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?

Sentences for optional Wednesday class

I had a request to look at some English-to-Latin sentences during the optional class on Wednesday, so we will look at Exercitationes 12-15 tomorrow (among other things). If you plan to attend Wednesday's class, you do not need to prepare these in advance, but you may if you wish.

Open thread for first test

If you have comments or questions about the test on Chs. 1-5, share them in the comments.