Highlights from Wed. 8/31

“The Poet Horace Contemplates an Invitation”

Context is important to translating Latin. With this reading, it helps to know that Vergil is also a poet and Maecenas is a literary patron, someone who financially supported writers and criticized their work if he didn't like it.

Scribblers, Sculptors and Scribes

-The alphabet (p. 2)

If you’ve ever looked at the Greek alphabet, you know that it has many similarities to the Roman alphabet. Basically, the Romans borrowed it from the Etruscans, who were the main power in Italy before them. They borrowed it from the Greeks, and the Greeks borrowed it from the middle East.

Quiz Review

-The quiz will have three sections: vocabulary, grammar and translation.

-In the vocabulary section I will either ask for a word’s definition, or else I will leave out the first or second principal part and ask you to fill it in based on your knowledge of that verb.

-The grammar section is for writing out selected grammar forms. For instance, I might ask your for all the present tense forms of laudo. 

-The translation section will have Latin sentences only; there will be an English to Latin sentence that is extra credit. 

Open thread for Ch. 1 Quiz (Sept. 1)

If you have comments or questions about studying for the chapter 1 quiz, share them in the comments!

Highlights from Tues. 8/30

Long marks:
The most important long mark (of those we have learned so far) is the one over the vowel in the infinitive (second principal part).

Understand principal parts (the way verbs are written in the vocabulary):
-The first two (amo, amare) relate to the present and future tenses, and the last two (amavi, amatum) relate to the past tense.
-Of the first two forms, the second is by far the most important, because that is where the present stem comes from. The stem of “to love” is ama-. The first principal part is there because sometimes that form has little irregularities that can’t be predicted.

-The third principal part is the first person singular of the past tense (“I loved”) and the fourth is the adjective form of the verb, one that kind of has a past tense sense (“loved”, “beloved”).

Understand word order:

-Wheelock indicates that the normal word order in Latin is first the subject, then the direct object, then the verb. This is a loose general tendency rather than a rule. The longer the sentence, the less this tendency applies. A Latin sentence, especially a short one, is correct as long as the words have all the right tags. When translating, go by tags and not word order.

Conversational Latin:

Quid agis? = How are you?

Quid nomen tibi est? = What's your name?

Nomen mihi est = My name is

Amasne ludum? = Do you like school? 

Open thread for August 31 homework

If you have comments or questions about preparing to translate "The Poet Horace Contemplates an Invitation", share them in the comments!

Dates of the first and second exams

I will also announce this in class, but here are the dates of the first and second exams:

Exam 1: October 6th

Exam 2: November 10th

Open thread for August 30 homework

If you have comments or questions about summarizing Ch. 1 in your own words or preparing sentences 13-20 in Wheelock, share them in the comments!

Highlights from Thurs. 8/25

Know:

the five characteristics of a Latin verb
how the infinitive is translated
how the imperative forms are translated
how the indicative forms are translated

which personal ending corresponds to which pronoun in English (-o = I, -s = you...)

When studying Latin, approach it as a skill more than a body of knowledge.
-Use as many memory systems as you can (visual, auditory) and work to develop muscle memory and long-term memory.

-Approach Latin like exercise or a musical instrument: work on it every day and try to use the language (by translating or making up sentences) rather than just reviewing the rules.

-Review new and old vocabulary at least once every day, by looking at flash cards or writing the words out.

Regarding the vocabulary list in Wheelock

I will bring this up in class tomorrow, too, but I wanted to mention a couple of things about Wheelock's vocabulary list:

-The words in parentheses after each vocabulary entry are English derivatives meant to help you learn the Latin word (for example, admonish and admonition after the Latin word moneo).

-"lit." stands for literally. Amabo te literally means "I love you," but when the Romans used the phrase (unless they were talking to a loved one) it meant "please."

Open thread for August 25 homework

If you have any comments or questions about Wheelock Ch. 1 sentences 1-12, share them in the comments!

Highlights from Wed. 8/24

Know the parts of speech:

Pronouns: a (usually shorter) word that replaces a noun: me, you, we, etc.

Adjectives: a word that describes a noun: the red balloon

Adverbs: a word that describes a verb: I read the book quickly

Prepositions: anywhere a mouse can go: over, under, in

Conjunctions: linking words: and, or, but, etc.

Interjections: excited or surprised words: alas! oh no!

The five characteristics of the verb:

person-subject when the verb is translated

number-how many people

tense-present, past, future

mood- “I see” instead of “I might see”

voice- “I see” instead of “I am seen”

Check in the book for how to form the present indicative active (I love, you love..), imperative (love!) and infinitive (to love) of Latin verbs (Wheelock pp. 3-5).

Schedule for Weeks 1-2

Assignments listed are due on that day.

Thursday 8/25 Read through ch. 1 vocabulary list (p. 6 Wheelock) and be prepared to translate sententiae 1-12 (p. 7 in Wheelock). 

Monday 8/29 Write a summary of the chapter 1 grammar in your own words. (This will be checked at the beginning of class on Tuesday.) No class.

Tuesday 8/30 Be prepared to translate sententiae 13-20 (p. 8 in Wheelock).

Wednesday 8/31 Be prepared to translate “The Poet Horace Contemplates an Invitation”; bring Scribblers, Sculptors and Scribes to class.

Thursday 9/1 Quiz; introduction to Ch. 2

Classics 101 Syllabus

Here is the an electronic copy of the syllabus. Let me know if you have trouble looking at or accessing it and I will email you a copy.
Latin 101 Syllabus

Open thread for August 24 Homework

Share any questions you have about Wheelock pages 1-3 in the comments!

Highlights from Tues 8/23

Language History
Know the difference between cognate and derived languages, and how English relates to Latin as a cognate language and a derived language.

Literary History

There are four periods that are relevant for classical Latin: The archaic period, from about the 3^rd c BC to 80 BC, the late republican/Augustan period from 80 BC to 14 AD, and the post-Augustan from 14 AD to 138 AD. The most well-known authors, such as Vergil and Julius Caesar, wrote during the late republican/Augustan period.

Pronunciation

The Roman alphabet lacks j and w. They used i for both i sounds and j sounds, and they used the letter u for both u sounds and w sounds (When it is a w sound it is usually written as a v). If these letters are being used as consonants they usually occur at the beginning of the word. The J sound is more like Y – in Latin Julius Caesar would have been called Yoolius Kay-sar.

You can tell whether a vowel is long by whether it has a line over the top of it. All other vowels are short. Long vowels are held twice as long as short vowels.

Combinations of vowels are pronounced a certain way. Follow along at the bottom of page 37 (or xxxvii) of the introduction.

There are just a few important differences in the way consonants are pronounced. The letters C, G and T are always pronounced hard, as Kuh, Guh and Tuh. Th is pronounced basically the same as T. Double consonants are pronounced separately.