learnING Latin

Crossword 1: https://wordwall.net/resource/27535791

Vocabulary and conjugations: https://wordwall.net/resource/27520262

Some first declension nouns: https://wordwall.net/resource/27543389

Some 3rd conjugation verbs: https://wordwall.net/resource/27847746

I have always found it hard to remember the right verb endings (conjugations). No matter how often I review, it just doesn’t sink in! (Same for declensions to be honest!).

So, let’s try to write out in an entry what the first conjugations are. Hopefully I have everything correct based on what I’ve learnt so far.

In the first conjugation, the principal parts are:

1. First principal part: am-ō. This is the first person singular for the word and it gives us its basic meaning (in this case the verb amō is I love)

2. Second principal part: amā-re. The present infinitive – to love. We use the second principal part to find the present stem and then conjugate the verb into its present, imperfect, or future tense (by adding the required verb ending)

3. Third principal part: amāv-ī. The first person singular of the perfect tense – I have loved. We use this to find the perfect stem and we can conjugate the verb into its future perfect tense.

4. Fourth principal part: amāt-um. The supine – in order to love, and used to find the supine stem to indicate the passive tenses of the verb (I’m not that far advanced yet)

So, let’s now add in the verb endings:

Present tense (add the below endings to the present stem):

· First person singular = -o (amo, I love), plural = -mus (amāmus, we love)

· Second person singular = -s (amās, you love), plural = -tis (amātis, you love)

· Third person singular = -t (amat, he, she it loves), plural = -nt (amant, they love)

Imperfect tense (add the below endings to the present stem):

· First person singular = -bam (amābam, I was loving, I used to love), plural = -bamus (amābāmus, we were loving. We used to love)

· Second person singular = -bās (amābās, you were loving, you used to love), plural = -bātis (amābātis, you were loving, you used to love)

· Third person singular = -bat (amābat, he, she it was loving/used to love), plural = -bant (amābant, they were loving, used to love)

Future tense (add the below endings to the present stem):

· First person singular = -bō (amābō, I shall/will love – remember the jussive subjunctive!), plural = -bīmus (amābīmus, we shall/will love)

· Second person singular = -bis (amābis, you will love), plural = -bitis (amābitis, you will love)

· Third person singular = -bit (amābit, he, she it will love), plural = -bunt (amābunt, they will love)

Perfect tense (add the below endings to the perfect stem):

· First person singular = -ī (amāvī, I have loved), plural = -imus (amāvimus, we have loved)

· Second person singular = -istī (amāvistī, you have loved), plural = -istis (amāvistis, you have loved)

· Third person singular = -it (amāvit, he, she it has loved), plural = -ērunt (amāvērunt, they have loved)

I just need now a better memory!

I read somewhere that learning Latin also makes you learn English grammar. This is good because I don’t think I learnt much about English grammar at school. I’ve started to work through a Latin learning book by N. R. R. Oulton titled “So you really want to learn Latin: Book 1”. It’s great as it introduces grammar as well as Latin itself.

I was recently excited to discover that Nicholas Oulton has also been producing Youtube clips covering his books (there are 3 in the series). Here is his channel:

I just watched his clip on the difference between “will” and “shall” (see the end for the link) here) so I will summarize to reinforce my learning.

In the future simple tense “shall” is used in the first person while “will” in the second and third. For example:

a. I shall eat lunch at noon.

b. You will eat lunch at noon.

c. She will eat lunch at noon.

Pretty simple, but when we flip them around and use “will” in the first person, and “shall” in the second and third, it becomes a command of sorts. When we do this, we are creating a jussive subjunctive which, after some googling, is “The Jussive subjunctive expresses what the speaker or writer believes should be done; in the second and third person this amounts to a command or (with the negative) a prohibition. In the first person (where it is a matter of self-exhortation), this use is usually called the Hortatory subjunctive.

So:

a. I will eat lunch at noon.

b. You shall eat lunch at noon.

c. She shall eat lunch at noon.

So “I willeat” amounts ot a command whereas “I shall eat” is indicating a desire or intent.

Links and stuff:

Nicholas Oulton’s Youtube channel: https://youtube.com/c/SoYouReallyWantToLearnLatin

Nicholas Oulton’s clip on “shall” and “will”: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nNhn9pmb0-I&list=PLAYPhdBQ5G1pF5sLq_1kMc6VBXtoC7C1G&index=4

Jussive subjunctive definition: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~christed/latin112/subjunctiveII.pdf

Bloody education has let me down.

I'll add when I find them...