A297_1

Getting started on Classical Latin

About this free course

This free course provides a sample of Level 2 study in Arts and Humanities: http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/find/arts-and-humanities.

This version of the content may include video, images and interactive content that may not be optimised for your device.

You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University - www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/classical-studies/getting-started-on-classical-latin/content-section-0

There you’ll also be able to track your progress via your activity record, which you can use to demonstrate your learning.

Copyright © 2016 The Open University

Intellectual property

Unless otherwise stated, this resource is released under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence v4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en_GB. Within that The Open University interprets this licence in the following way: www.open.edu/openlearn/about-openlearn/frequently-asked-questions-on-openlearn. Copyright and rights falling outside the terms of the Creative Commons Licence are retained or controlled by The Open University. Please read the full text before using any of the content.

We believe the primary barrier to accessing high-quality educational experiences is cost, which is why we aim to publish as much free content as possible under an open licence. If it proves difficult to release content under our preferred Creative Commons licence (e.g. because we can’t afford or gain the clearances or find suitable alternatives), we will still release the materials for free under a personal end-user licence.

This is because the learning experience will always be the same high quality offering and that should always be seen as positive – even if at times the licensing is different to Creative Commons.

When using the content you must attribute us (The Open University) (the OU) and any identified author in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Licence.

The Acknowledgements section is used to list, amongst other things, third party (Proprietary), licensed content which is not subject to Creative Commons licensing. Proprietary content must be used (retained) intact and in context to the content at all times.

The Acknowledgements section is also used to bring to your attention any other Special Restrictions which may apply to the content. For example there may be times when the Creative Commons Non-Commercial Sharealike licence does not apply to any of the content even if owned by us (The Open University). In these instances, unless stated otherwise, the content may be used for personal and non-commercial use.

We have also identified as Proprietary other material included in the content which is not subject to Creative Commons Licence. These are OU logos, trading names and may extend to certain photographic and video images and sound recordings and any other material as may be brought to your attention.

Unauthorised use of any of the content may constitute a breach of the terms and conditions and/or intellectual property laws.

We reserve the right to alter, amend or bring to an end any terms and conditions provided here without notice.

All rights falling outside the terms of the Creative Commons licence are retained or controlled by The Open University.

Head of Intellectual Property, The Open University

978 1 47300 108 4 (.epub)
978 1 47300 013 1 (.kdl)

1.0

Contents

- Introduction

- Learning outcomes

- 1 Learning Latin

- 2 Links between English and Latin

- 3 The pronunciation of Latin

- 4 Introducing grammar

- 4.1 Inflexion

- 4.2 Parts of speech

- 4.3 Sentences: subject and object

- 4.4 Unravelling sentences

- 4.5 The cases in Latin

- Conclusion

- Keep on learning

- References

- Acknowledgements

Introduction

The aim of this course is to enable you to get started in Latin. It has been developed in response to requests from students who had had no contact with Latin before and who felt they would like to spend a little time preparing for the kind of learning that takes place on a classical language course. The course will give you a taster of what is involved in the very early stages of learning Latin and will offer you the opportunity to put in some early practice.

This OpenLearn course provides a sample of Level 2 study in Arts and Humanities.

Please note that this course is due to be replaced shortly. After this time, the link to the new course will be: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/getting-started-on-classical-latin/content-section-0.

Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

- demonstrate awareness of the links between English and Latin

- understand basic English grammar in order to recognise and describe the way languages work

- demonstrate awareness of the fundamentals of pronunciation in Latin.

1 Learning Latin

The aim of this course is to enable you to get started in Latin in a fairly leisurely but well-focused way. The material has been developed in response to requests from students who had had no contact with Latin before and who felt they would like to spend a little time preparing for the kind of learning which takes place on a language course – and, in particular, on a classical language course.

If you have taken Classical Studies courses in the Open University or elsewhere, you will be used to the demands of extensive reading of set books, note-taking and preparing essays. However, the ‘tools of the trade’ for classical language learning are somewhat different, and you will need to develop new skills, of which the most basic are actually the most important, since they underpin everything else that you do as you progress your studies in the area.

This course will give you a taster of what is involved in the very early stages of learning Latin and will offer you the opportunity to put in some early practice. It is self-contained and is designed to be used on its own before you embark on further studies in the area. It may be a help to have your English dictionary to hand, particularly if it lists etymologies (source words) and derivations.

Your learning priorities at the very beginning of your studies are to learn or revise some basic English grammar in order to recognise and describe the way languages work; and to establish a way of learning Latin vocabulary thoroughly. These topics are addressed in the main sections of this course.

You also need to establish a study pattern suited to your lifestyle and to the demands of this type of language learning. ‘Little and often’ is best; however, you may not be able to set aside an hour or so each day. This course will give the opportunity to try out various study patterns and find out what suits you best. You will also be able to find out which aspects of language learning come easily to you, and which seem more difficult or more time-consuming. For example, some people find dealing with grammar difficult. Others may worry about memorising words, although with practice many people find that they can develop techniques to help with this. As you work through this preparatory material, you might like to experiment with different ways of learning vocabulary – for example, writing out the Latin words, saying them aloud, thinking of English words derived from, and therefore similar to, the Latin words, using flash cards, getting a friend to test you, putting vocabulary items on tape and listening to them, or a combination of these strategies. If you can set up the habit of learning just a few words each day, you will benefit enormously.

The material which follows is designed to be studied in small sections. In all, it will probably take about 10 hours to work through it. Of course, you could easily spend longer if you wish, especially if you begin to make your own lists of English words derived from Latin. However, if you have only a small amount of time available, you will find it useful to familiarise yourself with some grammatical terms and concepts.

2 Links between English and Latin

Although Latin is not the direct ancestor of English, as it is of Italian, French and Spanish (the so-called ‘Romance’ languages), it has nevertheless given us an enormous number of words. According to some estimates, nearly half of all English words come from Latin. You may be familiar with the idea that words such as science, transport and solution are derived from Latin, but did you know that street and kipper come from Latin words which entered ordinary speech during the period from the first to the early fifth centuries AD, when Celtic Britain was part of the Roman Empire?

Activity 1

There are other homely words in this category. Try matching the English words on the left with their Latin origins on the right.

English word

Latin origin

beer

libra

box

saccus

candle

caseus

wine

mille passus

cheese

uallum

lb (an imperial pound in weight)

bibere

mile

pisum

peas

uinum

pound

buxus

sack

salarium

salary

castra

sock

pondo

street

strata (uia)

wall

candela

caster/cester/chester (as in Lancaster, Gloucester, Chester)

soccus

View answer - Activity 1

In the sixth century, the Latin of the Christian church added such words as monastery and minster, pope and noon (from nona hora = ninth hour = 3pm) to the language, which was then essentially Anglo-Saxon. When William the Conqueror and his Normans came to Britain in the eleventh century, a vast number of words, derived both from Norman French and from written Latin, entered English. Among these are duke, general, soldier, army, palace, law, chivalry, merchant, mutton, beef and pork. In some instances, English was further enriched by having two versions of what was originally a single Latin word.

Words from Latin through French

Words from Latin

treason

tradition

rage

rabies

ray

radius

poor

pauper

reason

ration, ratio

firm

secure

abridge

abbreviate

The Renaissance in Europe, the Enlightenment in Britain, and the nineteenth- and twentieth-century growth of science and technology produced thousands more words derived from Latin, such as administration, computer, decimal, horticulture, interface, molecule, missile, satellite and superhuman.

This is a huge and fascinating topic. If you would like to think about it in greater depth, you could read Latin in our Language by Peter Barker (1993). This book contains many vocabulary exercises.

Activity 2

In addition to the words which have been derived from Latin or from Latin through French, English also uses a number of words taken straight from Latin without any change. See if you can match each of the Latin/English words on the left with the appropriate word from the list on the right, which gives the meanings of the original Latin words.

Latin/English word

Meaning of original Latin word

agenda

teacher

album

lentil

arena

more

camera

thing to be referred

curriculum

rule/method

data

things to be discussed

doctor

sand

exit

empty thing

formula

spoke

fungus

less

index

take!

innuendo

arched roof

lens

he/she goes out

media

things given

minus

mushroom

plus

sign/title

rabies

things in the middle

radius

race course

recipe

by hinting

referendum

fury

vacuum

blank white stone tablet

(on which notices

could be written)

View answer - Activity 2

In English there are often two words expressing the same idea, one of Anglo-Saxon origin, the other of Latin origin. Anglo-Saxon words are used in a simple, straightforward style, while Latinate words are the language of elevated discourse and scientific and academic writing. So simple words such as go down, high, sad, speed up, watch, hate, do well and hide, for example, might in some situations become descend, elevated, miserable, accelerate, observe, detest, succeed and conceal.

Activity 3

Use your English dictionary to identify the words of Latin (and French) origin in the following passage from The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The words already in bold come from Greek.

Peter got down very quietly off the wheelbarrow, and started running as fast as he could go, along a straight walk behind some black-currant bushes.

Mr. McGregor caught sight of him at the corner, but Peter did not care. He slipped underneath the gate, and was safe at last in the wood outside the garden.

(Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, p. 59)

Now, in order to see the contrast, see how many of the words in the following excerpts from an educational book are derived from Latin. Words derived from Greek are in bold; the name Chomsky is Slavonic.

Chomsky's ideas were enormously influential and have stimulated a fresh interest in the biological basis of language. But the search for truly universal similarities in all languages has revealed very few, and rather unimpressive ones at that (all languages have nouns and use vowels). There do seem to be many common grammatical rules, but they are not absolutely universal and the exceptions raise doubts about just how much of the essence of language is specified in the genes. […]

In 1981 … [they] began a large comparative study of the four types of treatments: interpersonal therapy, which focuses on personal relationships; cognitive therapy, which teaches people how to interpret their experiences more positively; imipramine, an antidepressant drug; and a placebo tablet, without any active ingredient.

(Colin Blakemore, The Mind Machine, pp. 179, 206)

View answer - Activity 3

Activity 4

To conclude this section on links between Latin and English, below is a list of some basic Latin words. Give as many English derivations from them as you can.

Latin word

English derivations

Familia

_______________________________________________

Filia

_______________________________________________

Habito

_______________________________________________

Seruus

_______________________________________________

Celo

_______________________________________________

Clamo

_______________________________________________

Intro

_______________________________________________

Porto

_______________________________________________

Timeo

_______________________________________________

Uoco

_______________________________________________

Amo

_______________________________________________

Curo

_______________________________________________

Ingenium

_______________________________________________

Multus

_______________________________________________

Senex

_______________________________________________

View answer - Activity 4

3 The pronunciation of Latin

Contrary to what many people think, we do know how classical Latin (the Latin spoken in the first century BC and the first century AD) was pronounced. One of the main clues is provided by the spelling of Latin names in Greek: thus, since Latin Valeria, for instance, was spelled in Greek, we can tell that Latin V (capital u) was pronounced as a w. Alternative spellings and misspellings on inscriptions also help to show common pronunciations, as do the regular metres of Latin verse, the remarks of ancient grammarians and other writers, and comparison of Latin with other languages.

The Roman alphabet is still very much in use today: it is the alphabet used for English and many other languages throughout the world, and it owed its original spread to the use of Latin in the western Roman Empire. In classical times, the alphabet consisted of 23 letters, not our 26, as it lacked j, v and w.

Below is a letter-by-letter guide to Latin pronunciation.

Letter

Pronunciation

a (short)

as in a man (i.e. nearer cut than cat)

ā (long)

as in father

ae (diphthong)

as in aisle

au (diphthong)

as in cow

b

as in English

c

always hard, like k

ch

rougher than in Scots loch

d

as in English

e (short)

as in get

ē (long)

as in grey

eu (diphthong)

pronounced as e+u (eh-oo elided, not as in you)

f

as in English

g

always hard, as in get

gn

in practice, as in ignorant (should really be ng+n as in hangnail)

h

as in have

i vowel (short)

as in miss

ī vowel (long)

as in meet

i consonant

as in yellow (becomes j in English derivatives)

k

as in English

1

as in English

m

as in English

n

as in English

o (short)

as in not

ō (long)

as in note

oe (diphthong)

as in toil

p

as in English

ph

in practice, as in foot (should really be an aspirated p, i.e. p with an exhaled breath)

q

only in the combination qu, as in queen

r

strongly pronounced, as in Scots and Italian

s

unvoiced, as in hiss, i.e. not as in his

t

as in English

th

in practice, unvoiced, as in thin, i.e. not as in then (should really be an aspirated t)

u vowel (short)

As in put (written as V as a capital letter)

ū vowel (long)

As in school

u consonant

as in wet

x

unvoiced, as in exercise

y

Always a vowel, short or long, like French u, German ü, or Scots guid

z

as in English

In many older Latin texts, and even in current schoolbooks, the consonant u is sometimes written as v. Many people pronounce it, incorrectly, as v, but in fact this pronunciation did not develop in Latin until after the classical period.

In RLT and GVE, long vowels are helpfully marked with a macron (a line over the vowel, for example amīca), to indicate the pronunciation, but the macrons are not part of the spelling, so you need not write them in yourself.

As for the stress accent in Latin, it falls on the first syllable of a word of two syllables, for example séruus, ámo. In a longer word it falls on the penultimate (second to last) syllable, if that syllable is long, for example amícus, honóres, and on the antepenultimate (third to last) syllable, if the penultimate syllable is short, for example família, ígitur.

If you would like to know more about the pronunciation of Latin, you could consult W. Sidney Allen's book Vox Latina (1965).

4 Introducing grammar

4.1 Inflexion

The underlying grammatical rules of Indo-European languages (for example, English, Gaelic, French, German, Russian, Latin, Greek, Punjabi) are similar, but it is not always easy to appreciate this when you are beginning to learn a new language. A common feature of all these languages is the inflexion of nouns, adjectives and verbs, whereby the end of the word is changed according to its function in the sentence. For example, woman, woman's, women and women's are all inflexions of a noun. This and these are inflexions of an adjective, and teach, teaches, teaching and taught are inflexions of a verb.

In English, many of these inflected forms have ceased to be used in the last few centuries, but many languages use them much more than English does. Latin is one of the languages which is heavily inflected. In English, we have exchanged the inflexions on the whole for a very strict system of word order. For example, ‘Those girls are feeding the horses’ means one thing, and ‘The horses are feeding those girls’ something rather different. Similarly, ‘You are going to Spain tomorrow’ is different from ‘Are you going to Spain tomorrow?’ We can tell who is doing what to whom, in the first example, and whether something is a statement or a question, in the second example, from the order of the words.

This is much less true of Latin. The endings of words (the inflexions) are vital in understanding how words relate to each other and enable us to work out the meaning of a sentence. When learning Latin (or Greek, German or Russian), we have to change our reading habits. We need to look even more carefully at the ends of words than at the beginnings, and only if we do this will the meaning of a sentence become clear and unambiguous. In learning Latin, vocabulary is important, but just as important is the system of word endings.

4.2 Parts of speech

In describing the grammar of written Latin, the best method is to use the traditional classical grammar, as worked out by the Greeks and Romans themselves. As a preliminary, it may be useful to learn the ‘parts of speech’ in English. A very brief explanation follows, and then a much fuller discussion.

Part of speech

Explanation

Latin derivation of the term

noun

a naming word

nomen, a name

pronoun

a word used instead of a noun

pro, instead of; nomen, a name

adjective

a word added to a noun

adicere, adiectum, to throw at, add

verb

a ‘doing’ or ‘being’ word

uerbum, a word

adverb

a word added to a verb, adjective or another adverb

ad, to; uerbum, a word

preposition

a word placed before a noun or pronoun

prae, in front of; ponere, positum, to place

conjunction

a joining word

Coniungo, coniunctum, to join

4.2.1 Nouns

Nouns are used to name people, places, things or concepts, for example Cicero, Italy, tree, happiness. Most nouns can be singular or plural, for example tree, trees. They each belong to a certain gender, masculine, feminine or neuter (from Latin neuter, neither). In English, nouns have natural gender; for example, boatsman is masculine, woman is feminine, student is of common gender (either masculine or feminine), and university and building are neuter. Latin, like English, Greek and German, also has three genders, but while nouns denoting people have natural gender, most nouns are of grammatical gender, as is the case in other European languages (for example ignis, fire, is masculine and corona, a garland, is feminine, while periculum, danger, is neuter). However, neuter nouns in Latin are almost always naturally neuter.

In Latin, nouns are usually subject to inflexions: their endings change. This is sometimes so in English too, as we saw above with woman, women, woman's, and women's.

Activity 5

Identify the nouns in this passage from The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were – Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter. They lived with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big fir-tree.

‘Now, my dears,’ said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, ‘you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor.’

(Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, pp. 7–11)

View answer - Activity 5

4.2.2 Pronouns

Pronouns are used to avoid repeating nouns and to supply the subjects for verbs. I, me, we and us are known as the first person pronouns, you is the second person pronoun, and he, him, she, her, it, they and them are third person pronouns in English. In Latin, pronouns are used only when really necessary for the sense of a sentence, or sometimes for emphasis. Often, a pronoun subject, such as I, you or she, can be understood from the ending of the verb. This and that can also be used as pronouns, both in English and Latin.

4.2.3 Adjectives

Adjectives are words which describe nouns, for example blackhorse, thesechairs, somepeople, my chocolate or twelve swans. In Latin they ‘agree’ with the noun they describe: they match with regard to gender and number (and also case – but we will discuss that later). This is occasionally so in English, too. For example, we say that house but thosehouses.

4.2.4 Verbs

Verbs are the most important words of all, as is suggested by the fact that the verb in both English and Latin is named after the Latin word uerbum, word! Without a verb, a sentence cannot be a proper sentence, or a clause a proper clause. A one-word sentence consists of a verb only, for example, Run!

The ending of a Latin verb shows who the doer of the action of the verb is (which is why there is usually no need of a pronoun to show this). Below are the present tense person endings of almost every Latin verb:

Person

Singular

Plural

1st

-o (= I)

-mus (= we)

2nd

-s (= you)

-tis (= you)

3rd

-t (= he/she/it)

-nt (= they)

The part of the verb to which the person ending is added is called the stem. Thus, the stem ama- plus -nt produces amant, meaning they love.

As well as indicating an action and the doer of the action, a verb usually tells us when the action happens: I'm eating, for example, tells us of something happening at the present moment, whereas I ate indicates something that happened in the past. This kind of difference is known as the ‘tense’ of the verb. In English, this is often indicated by using another verb to help out the meaning, for example I will eat. This extra verb is sometimes referred to as an auxiliary verb, from Latin auxilium, meaning help. In Latin, on the other hand, a change of person ending, and sometimes a change of stem, indicates a change in the tense.

The main tenses are given below.

Tense

Example

Present

I eat (simple present)

I am eating (present continuous)

I do eat (emphatic)

Future

I shall/will eat

I am going to eat, I am eating [my birthday cake tomorrow]

Imperfect

I was eating (description in the past)

I used to eat (repeated action)

I kept on eating

I began to eat

I ate (over a long period of time)

As well as implying that an action was going on for some time, the imperfect (from Latin imperfectum, incomplete) has a sense of incompleteness about it: the action has not been definitely finished.

Tense

Example

Perfect

I have eaten (present perfect)

I ate (past simple, as a completed action)

Pluperfect

I had eaten (further back in the past than the perfect)

Future perfect

I will/shall have eaten

Latin has only the above five (or six) tenses. As you can see, there is by no means the variety of ways of describing actions in Latin that there is in English!

Activity 6

Identify the person and tense of following verbs.

Example

Person and tense

We went

__________________

You are going to speak

__________________

They have arrived

__________________

We used to know

__________________

You are flying

__________________

I was trying

__________________

He will jump

__________________

She fell

__________________

View answer - Activity 6

Activity 7

The following extract from the parable of the Prodigal Son in the New Testament contains several verbs. Identify them and say which tense each is in.

And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country [...] no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you…’

(Luke 15: 14–18)

View answer - Activity 7

4.2.5 Adverbs

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs, for example runningquickly, veryclever, quitewell.

Adverbs of manner describe how the action of the verb is being done, for example boldly, graciously, well.

Adverbs of time show when the action of the verb is taking place, for example today, then.

Adverbs of place show where the action of the verb is taking place, for example here.

Adverbs of degree show the extent to which an adjective or adverb is true, for example ratherslowly, tooquickly, veryhigh.

4.2.6 Prepositions

Prepositions are always used with a noun or pronoun in a prepositional phrase, for example in the sea, tothe cinema, behind the clouds, after breakfast, withher.

Notice how in English, we say: This isforhim (not he); He went with William andme’ and Give the sweetstoHelen and me (not I). These examples show how in English, prepositions (italicised here) really ‘take’ (are followed by) the objective, or accusative, case. The accusative case is something we'll come back to later.

In Latin, too, some prepositions govern the objective/accusative case; others govern another case (the ablative). This is something we have to learn, along with the preposition itself, as a vocabulary item.

4.2.7 Conjunctions

Conjunctions join together individual words, phrases and clauses (the components of sentences which are longer than a simple sentence of the type: ‘Everyone can enjoy learning Latin’). So-called co-ordinating conjunctions are such words as and and but, as in the following examples:

- fish and chips

- Last summer they went to the Baltic and visited the city of Riga.

- They went to the Baltic but did not manage to visit Riga.

Subordinating conjunctions begin subordinate clauses within sentences, for example when, although, as, since, if. The following examples should make this clearer:

- When they went to the Baltic, they visited the city of Riga.

- Although they went to the Baltic, they did not see any storks.

- As they were going to the Baltic, they took a guidebook with them.

- Since they did not know the language, they took a phrasebook.

- If we go to the Baltic, we'll have a great time because it's very cheap there.

Conjunctions are extremely important in Latin, as you can tell from the fact that in this course alone you will learn four words for and (et, from which the ampersand, &, comes, ac, atque and -que added to the end of the second word), three words for but (sed, tamen and autem) and two words for because (quod and quia). Nouns, verbs and adjectives are the glamorous kinds of words, but prepositions and conjunctions are the nuts and bolts of language.

4.3 Sentences: subject and object

A sentence consists of a number of words which, to make sense, must include a verb. Unless this is the only word in the sentence (as in ‘Run!’), there will normally be a word telling us who or what is doing the action. This doer, whether noun or pronoun, is called the subject of the verb.

Consider these sentences:

The players ran onto the pitch. The referee blew his whistle, and the centre-forward kicked off.

This short passage has three separate statements (in the two sentences), each determined by a different action expressed by a verb – ran, blew and kicked. There are also three separate doers or subjects of the actions: the players, the referee and the centre-forward.

Activity 8

Identify the subjects and verbs in the following sentences.

- I like chocolate.

- The boys ran as fast as they could.

- Tomorrow Jane and I are going to Paris.

- She was sitting beside her friend on the bus and they were talking loudly.

- Chris and Robbie climbed the largest tree.

View answer - Activity 8

Sometimes a sentence also contains a noun (or pronoun), indicating to whom or what the action is being done. In the sentence The referee blew his whistle, the subject is the referee, the verb is blew, and his whistle is the thing to which the action is done. This ‘receiver’ of the action is called the ‘object’ of the verb. Another way to think of this is to ask a question of the subject and verb; for example, ‘The referee blew – what?’ The answer to the question, ‘his whistle’, is the object. Two of the sentences in Activity 8 have objects. Which ones are they?

Activity 9

Identify the subject, verb and object in the following sentences.

- The dog fetched the ball.

- The girls were quietly reading their books.

- We don't like hard work.

- In AD 60 Boudicca destroyed Colchester, London and St Albans.

- The Romans could not forgive her.

- People will be watching you.

View answer - Activity 9

As you can see from the examples in Activity 9, in English the subject usually comes before the verb and the object after it, so the order of components is s-v-o. This is not always so, however: the object may come first in English, perhaps for the sake of emphasis; and it is possible to say:

- Hard work we don't like,

or

- ‘Get lost!’ shouted the man angrily.

As the subject–verb–object order is normal in English, the difference between a word as subject and the same word as object is not shown by inflexion; this is unnecessary. Some of our pronouns form an exception, nevertheless:

Subject (in the subjective case)

Object (in the objective case)

I

me

he

him

she

her

we

us

they

them

This change of form is a vital point to bear in mind when learning Latin, because Latin nouns and pronouns (and adjectives) change their form according to whether they are the subject or object in their sentence: it is the form of the word, or ‘case’ as it is usually known, that determines whether it is the subject or the object.

This is a particularly important point, as English usually relies on word order to distinguish between subject and object, as we have already noted: ‘All nice girls love sailors’ is in the conventional order of subject–verb–object, but changing the order of words to ‘Sailors love all nice girls’ substantially alters the meaning of the sentence.

This would not be so in Latin, because the different case-endings on the nouns (etc.) indicate which is the subject and which the object, even if the order of the words is unexpected: object–subject–verb, for example. All the same, there is a word order in Latin which is more usual than others, and this is subject-object-verb. Because of this, the Latin reader has to wait until the end of the sentence with great anticipation to find out what the action (the verb) is!

4.4 Unravelling sentences

Activity 10

In the following passage, mark as many subjects, verbs and objects as you can.

James was to drive them. The first day we travelled thirty-two miles; there were some long heavy hills, but James drove so carefully and thoughtfully that we were not at all harrassed. He never forgot to put on the drag as we went downhill, nor to take it off at the right place. He kept our feet on the smoothest part of the road, and if the uphill was very long, he set the carriage wheels a little across the road, so as not to run back, and gave us a breathing. All these little things help a horse very much, particularly if he gets kind words into the bargain.

(Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, Chapter 15)

View answer - Activity 10

Latin, like English, is not always straightforward:

The dark and vicious place where thee he got

Cost him his eyes.

(Shakespeare, King Lear, 5.3.171–2)

In the words in heavy lettering above, Shakespeare varies the word order from a standard English word order. Thee is the old English objective form of thou, and the normal order would be ‘he got [= begot] thee’. Poets, for special effect or to improve the metrical rhythm, often do vary the order. Consider this example from Shakespeare's Sonnet no. 133:

Me from myself thy cruel eye hath taken

(Shakespeare, Sonnet no. 133, 5)

Here we must resort to analysis to determine the structure:

1. Which is the verb? – ‘hath taken’

2. Who/what has done the action? – ‘thy cruel eye’ (subject)

3. What has been taken? – ‘me’ (object)

Similarly:

To me fair friend, you never can be old;

For as you were when first your eye I eyed,

Such seems your beauty still.

(Shakespeare, Sonnet no.104, 1–3)

What is the grammatical structure in ‘when first your eye I eyed'?

1. What is the verb? – ‘eyed’

2. Who/what is doing the action? – 'I' (subject)

3. What is being eyed? – ‘your eye’ (object)

This sort of analysis will be important in your study of Latin. But, as it is the case-ending on the noun which indicates whether it is subject or object, it will be easier to sort out which is which than it is in some English.

Activity 11

To make sure you have understood the principles established so far, see if you can pick out the subject, verb and object in the following examples.

Our hearts you see not;

(Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 3.1, 170)

For that security craves great Lucifer

(Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, 2.1.36)

This casket India's glowing gems unlocks

(Pope, The Rape of the Lock, 1.133)

Wit, brav'ry, worth, his lavish tongue bestows

(Johnson, London, 126)

Much he the place admired, the person more.

(Milton, Paradise Lost, 9.444)

Two massy [massive] keys he bore, of metals twain

(Milton, Lycidas, 110)

In Peace the thoughts of War he could remove

(Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, 25)

View answer - Activity 11

4.5 The cases in Latin

‘Cases’ indicate the various functions that nouns, pronouns and adjectives can have in a sentence. The case is shown by the word-ending in Latin.

Although learning about cases is not within the scope of this introductory course, it may help to have a short checklist of the cases and how they may be translated into English from Latin.

Case

Use

Example in English (‘man’)

Nominative (the naming or subjective case)

used for the subject of a sentence or clause

a man, the man

used for the complement of the verb ‘to be’ (i.e. after the verb ‘to be’)

Vocative (calling case)

used when addressing someone

Man,…O man, …(normally with a comma before or after, or both)

Accusative (objective case)

used for the object of a verb

a man, the man

used after some prepositions

Genitive (possessive case)

of, ’s, s’

of a man, of the man, a man's, the man's

Dative (giving case, or the indirect object)

to, for

to a man, to the man, for a man, for the man

Ablative (‘everything else’ case)

used after some prepositions

For a person: (meaning of preposition) + a man, (meaning of preposition) + the man

used by itself: by, with, from, in, on

For a thing: by, with, from, in, on (whichever seems to fit) + the thing

As you can see from the above table, Latin does not normally distinguish between a and the: so when you translate you should choose whichever seems to make better sense.

When you begin studying Latin, you may find it helpful to make your own grammar notebook. You could add the English meanings to the Latin forms. If you make everything as clear and simple as possible, it will be easier to learn – and you will have to learn them!

Conclusion

This free course provided an introduction to studying the arts and humanities. It took you through a series of exercises designed to develop your approach to study and learning at a distance and helped to improve your confidence as an independent learner.

Keep on learning

Study another free course

There are more than 800 courses on OpenLearn for you to choose from on a range of subjects.

Find out more about all our free courses.

Take your studies further

Find out more about studying with The Open University by visiting our online prospectus.

If you are new to university study, you may be interested in our Access Courses or Certificates.

What’s new from OpenLearn?

Sign up to our newsletter or view a sample.

For reference, full URLs to pages listed above:

OpenLearn – www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses

Visiting our online prospectus – www.open.ac.uk/courses

Access Courses – www.open.ac.uk/courses/do-it/access

Certificates – www.open.ac.uk/courses/certificates-he

Newsletter – www.open.edu/openlearn/about-openlearn/subscribe-the-openlearn-newsletter

References

Barker, P. (1993) Latin in our Language, Bristol, Bristol Classical Press. Blakemore, C. (1988) The Mind Machine, London, BBC Books.

Dryden, J. (1970 edn) ‘Absalom and Achitophel’ in The Poems and Fables of John Dryden, ed. by J. Kinsley, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

The Holy Bible (1952 edn) Revised Standard Version, New York, Glasgow and Toronto, William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd for SPCK.

Johnson, S. (1981 edn) Johnson's London, and The Vanity of Human Wishes, ed. by N. Rudd, Bristol, Bristol Classical Press.

Marlowe, C. (1995 edn) Doctor Faustus, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Milton, J. (1969 edn) Lycidas and Paradise Lost in Milton: Poetical Works, ed. by D. Bush, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Pope, A. (1998 edn) The Rape of the Lock, Basingstoke, Macmillan. Potter, B. (1902) The Tale of Peter Rabbit, London, Frederick Warne.

Sewell, A. ([1877] 1986 edn) Black Beauty, London, Cathay Books Ltd/Octopus Books Ltd.

Shakespeare, W. (1997 edn) The Norton Shakespeare, ed. by S. Greenblatt et al., London, W.W. Norton & Company.

Sidney Allen, W. (1965) VoxLatina, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Acknowledgements

This free course was written by Dr Inga Mantle

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.

The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this course:

Course image Francisco Gonzalez in Flickr made available under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

Don't miss out

If reading this text has inspired you to learn more, you may be interested in joining the millions of people who discover our free learning resources and qualifications by visiting The Open University – www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses.

Activity 1

Answer

English word

Latin origin

beer

bibere (= to drink)

box

buxus (= boxwood)

candle

candela

cheese

caseus

lb (an imperial pound in weight)

libra

mile

mille passus (= 1,000 paces)

peas

pisum

pound

pondo (= by weight)

sack

saccus (= large bag)

salary

salarium (= salt ration)

sock

soccus (= slipper)

street

strata (uia) (= paved way)

wall

uallum (= palisaded earthwork)

wine

uinum

caster/cester/chester (as in Lancaster, Gloucester, Chester)

castra (= camp, fort)

Back

Activity 2

Answer

Latin/English word

Meaning of original Latin word

agenda

things to be discussed

album

blank white stone tablet (on which notices could be written)

arena

sand

camera

arched roof

curriculum

race course

data

things given

doctor

teacher

exit

he/she goes out

formula

rule/method

fungus

mushroom

index

sign/title

innuendo

by hinting

lens

lentil

media

things in the middle

minus

less

plus

more

rabies

fury

radius

spoke

recipe

take!

referendum

thing to be referred

vacuum

empty thing

Back

Activity 3

Answer

Beatrix Potter passage:

quietly, Mr., caught, corner, safe

Colin Blakemore passages:

ideas (from Greek through Latin), enormously, influential, stimulated, interest, basis (from Greek through Latin), language, search, universal, similarities, languages, revealed, unimpressive, languages, nouns, use, vowels, common, rules, absolutely, universal, exceptions, doubts, just, essence, language, specified, large, comparative, study, treatments, interpersonal, focuses, personal, relationships, cognitive, people, interpret, experiences, positively, imi (= ammonia) + amine (= ammonium), -depressant, placebo, tablet, active, ingredient

Did you manage the derivations of imipramine? You may have found it difficult because it is a compression of several words.

Back

Activity 4

Answer

Below are some suggestions of words you might have come up with.

Latin word

English derivations

familia, household

family

filia, daughter

filial

habito, I live, dwell

habitat

seruus, slave

servant

celo, I hide

conceal

clamo, I shout

exclaim

intro, I enter

enter

porto, I carry

porter

timeo, I fear

timid

uoco, I call

vocation

amo, I love

amiable

curo, I look after

curator

ingenium, talent

ingenious

multus, much, many

multi-storey

senex, old man

senile

Back

Activity 5

Answer

Nouns:

time, Rabbits, names, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, Peter, Mother, sand-bank, root, fir-tree, dears, Rabbit, morning, fields, lane, McGregor's, garden, Father, accident, pie, McGregor.

Back

Activity 6

Answer

Example

Person and tense

We went

1st person plural, Latin perfect tense

You are going to speak

2nd person, future tense

They have arrived

3rd person plural, perfect tense

We used to know

1st person plural, imperfect tense

You are flying

2nd person, present tense

I was trying

1st person singular, imperfect tense

He will jump

3rd person singular, future tense

She fell

3rd person singular, Latin perfect tense

Back

Activity 7

Answer

Verbs

Tense

had spent

pluperfect tense

arose

Latin perfect tense

began

Latin perfect tense

[to be

infinitive in present tense]

went

Latin perfect tense

joined

Latin perfect tense

gave

Latin imperfect tense

came

Latin perfect tense

said

Latin perfect tense

have

present tense

[to spare

infinitive in present tense]

perish

present tense

will arise

future tense

(will) go

future tense

will say

future tense

have sinned

perfect tense

Back

Activity 8

Answer

Subject

Verb

I

like

The boys

ran

They

could

Jane and I

are going

She

was sitting

they

were talking

Chris and Robbie

climbed

Back

Activity 9

Answer

Subject

Verb

Object

The dog

fetched

the ball

The girls

were reading

their books

We

do + like

hard work

Boudicca

destroyed

Colchester, London, St Albans

The Romans

could + forgive

her

People

will be watching

you

Back

Activity 10

Answer

Subject

Verb

Object

James

was to drive

them

we

travelled

thirty-two miles

some long heavy hills

were

James

drove

we

were

He

forgot to put (on)

the drag

we

went

to take (off)

it

He

kept

our feet

the uphill

was

he

set

the carriage wheels

to run (back)

(he)

gave

a breathing

All these little things

help

a horse

he

gets

kind words

Back

Activity 11

Answer

Subject

Verb

Object

you

see

Our hearts

great Lucifer

craves (for)

that security

This casket

unlocks

(India's) glowing gems

his lavish tongue

bestows

wit, brav'ry, worth

he

admired

the place, the person

he

bore

two massy [massive] keys

he

could remove

the thoughts (of War)

Back