Latin/Time Lesson 3
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We are studying the Latin terms for time; in previous lessons we have talked about the days of the week and the months of the year. Today we’ll look at the times of day, and the seasons. I’m going to introduce some vocabulary that I won’t use in sentences yet, because we really need to know some numbers to use with them.
Notes on the vocabulary: “vesper = evening” is used both as a 3rd and 2nd declension noun, and its ablative singular/adverbial form can be either vespere or vesperi. I could not find out why. “ver = spring” has an ablative singular of “veri.” We will continue to use the ablative case to express the time when something happens; this is basically converting a noun into an adverb. The Romans counted the hours of the day from sunrise, so “prima hora” the first hour, would be about 7:00 am. We’ll use more modern conventions, after we’ve had the numbers lesson. A good overview of Roman timekeeping is found here
New Vocabulary edit
| Latin | English | Audio (Classical) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| hōra, ae | hour, (time, season) | ||
| (pars) minūta, ae | minute | A minute part of an hour | |
| (pars minuta) secunda | second | The second division into a minute part | |
| autumnus, ī | autumn, fall | ||
| hōrologium, ī | clock, watch | ||
| aestās, aestātis (f.) | summer | ||
| hiems, hiemis (f.) | winter | ||
| vesper, vesperis (also vesper, vesperī) (m.) | evening | ||
| vespere / vesperī (adv. or abl. s.) | in the evening, at evening time | ||
| tempus, temporis (n.) | time, period of time, season | ||
| ver, veris (n.) (abl. s. verī) | spring | ||
| fugiō, fugere, fūgī, fugitus, 3 | flee, fly, run away |
New Sentences edit
| Latin | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| tempora annī | the seasons of the year | |
| māne et vespere | (at/in the) morning and evening | |
| māne, merīdie, et nocte | morning, noon and night | |
| herī vesperī | yesterday evening | |
| Nōn multum tempus habent. | They do not have much time. | |
| Nōn multās hōrās habēmus. | We do not have many hours. | |
| Hōrae sunt longae. | The hours are long. | |
| Est hōrologium in culīnā. | There is a clock in the kitchen. | |
| Pater mihi hōrologium dat. | Dad gives me a watch. | |
| Gāius nocte dieque labōrat. | Gaius works night and day. | |
| Epistulās nocte scrībis. | You write letters at night. | |
| Hodiē vespere puerī cēnam coquunt. | Tonight/ this evening the boys are cooking dinner. | |
| Crās vespere Mārcus ad cēnam venit. | Tomorrow evening Marcus is coming to dinner. | |
| Tempus fugit. | Time flies/ time runs away/ time is fleeting. | |
| Hōrae fugiunt. | The hours fly. | |
| Tempora annī sunt ver, aestas, autumnus, et hiems. | The seasons of the year are spring, summer, fall, and winter. | |
| Aestas fugit. | The summer flies by. | |
| Hiemem malam memoriā teneō. | I remember the bad winter. | |
| Flūmen altum verī est. | The river is high in spring. | |
| Hiems venit. | Winter is coming. | |
| Aestate in hortō labōrāmus. | In summer we work in the garden. | |
| Lūcia ver amat. | Lucia loves the spring. | |
| Autumnus frīgidus est. | The autumn is cold. | |
| Ursus hieme dormit. | The bear sleeps in winter. | |
| Autumnō puellae in scholā sunt. | In autumn the girls are in school. | |
| Hiems longa, sed aestas brevis est. | The winter is long, but the summer is short. |
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) | |
Next time we will try to have a lesson on numbers, at least the basics. As always, we hope you enjoy them and find them helpful. Habēte bonam fortūnam!