Beginning Latin Grammar, Lesson 3: Latin Verbs and the First Conjugation

"I would make them all learn English;

and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honour, and Greek as a treat." --Sir Winston Churchill

(If your student needs work on English verbs first, go to Simple Grammar lessons 3 and 4.)

Lesson 1: Latin Nouns

Lesson 2: The First Declension

Review:
Give the Nominative Singular of the Latin words for:
1. land
2. sailor
3. woman
4. trumpet
5. queen

Give the Nominative Plural of the Latin words for:
1. farmer
2. water
3. trumpet
4. girl
5. poet

Lesson 3: Verbs

In Latin, all regular verbs are divided into four groups called conjugations. Each conjugation is known by a certain vowel.

A Latin verb is made up of the stem, which shows the vowel sign of the conjugation, plus the personal ending so the last few letter of a Latin verb give the key to its group and meaning.

There are six possible persons for every verb (First Person Singular (I), Second Person Singular (you), Third Person Singular (he, she it; all singular nouns), First Person Plural (we), Second Person Plural (you; as in more than one person), and Third Person Plural (they, all plural nouns).

A Latin verb is composed of the stem of the action or being word, with the vowel sign of the conjugation, plus a personal ending.

The First Conjugation

The vowel sign of Latin verbs of the first conjugation is long a, which is pronounced "ah". Personal endings of Latin verbs are as follows:

o....I

s....you (singular)

t....he, she, it

mus...we

tis...you (plural)

nt...they

Here are some verbs in the first conjugation:

Latin verb (pronunciation)     English Reminder     Meaning

1. portat (pore-taht).....porter.....he, she, it carries

2. vocat (woe-kaht).....vocal......he, she, it calls

3. cantat (kahn-taht)....cantata...he, she, it sings

4. laborat (lah-bore-aht)..laboratory..he, she, it works

5. natat (nah-taht) .......natatorium..he, she, it swims

6. ambulat (ahm-bue-laht).. amble..he, she, it walks

7. amat (ah-maht)........amorous......he, she, it loves

8. laudat (lou-dat).......laud..............he, she, it praises

9. exspectat (ex-spec-taht)..expect..he, she, it waits, waits for

10. delectat (day-leck-taht)..he, she, it delectable..delights, pleases

Translate:

1. Puella ambulat. (ex. Puella...subject...noun, first declension, Nominative Singular. ambulat. (ex. ambulat...predicate...verb, first conjugation, third person singular)

Therefore, Puella ambulat. means The girl walks.

2. Agricola laborat.

3. Femina cantat.

4. Nautae natant.

5. Regina laudat.

Beginning Latin Grammar, Lesson 2: The First Declension

"I would make them all learn English;

and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honour, and Greek as a treat." --Sir Winston Churchill

(If your student needs work with English nouns first, go to Simple Grammar.)

Lesson 1: Latin Nouns

The Nominative case endings for a noun of the First Declension are:

Nominative Singular  -a

Nominative Plural     -ae

Here are some important nouns in the First Declension.

Latin Noun (pronunciation).....English Reminder (Derivation).....Meaning

1. puella (pu-ell-ah)........(none)......................girl

2. agricola (ah-grick-o-lah)...agriculture......farmer

3. poeta (po-ay-tah).........poet........................poet

4. nauta (now-tah)...........nautical..................sailor

5. Cornelia (Cor-nay-lee-ah)..Cornelia.........Cornelia (girl's name)

6. aqua (ah-kwah)...........aquarium...............water

7. terra (ter-rah)..............territory................land

8. tuba (too-bah)..............tuba.......................trumpet

9. femina (fay-me-nah)...feminine................woman

10. regina (re-gee-nah)...regal......................queen

Practice vocabulary for meaning, pronunciation and Nominative case endings.

Example: agricola....Nominative Singular...farmer

                  agricolae..Nominative Plural.......farmers

Beginning Latin Grammar Using Your History and Science Texts, Lesson 1: Latin Nouns

"I would make them all learn English;

and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honour, and Greek as a treat." --Sir Winston Churchill

(If your student needs work on what nouns are and how they work in a sentence, go here.)

In Latin, all nouns are divided into five groups called Declensions. Each declension has a certain set of endings for its nouns, to tell you how the noun is used in the sentence. The last few letter on Latin nouns are called case endings and each one means something.

The first case of each declension is called the Nominative, and there are two possible Nominative case endings for each declension; Nominative Singular and Nominative Plural. All nouns have Nominative case endings when they are used as subject(s) in a sentence.

The two Nominative case endings (singular and plural) on Latin nouns show that they are used as subjects of sentences.

Latin Exercises: Look at a paragraph in your history or science texts. If you were to put this paragraph into Latin, what words would have the Nominative case endings? State which ones would be Nominative Singular, and which would be Nominative Plural. (Remember words used as subjects take the Nominative Case in Latin.)