Latin/Time Lesson 1
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.
For the next few weeks, we’ll be concentrating on Latin expressions of time and dates. Please be aware it would be difficult to reconstruct “authentic” Roman usage of some of these terms. Where possible we give the word that would be most familiar in the classical era. For a description of Roman calendar practice, here is a good site. The days of the week in this week’s lesson are given in the base form of nominative followed by the genitive; e.g., diēs Lunae = Monday, day of the moon. When you are describing an event that happens “on Monday,” you use the ablative form for day but keep the genitive: diē Lunae. Grammar refers to this as the “ablative of time when,” and it allows a noun or noun phrase to serve as an adverb. The frequently used ablative hōc diē (on this day) contracted and became the adverb hodiē (today). For some words we’ll be using sentence fragments because we haven’t learned future or past tenses yet!
New Vocabulary edit
| Latin | English | Audio (Classical) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| inter | between | All of these prepositions, which take the accusative, can be used in expressions of time to mean “during” | |
| intrā | within, inside of | ||
| inter | through | ||
| per | through | ||
| hodiē (adv.) | today, on this day | ||
| herī (adv.) | yesterday | ||
| crās (adv.) | tomorrow | ||
| māne (adv.) | morning, in the morning | ||
| calendārium, ī | calendar, account book | Debts were payable on the Kalends or first day of every month; fasti refers to days when official business was conducted. | |
| kalendārium, ī | |||
| fāstī, ōrum | |||
| hebdomas, hebdomadis (f.) | week, seven days | Septimāna is closest to modern Romance languages, but is only found in Late Latin. | |
| sabbatum, ī / sabbata, ōrum | |||
| septimāna, ae | |||
| Diēs Sōlis | day of the Sun, Sunday | ||
| Diēs Lūnae | day of the Moon, Monday | ||
| Diēs Mārtis | day of Mars, Tuesday | ||
| Diēs Mercuriī | day of Mercury, Wednesday | ||
| Diēs Iovis | day of Jove/Jupiter, Thursday | ||
| Diēs Veneris | day of Venus, Friday | ||
| Diēs Saturnī | day of Saturn, Saturday |
New Sentences edit
| Latin | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Prīma hebdomas difficilis est. | The first week is difficult. | |
| Diēs hebdomadis | The days of the week | |
| Per multōs diēs. | For many days, during many days. | |
| Intrā decem diēs. | Within/during ten days. | |
| Inter diēs malōs. | During the bad days. | |
| Herī, hodiē et crās. | Yesterday, today and tomorrow. | |
| Māne, merīdie, et nocte | (at) Morning, noon, and night. | |
| Calendārium nōn habeō. | I do not have a calendar. | |
| Cenam cum sorōribus diē Sōlis edimus. | We eat dinner with the sisters on Sunday. | |
| Hodiē diārium legō. | Today I read the newspaper. | |
| Hodiē est diēs Lūnae. | Today is Monday. | |
| Crās est diēs Mārtis. | Tomorrow is Tuesday. | |
| Avia crās venit. | Grandmother is coming tomorrow. | |
| Lūcia diē Mercuriī venit. | Lucia is coming on Wednesday. | |
| Mārcus omnī diē Iovis currit. | Marcus runs every Thursday. | |
| Mārcus diēbus Iovis currit. | Marcus runs on Thursdays. | |
| Hodiē māne. | This morning/ Today in the morning. | |
| Herī ante merīdiem. | Yesterday before noon, yesterday morning. | |
| Domī crās labōrō. | I work at home tomorrow. | |
| Crās est diēs Veneris. | Tomorrow is Friday. | |
| Diē Veneris vīnum bibō. | On Friday I drink wine. | |
| Puerī diēbus Saturnī dormiunt. | The boys sleep on Saturdays. | |
| Diēs Saturnī et diēs Sōlis. | Saturday and Sunday. | |
| Gāius et Paula diē Sōlis māne perveniunt. | Gaius and Paula arrive on Sunday morning. |
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 once again for following these lessons. We’ll learn months of the year next time. Bonam fortūnam vōbīs!