Latin/Conjunctions
Salvēte omnēs! Welcome back to Latin for Wikiversity. Here you can peruse a new lesson in Latin, in a simple format. If you would like to catch up, you can find a directory of lessons, a classified vocabulary list, and Memrise courses at the links on the right.
Today we'll expand our use of conjunctions. Conjunctions are those little words that join other words, phrases, or clauses. We have already encountered some of the basic ones:
| Latin | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| aut | or | |
| et | and | |
| itaque | therefore, and so | |
| -que | and | This conjunction form is an enclitic, tacked on to the end of the second word to be joined, e.g. “pueri puellaeque” = boys and girls. |
| sed | but |
New Vocabulary
edit| Latin | English | Audio (Classical) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| autem | however, but, on the other hand | postpositive | |
| dum | while, as long as | ||
| enim | for, because, indeed, in fact | postpositive | |
| et...et | both...and | ||
| etiam | even, also | ||
| neque (nec) | and not, nor | ||
| neque...neque (nec...nec) | neither...nor | ||
| quod | because | ||
| sī | if | ||
| tamen | yet, nevertheless | ||
| vel | or | ||
| absum, abesse, āfuī, āfutūrus (irreg.) | am away, am distant | ||
| lūdō, lūdere, lūsī, lūsus, 3 | play |
Some subordinating conjunctions require use of the subjunctive mood, which won’t be introduced until much later; we will leave these until they can be introduced in context. Some conjunctions set up a temporal clause, which requires more verb tenses than just the present.
Note that there are 3 basic ways to say “and” = et, atque, and the enclitic –que. There are multiple ways to say “but” = sed, at (and others with slightly different shades of meaning). Some conjunctions are “postpositive.” This simply means that, by the rules of Latin syntax, they cannot stand first in a sentence or clause, but must appear after the first word or two.
We're including some sentences from literature and quotations without necessarily introducing all vocabulary in them. As it is there are a lot of sentences, and it is sometimes difficult to portray all the different shades of meaning possible with the Latin, so we apologize in advance if some of them are a bit off.
New Sentences
edit| Latin | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Salvēte, magistrae magistrīque! | Greetings, ladies and gentlemen! | |
| Valēte, puerī puellaeque! | Goodbye, boys and girls! | |
| Avē atque valē! | Hail and farewell! | |
| Gāius flet atque clāmat. | Gaius weeps and shouts. | |
| Eam propter fīdem atque virtūtem (ejus) laudant. | They praise her because of her loyalty and courage. | |
| Et cafeam et theam bibō. | I drink both coffee and tea. | |
| Mārcus et currit et ambulat. | Marcus both runs and walks. | |
| Ita aut nōn? | Yes or no? | |
| Nunc aut numquam. | Now or never. | |
| Labōrāmus vel dormīmus. | We work or we sleep. | |
| Pānem vel oryzam edunt? | Are they eating bread or rice? | |
| Aut mors aut victōria. | Either death or victory. | |
| Legō, sed scrībis. | I read, but you write. | |
| Ea coquit, at is edit. | She cooks, but he eats. | |
| At Paula eīs dicit, “Nōn est culpa mea!” | But Paula says to them, “It is not my fault!” | |
| Sunt multī līberī in familiā, necque multam pecūniam habent. | There are many children in the family, and they do not have much money. | Lit. "nor do they have much money". |
| Nec sine causā. | And not without reason. | |
| Neque tempus neque pecūniam habeō. | I have neither time nor money. | |
| Lūcia neque cervisiam neque vīnum bibit. | Lucia drinks neither beer nor wine. | |
| Nōn cervisiam, sed vīnum bibō. | I do not drink beer, but wine. | |
| Sī tibi placet | If it is pleasing to you, if you like, please; | |
| Sī vōbis placet | please | To multiple persons. |
| Sī chocolātum habeō, edō. | If I have chocolate, I eat it. | |
| Dum spīrō, spērō. | While I breathe, I hope. | |
| Dum fēlēs abest, mūrēs ludunt. | While the cat is away, the mice play. | |
| Māter misera est quod puerī in culīnā clamant. | Mother is miserable because the boys are shouting in the kitchen. | |
| Tibi grātiās agō quod mihi pānem dās. | I thank you because you give me bread. | |
| Ubī est Gāius? Eum enim nōn videō. | Where is Gaius? For I do not see him. | |
| Quid tibi est? Nihil enim. | What’s the matter? Nothing, really. | Quid tibi est – Idiomatic, lit. "what is it to you"? |
| Liber dē mēnsā cadit; itaque eum nōn vidētis. | The book falls down from the table; and so/therefore you do not see it. | |
| Tamen is nōn est senex, sed juvenis. | Nevertheless he is not old, but young. | |
| Sacculus meus domī est; tamen pecūniam habeō. | My purse is at home; yet I have money. | |
| Mīlitēs autem hostēs nōn vident. | The soldiers, however, do not see the enemy. | |
| Cultrum in scrīniō nōn habeō; est autem culter in culīnā. | I do not have a knife on the desk; however, there is a knife in the kitchen. | |
| Etiam capillus ūnus habet umbram. | Even one hair has a shadow. | P. Syrus |
| Aut viam inveniam, aut faciam. | I will either find a way, or make one. | Hannibal |
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) | |
Thank you again for following along with these Latin lessons. I enjoy writing them and I learn a lot as I am doing so. I hope they are helpful to you as well. Valēte et bonam fortūnam omnibus vōbīs!