodies" (corpus, corporis, n. is third declension)

Another important tip we discussed today is to leave out all genitives and prepositional phrases until the rest  of the sentence has been translated. It is usually a lot easier to see how the genitives and prepositional phrases fit in once everything else is translated.

Suggested review topics for Exam 2

Here are some of the topics we've studied since the first test (things to watch out for in parentheses:

Sum and Possum (Remember that the imperfect of sum uses -a [eram, eras, erat...], and the future of sum uses -i [ero, eris, erit].)

Complementary Infinitive (We have a tendency to confuse infinitives with imperatives. Nothing is an infinitive that does not end in -re [We will learn passive voice infinitives and past tense infinitives later, but for now they all end in -re]).

Third declension nouns (These are the words for which it is most important to learn the vocabulary entry: rex, regis, m.)

Third conjugation (Do not put b's in the future forms of these verbs.)

Demonstratives (hic, ille, iste) and adjectives with -ius genitive forms (These are the words that make it really important to get comfortable with the idea of substantive adjectives, adjectives with 'implied nouns': 'man' for adjectives with masculine endings, 'woman' for feminine, 'thing' for neuter.)

General suggestions:
Review vocabulary, and however you go about it, make sure you mix up the order of the words if possible. This enables your brain to form a stronger connection.
Learn both the meaning of the word and which declension or conjugation it is in.

Highlights from 11/2

As we discussed earlier this week, take special care in learning the definitions of the special adjectives in Ch. 9. They are somewhat odd-looking words in themselves (e.g. uter) and many of them look like other adjectives (e.g. alius vs. alter). So spend a little extra time with them. And remember that the main reason they are grouped together is because of their irregular dative and genitive endings: long i for the dative, -ius for the genitive.

Enjoy this song about hic and ille:

Highlights from 11/1

On Wednesday I'll look at each group's translations of the Sententiae Antiquae and the worksheet exercises. I'll have the sentence analyses in a powerpoint. The groups that did not finish them can put theirs on the board at the beginning of class. (I also plan to spend time with 38 Stories, never fear!)

Remember that the 3rd declension deals with noun stems differently from the other declensions. You don't take a few letters off the nominative and put the other endings onto that stem, as you do with the first and second declensions. Instead, you use the stem that the genitive form uses (the second form given in the vocabulary entry). Remove the -is genitive ending from that, and there's your stem.

When you are reading, try to stop and think for a moment about the case of each noun and adjective. Although noun cases seem like a simple thing, it is one of the most common things for students to have difficulty with, up to the second year and beyond. One of the reasons for this is that in short sentences (like the ones we have now), it's often possible to figure the sentence out with knowing the case of every word. But making sure that you know it now, while the sentences are still a manageble length, will make Latin much easier later on.

Schedule for Weeks 11-12

Monday 10/31 Summarize the chapter 9 grammar in your own words or complete four of the "unit 9" exercises at http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/latin/wheelock/contents.htm. 

Tuesday 11/1 Prepare to translate Sententiae Antiquae 1-5, 7-8 and Exercitationes 11-12

Wednesday 11/2 Prepare to translate 38 Stories Ch. 8. Translate lines 1-7 of the first paragraph on your own. Bring Scribblers, Sculptors and Scribes to class.

Thursday 11/3 Quiz on Ch. 9.


Mon. 11/7 No Monday assignment

Tues. 11/8 Exam review in-class

Wed. 11/9 Personal review day, no class

Thurs. 11/10 Exam 2 focusing on Chs. 6-9 (Vocabulary section will cover the vocab. lists from 6-9, grammar and translation sections will be approximately twice as long as a quiz)

Highlights from 10/27

Chapter 9 is about twelve adjectives that 1) have irregular/abnormal genitive and dative singular endings 2) describe how many of something there is, or where the thing is in relation to the speaker.

There is a group of three adjectives that are used as both adjectives and pronouns. They are hic ("this, these"), ille ("that, those") and iste ("that (near you), that _____ of yours"). These words can be used with a written-out noun (ille magister, "that teacher") or as forms that imply the noun "man, woman or thing", much like substantive adjectives: hi, "these men", haec, "these things."

The special group of three have more irregular forms than the others, so study the list of forms on pp. 71-72 carefully. The remaining nine adjectives are used only as adjectives and their only irregular forms are the genitive and dative singular. These adjectives are listed on p. 74.

Highlights from 10/26: Useful links

As a follow-up to conversations I had with some of you after class and since we did a lot of reading today, I wanted to provide the following links:

Perseus Project Latin dictionary (The "Elementary Latin Dictionary" has shorter entries.)
Perseus Project morphological analysis*

University of Notre Dame Latin dictionary and grammar aid

Free Wheelock flashcards:
University of Victoria (under "Vocabulary" for each chapter)
ProProfs (student-created, have not used this website before)

Wheelock audio files

Have a great day!

*This is loading slowly right now.

Highlights from 10/25

When two words in a sentence both look as though they could be the subject, look at the verb to see if it is singular or plural. Then look at the two possible subjects again, and match the number of the subject to the number of the verb.

The best way to practice Latin is by doing Latin. Try to strike a balance between things like working on the new vocab and forms for each chapter, and reading or rereading the sentences and the 38 Stories passages. It may be no fun at first, but like skills such as sports and music, it becomes much easier over time.

Schedule for Week 10

Monday 10/24 Summarize the chapter 8 grammar in your own words or complete four of the "unit 8" exercises at http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/latin/wheelock/contents.htm. 

Tuesday 10/25 Prepare to translate Sententiae Antiquae 9-16 and Exercitationes 10-11

Wednesday 10/26 Prepare to translate 38 Stories Ch. 8. Bring Scribblers, Sculptors and Scribes to class.

Thursday 10/27 Quiz on Ch. 8; introduction to Ch. 9

Highlights from 10/20

Chapter 8 of Wheelock teaches the third conjugation, which is like the third declension for verbs.

Third conjugation verbs are formed from stems ending in a consonant (often the same consonant stems as the third declension, like the stem reg- that forms both "king" and the verb "regere," to rule.)

So, the Romans had this stem that ended in a consonant and certain verb endings they needed to add to it, and they basically would put various vowels between the stem and the ending, so that the form would be easier to say. It's always a little hard to say a word that has several consonants in a row, and they wanted to avoid this situation.

In the infinitive, they added a short e between the stem and the ending: regere.

In the present they added a short i between the stem and the endings (this changes to u in the third plural): rego regis regit regimus regitis regunt.

In the future they used a long e (this changes to -a in the first person singular): regam reges reget regemus regetis regent.

In the imperfect they used a long e before the usual imperfect endings: regebam regebas regebat regebamus regebatis regebant.

Highlights from Wed. 10/19

The Romans absorbed the influence of many different tribes, including the Etruscans and Umbrians (Umbri) into their own culture. These other tribes are especially the source of some of their religious terms and customs.

When working with Latin sentences, continue to practice separating the essential parts (subject, verb, sometimes direct object) from the parts that can be translated last (such as prepositional phrases). Seeing the “simple sentence” inside the more complex one is an important skill in translating Latin.

Remember that all three genders use the same endings in the third declension, except that neuters will have identical nominative and accusative forms, and the plural nominative and plural accusative will end in –a:

nom sg. corpus

acc sg. corpus

nom. pl. corpora

acc. pl. corpora

Highlights from Wed. 10/18

When translating, always remember that there are many parts of a sentence you can ignore, at least at first. Before starting to translate things like prepositional phrases, always make sure you've looked carefully at the verbs and the subject.

When translating from English into Latin, think about the direct object, what is 'being loved/admonished/possessed/etc.' by the subject. Make sure you put an accusative ending on this word; it's usually -am/-um/-em for the singular and -as/-os/a/-es for the plural.

Schedule for Week 9

Monday Summarize the chapter 7 grammar in your own words or complete four of the "unit 7" exercises at http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/latin/wheelock/contents.htm. 


Tuesday Prepare to translate Sententiae Antiquae 5-12 and Exercitationes 11-12

Wednesday Prepare to translate 38 Stories Ch. 7. Bring Scribblers, Sculptors and Scribes to class.

Thursday Quiz on Ch. 7; introduction to Ch. 8

Highlights from Thurs. 10/13

Chapter 7 introduces the third declension. The first, second and third declensions are the sets of noun endings most commonly used in Latin. (The fourth and fifth declension endings, which we will study later, are only used with a few words).

The nominative of a third declension noun can end in a number of ways: -o, -or, -tio, -tas, -men, etc. You have to get the nominative form from the vocabulary entry. The genitive ending is always -is. The other endings are listed on p. 55 of Wheelock.

You can't usually tell what the gender of a third declension noun is, you have to get it from the vocabulary entry. There are a few exceptions to this: If the nom. singular ends in -or, the noun is masculine; if the nom. singular ends in -us (and is third declension), -men, -al, -ar or -e, the noun is neuter.


There are lots of abstract nouns in the third declension that use specific suffixes (suffix = anything put on the end of a word). Those abstract nouns are always feminine. The suffixes have English equivalents, which I have listed below.

nom sg./ gen. sg.
-tas, -tatis = English -ty; libertas = liberty
-tus, tutis = English -tue; virtus = virtue
-tudo, tudinis = English -tude; multitudo = multitude
-tio, tionis = English -tion; natio = nation

Highlights from Wed. 10/12

Remember that although putting the subject first  is the 'default' option, in many sentences the most important thing is the direct object or something in a prepositional phrase. In that instance, the most important thing, whatever it is, will come first, and then the subject: Propter tua vitia filii tui magnas poenas dabunt = Because of your faults your sons will pay large penalties. (The link between Atreus' faults and his sons' problems is the most important part of the sentence.) 

If you have questions or comments about the quiz over chapters 6, please leave them in a comment. Thanks!

Highlights from Tues. 10/11

Chapter 6 introduces the future and imperfect of sum, the forms of the verb possum, which means "to be able," and the complementary infinitive.

The complementary infinitive is any infinitive that's used to make a complete phrase with another verb. For example, if you say "I am able to..." you need to be able to do something, and that something is expressed with the infinitive form of another verb: possum te iuvare, "I am able to help you."

The future and imperfect of sum are formed with the stem er-, the vowel i (future) or a (imperfect), plus the usual personal endings.

The forms of possum, "to be able," basically consist of the forms of sum, esse plus the prefix pot-, which means "able." Pot- turns into pos- whenever the form of sum, esse happens to start with an s-.

If you have questions about tomorrow's homework, please leave them as a comment on this post. Thanks!

Schedule for Week 8

Monday 10/10: Look at the future and imperfect forms of "to be," on page 48. Write out all the forms of "to be" we have learned up to this point (present, infinitive, future, imperfect) OR do online exercise 6.4 at the University of Victoria website. If you choose the latter, print out or email me a copy of the last screen you come to, like usual.

Tuesday 10/11: Prepare to translate Sententiae Antiquae 1-7 and Exercitationes 11-12.

Wednesday 10/12 Prepare to translate 38 Stories Ch. 6. Bring Scribblers, Sculptors and Scribes to class.

Thursday 10/13 Quiz on Ch. 6; introduction to Ch. 7

Quiz 5 Sentences

1. Few men think about the care of the soul.
2. Because of anger you are in blame/at fault and you will pay the penalty.
3. The poet was giving many roses and kisses to his friend.
4. Many men were remaining in the fields yesterday and were helping the Romans.
5. Remanebitne semper filius nautae in nostra patria?

Highlights from Tuesday 10/4

Know:

What a typical vocabulary entry looks like for nouns, adjectives and verbs. How many forms are listed for each? What does each form represent?

How do you tell, from the vocabulary entry, what declension a noun belongs to? What conjugation a verb belongs to?

When translating, consider:

Where is the verb? Is it singular or plural? Is it the kind of verb that takes a direct object, or the kind that often takes a prepositional phrase?

Where are the essential parts of the sentence: the subject, direct object (or prepositional phrase)? Does the word you believe to be the subject match the pluralness/singleness of the verb, and does it make sense as the subject of that verb?