Latin/1st Declension Lesson 2
Salvēte omnēs!
Welcome to this week’s lesson in the continuing series of Latin for Wikiversity. Our aim is to walk you through the basics and beyond in a style similar to what is available for modern languages. To see previous lessons or a classified vocabulary list, follow these links:
New Grammar
editToday let’s continue adding 1st declension nouns and a few adjectives to our vocabulary. We now know how to use the nominative and accusative, singular and plural; let’s add the ablative case as well. The ablative case is used for many purposes in Latin but the easiest to begin with is as object of certain prepositions. So to review all the 1st declension case endings we have learned so far:
| case name | sing. | pl. | typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | -a | -ae | subject or predicate noun |
| accusative | -am | -ās | direct object (also some objects of preps.) |
| ablative | -ā | -īs | objects of prepositions, etc.,“in/by/with/from” case |
Note the macron over the -ā in the ending of the ablative singular. This is the only way to tell the difference between the nominative and ablative singular of the 1st declension. The “ablative of place where” as object of the preposition “in”, and the “ablative of accompaniment” as the object of the preposition “cum” will be our main new concepts today.
New Vocabulary
editMany place-names are part of the 1st declension; some are not different enough from their English equivalents to introduce them formally: Āfrica, America, Āsia, Britannia, Eurōpa, Germānia, Graecia, Hispānia, Ītalia, Rōma.
| Latin | English | Audio (Classical) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| culīna, ae | kitchen | ||
| familia, ae | family | ||
| Gallia, ae | Gaul | or France depending on historical context | |
| patria, ae | fatherland, native country | ||
| pecūnia, ae | money | ||
| silva, ae | forest, woods | used in the plural | |
| via, ae | road, way | ||
| vīlla, ae | house, farmhouse, country house |
Remember, all 1st declension nouns are feminine unless they name a male person.
| Latin | English | Audio (Classical) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| bonus, a, um | good | ||
| malus, a, um | bad | ||
| meus, a, um | my, mine | ||
| noster, nostra, nostrum | our, ours | ||
| parvus, a, um | small | ||
| pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum | beautiful, handsome | ||
| in | in, on | prep. with abl. | |
| cum | with | prep. with abl. | |
| ambulō | walk | 1st conjugation | |
| habitō | live, inhabit | 1st conjugation | |
| labōrō | work, labor | 1st conjugation | |
| nāvigō | sail | 1st conjugation |
Our new verbs belong to the 1st conjugation and all follow the regular pattern for their 4 principal parts; -ō, -āre, -āvi, -ātus – this will be explained in greater detail later on. For now only a few forms are used.
New Sentences
edit| Latin | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Britannia est īnsula in Eurōpā. | Britain is an island in Europe. | |
| Rōma in Italiā est. | Rome is in Italy. | |
| Patria mea America est. | My native country is America. | |
| Pueri in viā ambulant. | The boys walk on the road. | |
| Nautae sunt in culīnā. | The sailors are in the kitchen. | |
| Puellae parvae pānem in culīnā edunt. | The little girls are eating bread in the kitchen. | |
| Agricola in terrā labōrat. | The farmer works on the land. | |
| Mārcus et Paula in Asiā habitant. | Marcus and Paula live in Asia. | |
| Vīlla nostra in Italiā est. | Our house is in Italy. | |
| Virī cum fēminīs in viā ambulant. | The men walk with the women on the road. | |
| Sunt multae viae in Americā. | There are many roads in America. | |
| Via bona in silvīs est. | A good road is in the forest. | note the Latin word is often used in the plural, much like our “woods” |
| Puerī cum puellīs in viīs ambulant. | The boys walk with the girls on the roads. | |
| Hominēs in multīs terrīs habitant. | The men live in many lands. | |
| Lūcia in parvā vīllā habitat. | Lucia lives in a small farmhouse. | |
| Fēmina pulchra in īnsulā parvā habitat. | A beautiful woman lives on a small island. | |
| Nautae multās terrās pulchrās vident. | The sailors see many beautiful lands. | |
| Familia mea vīllam in Americā habet. | My family has a house in America. |
Practice
edit| Practice and learn the words and phrases in this lesson | |
|---|---|
| Step one | First learn the words using this lesson: |
| Step two | Next try learning and writing the sentencing using this: |
| Note that the Memrise stage covers the content for all lessons in each stage. If you are skipping previous stages you may need to manually "ignore" the words in previous levels (use the 'select all' function) | |
Enough for now… I hope you are enjoying these Latin lessons! Next time we will learn a few more 1st declension nouns and the genitive case. Valē!