Veni, Vide, Vince!
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
VVVVVV Veni, Vide, Vince! A new Latin language course for the adult beginner Royal Holloway, University of London Latest revision 2016 All previous versions should be discarded This material is unpublished and the copyright belongs to the author, Professor J.G.F.Powell. Copies are distributed on the understanding that no reproduction or alteration will take place without the prior agreement of the author. 1 CCOONNTTEENNTTSS To the Teacher 3 To the Student 4 PART I Units 1-8 Unit 1 How to pronounce Latin. 7 Unit 2 Some examples of real Latin. Grammar of simple sentences: verbs, nouns, subjects and objects. Cases: nominative, genitive, dative. Classifying Latin nouns: the five declensions. 22 Unit 3 The verb ‘to be’ in Latin. Personal pronouns. The plural of nouns. Genitive and dative plural. ‘This’ and ‘that’; gender of nouns; neuter plural. 32 Unit 4 Commands: the Imperative. Objects of verbs: the Accusative case. Looking up nouns in the dictionary. Accusative plural. 41 Unit 5 How verbs work. Present tense. Looking up verbs in the dictionary. The four conjugations (‘colours’) of verbs. Stems and endings. Personal endings. Subject and verb; simple sentences; negatives; conjunctions. Questions. 49 Unit 6 Subject, verb, object: word order. Third-declension nouns. Apposition. 60 Unit 7 ‘Nuts and bolts’: pronouns; prepositions. The Ablative case. 68 Unit 8 Revision of noun endings. Solving ambiguities. First and second person of verbs. Declension of pronouns. Revision. Mock test on Units 1-8. 76 PART II Units 9-16 Unit 9 The Passive voice. Agents. Ablative of pronouns. Compound verbs. 88 Unit 10 Noun-phrases; agreement. Adjectives. Possessives. More about demonstratives: word order again. Topicalisation and contrast. Particles and conjunctions. 99 Unit 11 More about adjectives. Instrumental ablative. Adverbs. Word order with the verb ‘to be’. Expressions of place. Consolidation: pronouns and place/time words. 111 Unit 12 Personal endings of the passive. Deponent (‘cross-dressing’) verbs. Mock test on Units 1-12. Consolidation: a step-by-step guide to translating any simple Latin sentence. 127 Unit 13 Untranslatable Latin. More third-declension nouns. Third-declension adjectives. Present Participles. A glimpse of the Gerundive. 138 Unit 14 The Subjunctive (present tense). 149 Unit 15 Principal Parts of verbs; infinitives. use of the infinitive. Fio, eo, fero. 162 Unit 16 Possum, volo, nolo, malo. Use of the infinitive (continued). Accusative and infinitive construction. Revision: basic Latin verbs. Mock test on Units 1-16. 170 2 PART III Units 17-22 Unit 17 Word recognition exercise. Comparison of adjectives. ‘Than’, ‘as’, etc. More about adverbs. 177 Unit 18 The Perfect tense. Appendix: Reverse index of perfect tenses. 186 Unit 19 The Past Participle Passive. 205 Unit 20 The Perfect Passive. Perfect tense of deponents. Deponents with objects. Semi-deponents. Derivatives from the past participle. 214 Unit 21 Revision of first three declensions. Fourth and fifth declensions. Multipurpose words. Nouns and adjectives in -er. 220 Unit 22 Cases in context: the Ablative. Expressions of time and place. The Genitive: objective, partitive and descriptive genitive. The Dative: dative with verbs. Predicative dative. Mock test on Units 1-22. 231 PART IV Units 23-30 Unit 23 Verbs: revision of forms learned so far. Filling in the other tenses. Imperfect and Pluperfect. 241 Unit 24 Who, which, what. Relative pronouns. Correlation. Idem. Quid novi? Ambiguities involving forms of qui. 251 Unit 25 The Future Tense. 261 Unit 26 Clauses. Subjunctive in subordinate clauses. Ut clauses. The Imperfect Subjunctive. 271 Unit 27 The Subjunctive expressing possibility. Subjunctive of sum possum volo nolo malo. If-clauses. The Pluperfect Subjunctive. Dealing with continuous Latin prose. 279 Unit 28 Cum ‘when’. Dum and antequam. Perfect Subjunctive and Future Perfect Indicative. Indirect questions. More about the accusative and infinitive. Revision of tenses and their use. 290 Unit 29 Participles and gerundives. Ablative absolute. Gerunds; supines. 301 Unit 30 Revision exercises. Passages for translation. 307 Appendix A: Summary of Grammatical Terms 316 Appendix B: A Basic Latin Word List 320 3 TO THE TEACHER Previous versions of this material have been used with reasonable success for a number of years in the Beginners’ Latin courses at the University of Newcastle and at Royal Holloway, University of London. The course is principally intended to provide carefully ‘programmed’ explanations of the most important features of Latin accidence, syntax and sentence- construction, with examples from real Latin (based initially on simple inscriptions) and a selection of exercises. It assumes no previous knowledge of grammatical terminology: the most important grammatical terms are explained as they occur. Non-traditional terminology has been introduced only where no satisfactory traditional term exists, e.g. the term ‘topicalisation’ in the context of word order, a feature which has been largely neglected in traditional courses. It is strongly recommended that every member of the class should be given a complete copy of the course material, for backup and revision purposes. It should, of course, be explained that this is not a substitute for attending classes! It is essential that every member of the class must possess, and be constantly encouraged to use, a Latin-English dictionary. The course material is designed to be used in conjunction with a dictionary, and is meant to encourage a ‘research mentality’ more suitable for the learner at university, rather than rote learning of vocabulary lists. The use of a Latin dictionary is a trickier process than most people realise. Parsing the word in front of one so as to arrive at the dictionary form, and then selecting the right meaning from those given in what may be a long dictionary entry, is a complex linguistic skill, but it is surely the one that is most necessary of all for those who intend to use their Latin to read and analyse classical texts in the original. Those who have followed this course at Newcastle and at Royal Holloway are allowed to use dictionaries in the examination, and it is recommended that this should be done whenever an examination based on this course is set. Exercises are an important part of any language course. Some are included in this material, but it is recommended that the teacher should devise additional exercises of his/her own for illustration, practice and revision. In doing so, care should be taken not to introduce (or, at least, not to introduce without explanation) grammatical features that have not yet been explained at the relevant point in the course. In the later stages of the course it will be possible to use original Latin texts. No apology whatever is made for sometimes using made-up (often whimsical) examples, or for introducing the occasional post-classical feature. All forms and patterns not found in authentic Latin are, however, rigorously excluded. Finally, anyone using this course is earnestly exhorted to send me a note of any errors or misprints that may be detected in it, and to make suggestions for more general improvement. I am grateful to Dr. Jaap Wisse and Mrs. Teresa Saunders (Newcastle) and to Nick Lowe and Claudia Stephan (Royal Holloway) for sending me suggestions for corrections and additions. JGFP 4 TO THE STUDENT You may be embarking on a course in Latin for various reasons: • because you want to read Latin literature in the original, not just in translation; • because you are interested in ancient or medieval history and wish to use the original sources; • because you are interested in the language for its own sake, or in linguistics; • because you are required by the regulations for your degree to take a course in Latin. If you are doing it for one of the first three reasons, you will probably start with a certain amount of motivation and confidence which will stand you in good stead as you go along. You will probably still find some parts of the learning process difficult or tedious, but these problems can be overcome if you make good use of the course material and, above all, if you are not afraid to ask for help when you have difficulty. Remember that you will gain from the course in proportion to the amount of (properly directed) effort you put into it. The course itself will tell you how to direct your effort. If you are doing Latin because you have to, you may not feel very confident to begin with. You may never have tackled a foreign language before; or you may have had bad experience of trying to learn Latin or another language. You may not even feel very interested in Latin as a language, and you may be unsure why you are being made to do it. In such circumstances the only reasonable strategy is to give it a try, follow the course for a time and see how it goes. You may find that it comes more easily than you expect, and you may begin to see the point of it more clearly after you have been doing it for a while. One thing only is certain: if you put nothing in, you will get nothing out. The difficulties students have with Latin are more often problems of confidence and attitude than any other sort. Most English people seem to think they are bad at languages, when of course they are no worse than people of other nationalities. Most people are brought up to believe that Latin is very complicated and difficult, and works in unfathomable ways. Some people find the Roman mentality, as revealed in the language, difficult to come to terms with. It is best to try to face these problems now, at the beginning, and realise that nobody would try to teach you Latin if it were really impossible.