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3714 results in Classical languages

Page 42 of 186

  • 19 - Infinitives and Indirect Statement

  • from Part II
  • Eleanor Dickey, University of Reading
  • Book:
    Learn Latin from the Romans
    Published online:
    21 June 2018
    Print publication:
    28 June 2018, pp 120-126

  • Summary

    In both Latin and English words may be reported either in direct or in indirect speech: direct speech is the type that uses quotation marks and repeats the exact words of the original statement, and indirect speech does not use quotation marks, is often introduced by ‘that’, and does not repeat the original words exactly.

  • 20 - Reflexives

  • from Part II
  • Eleanor Dickey, University of Reading
  • Book:
    Learn Latin from the Romans
    Published online:
    21 June 2018
    Print publication:
    28 June 2018, pp 127-132

  • Summary

    A word that refers back to the subject of a sentence is a reflexive. In English reflexives are often indicated with ‘-self’, as ‘He saw himself in the mirror’, in which the word ‘himself’ indicates that the person seen in the mirror is the same as the one seeing. (Compare ‘He saw him in the mirror’, in which the person seen is different from the one seeing.) In Latin the first- and second-person reflexives are the same as the personal pronouns we have already seen; in other words a Roman said ‘me’, ‘you’, or ‘us’ where we would say ‘myself’, ‘yourself’, ‘ourselves’.

  • 32 - Passive Voice, Agent and Means

  • from PART IV
  • Eleanor Dickey, University of Reading
  • Book:
    Learn Latin from the Romans
    Published online:
    21 June 2018
    Print publication:
    28 June 2018, pp 201-211

  • Summary

    Active Versus Passive

    So far almost all the verb forms we have seen have been in the active voice; that is, they have indicated action done by the subject. It is also possible for a verb to be passive; that is, to indicate action done to the subject (we have seen this with the perfect participles in chapters 6.2, 23.3, and 24). Compare the following:

    Active: He loves. He will love. He loved. He has loved.

    Passive: He is loved. He will be loved. He was loved. He has been loved.

    In all these pairs of sentences the same person is the subject of the same verb in the same tense, but because one element of the pair is active and the other is passive, the meaning is very different.

    Verb Endings for the Passive

    In Latin regular verbs form their passives by conjugating like deponent verbs; deponent verbs do not have any passives at all. Another way of thinking about this situation is that the endings you have already learned for the deponent verbs are the passive endings, and that deponent verbs are verbs that take passive endings in the active and that therefore cannot have a passive. So the passive system of the tenses we have so far seen is as shown in the tables on the following pages:

  • 62 - How to Use the Appendices

  • from Appendices
  • Eleanor Dickey, University of Reading
  • Book:
    Learn Latin from the Romans
    Published online:
    21 June 2018
    Print publication:
    28 June 2018, pp 417-417

  • Summary

    The appendices are designed to help readers consolidate their grammatical skills by means of revision exercises with an answer key. The first exercises focus on helping readers become familiar with the grammatical terminology used to describe Latin; it is important to be able to understand that terminology, because otherwise one has great difficulty understanding explanations of how Latin works. Readers not already used to grammatical terminology may find the new vocabulary daunting, particularly because it is not easily translated into words that such readers already know: the terms used to describe language express concepts that are not expressed at all in non-technical language, so learning the grammatical vocabulary means learning a new set of ideas.

  • 43 - Adverbs

  • from Part IV
  • Eleanor Dickey, University of Reading
  • Book:
    Learn Latin from the Romans
    Published online:
    21 June 2018
    Print publication:
    28 June 2018, pp 278-285

  • Summary

    Adverbs are words that modify verbs and adjectives. In English they are often formed by adding -ly to the stem of an adjective, as ‘badly’ from ‘bad’, but many of the most common English adverbs are formed in other ways: ‘well’, ‘always’, and ‘very’ are also adverbs. We have already seen a number of Latin adverbs as independent vocabulary items, including diū ‘for a long time’, numquam ‘never’, bene ‘well’, and saepe ‘often’; as in English, these common adverbs are not formed regularly, but most others are derived from adjectives via a regular process.

  • The Pronunciation of Latin

  • Eleanor Dickey, University of Reading
  • Book:
    Learn Latin from the Romans
    Published online:
    21 June 2018
    Print publication:
    28 June 2018, pp 4-10

  • Summary

    Background

    There are many different pronunciations of Latin. Currently the most common in English-speaking countries is the restored ancient pronunciation described below, which is a fairly close approximation of the way educated Romans of the late Republic pronounced Latin. Even in antiquity, however, there was some variation in pronunciation, and this variation greatly increased in the middle ages, when Latin was commonly pronounced like the pronouncer's native language. Remnants of the diverse pronunciations produced by this system can be found in what is now known as ecclesiastical or church Latin (which is effectively pronounced like Italian) and in Latin names that have become part of the English language (which are effectively pronounced like English). For example the name Cicerō is pronounced Kikero in the restored pronunciation, Cheechero in the ecclesiastical pronunciation, and Sisero in the English pronunciation. This diversity can lead to serious misunderstanding, because the various pronunciations are not easily mutually comprehensible, so when learning Latin it is important to master the pronunciation used by those who will be teaching you (normally the one described below), so that what you say will be understood correctly.

    Consonants

    In the restored pronunciation most consonants are pronounced in Latin like one of their pronunciations in English, but Latin consonants normally have only one sound regardless of what other letters appear nearby, whereas in English the same letter may have very different sounds in different words. The differences, therefore, can be considerable in practice. The most important of them are:

    c is pronounced hard, like the c in ‘cold’, never soft like the c in ‘city’ (i.e. always like k, never like s).

    g is pronounced hard, like the g in ‘get’, never soft like the g in ‘gem’ (i.e. never like j).

    i is pronounced like the y in ‘yet’ when it is a consonant (i is usually a consonant when a word begins with i + vowel, and when i appears between two vowels).

    qu is pronounced like the qu in ‘quick’, never like the qu in ‘unique’ (i.e. always like kw, never like k).

  • 46 - Perfect and Pluperfect Subjunctives

  • from Part IV
  • Eleanor Dickey, University of Reading
  • Book:
    Learn Latin from the Romans
    Published online:
    21 June 2018
    Print publication:
    28 June 2018, pp 300-307

  • Summary

    In addition to the present and imperfect tenses, the subjunctive also has perfect and pluperfect tenses. Like all subjunctive forms, these have no fixed translations but rather a variety of meanings depending on the constructions in which they are found. In formation the perfect subjunctive is very similar to the future perfect indicative, particularly in the active. See the tables on the following pages.

  • 30 - Fear Clauses and Long Sentences

  • from PART III
  • Eleanor Dickey, University of Reading
  • Book:
    Learn Latin from the Romans
    Published online:
    21 June 2018
    Print publication:
    28 June 2018, pp 186-191

  • Summary

    Fear Clauses

    Verbs expressing fear, such as timeō and vereor, take several different constructions in Latin. As in English, they can take an infinitive; this occurs in exactly the same circumstances in both languages. They can also take a subjunctive clause using present or imperfect subjunctive according to the rules of sequence discussed in chapters 16 and 28. Such clauses are introduced by nē, which is translated in English by ‘that’ or ‘lest’.

  • timeō venīre. ‘I am afraid to come.’

  • veritus est venīre. ‘He was afraid to come.’

  • timeō nē veniat. ‘I am afraid that he will come.’ / ‘I fear lest he come.’

  • veritus est nē venīrent. ‘He was afraid that they would come.’ / ‘He feared lest they come.’

    • The fact that fear clauses are introduced by nē when the subordinate clause is positive means that when the subordinate clause is negative one cannot simply signal that by replacing the initial ut with nē, as is done with purpose clauses and indirect commands. Instead a negative fear clause can be expressed either by adding nōn to it, or by changing nē to ut.

  • timeō nē nōn veniat. ‘I am afraid that he will not come.’ / ‘I fear lest he not come.’ timeō ut veniat. ‘I am afraid that he will not come.’ / ‘I fear lest he not come.’ veritus est nē nōn venīrent. ‘He was afraid that they would not come.’ / ‘He feared lest they not come.’

  • veritus est ut venīrent. ‘He was afraid that they would not come.’ / ‘He feared lest they not come.’

    • Practice

    A Translate:

  • timet ne moriatur.

  • timet mori.

  • timuit ne moreretur.

  • timuit ut moreretur.

  • vereor pati.

  • vereor ne patiar.

  • veritus sum ne paterer.

  • timent sequi.

  • timent ne sequatur.

  • timent ut sequatur.

  • Preface: What This Textbook Is

  • Eleanor Dickey, University of Reading
  • Book:
    Learn Latin from the Romans
    Published online:
    21 June 2018
    Print publication:
    28 June 2018, pp xi-xviii

  • Summary

    During the Roman empire many speakers of Greek and other ancient languages learned Latin. To do so they used materials known as ‘colloquia’, short dialogues and narratives for reading and speaking practice. First created in the first century ad or earlier and greatly expanded in later centuries, the colloquia were heavily used throughout antiquity and still employed in the middle ages and early Renaissance, but they largely disappeared from Classicists’ awareness after that point.

    As language-learning materials the colloquia have great advantages, for they were composed by native speakers of Latin specifically for learners. English-speaking Latin learners normally have to choose between reading ‘fake’ Latin composed by modern teachers, which is easy but inauthentic, and ‘real’ Latin composed by Romans for other Romans, which is too difficult for beginners. But the colloquia offer an ideal compromise: having been written for beginners by native speakers, they are both authentic and easy. Their language is idiomatic, their grammar simple, and their sentences short. Moreover, their subject matter is daily life in the Roman empire (shopping, bathing, banking, dining, going to school, engaging in litigation, visiting friends, etc.); such material is highly interesting to modern students and far more accessible than much Latin literature.

    In their original form, however, the colloquia do not completely meet the needs of a modern student. They consist only of reading material, without any grammatical explanation; of course grammars of Latin were also composed for the ancient learners, and some of these survive today, but those grammars are not suitable for most English speakers since they presume knowledge of ancient Greek. Moreover the colloquia are not long enough to form a complete Latin course; ancient students used them only at the beginning of their Latin study and then moved on to reading literary texts accompanied by full running vocabulary lists. And some portions of the colloquia are unreadable today, either owing to textual corruption or because enthusiastic users expanded them into gigantic vocabulary lists, hopelessly obscuring the original narrative. Lastly, many passages use post-Classical Latin grammar and syntax, including forms that could cause serious confusion for beginners.

Page 42 of 186