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Intro to Latin - Lesson Two

Introduction to LatinLesson Two


Recap on Lesson 1• Inflection

• Some noun cases – Nominative, Accusative, Ablative

• Latin’s daughter languages

• Latin’s place in the Indo-European language family

• What has John Cleese got to do with all this?


Today’s Lesson

• The influence of Latin on English• Nouns – singular and plural• Nouns – sneak peek at the other cases• Verbs – how they work• Verbs – spot the subject• 2 Latin readings


Latin’s effect on the English Language

• English is a Teutonic (Germanic) language

• Most words used in daily life and for familial relationships are still of Germanic origin:

father, man, mother, wife, home, house, bread, moon, sun, stormeat, drink, talk, laugh, sing, buy, sell



Roman occupation of what is now England took place 43 – 410 AD.

They left behind about 800 words (housing, clothing, food, education, religion, military) and place names (e.g. Castra).



•Germanic Angles, Saxons, Jutes filled power vacuum left by Romans.

•They supplanted original Celtic, Romano/Celtic tongues with their own Teutonic language.

•This already contained some words borrowed from Latin during pre-invasion contact with Romans on the continent.



• 597 AD Pope Gregory sends Saint Augustine to introduce Christianity to the Angles and Saxons

• Latin becomes the language of the churchand learning as schools develop within the ecclesiastical structure

• Some Latin derived words begin to co-exist with English ones - storm/tempest moonstruck/lunatic - but Latin ones used in higher social circles



• 1066 AD – Norman conquestNorman French (a daughter language of Latin) becomes the language of court and many new Latin derived words are introduced into the English language

• Middle English now being influencedby Norman French from the court and Latin from the church and schools



• ‘Rediscovery’ of Latin literature during Renaissance (approx 14th – 17th

Centuries AD) added more words into the English language as Latin words formed the basis of the new international science



• The process continues today as French in Canada and Spanish in the southern USA interact with, and enrich, the vocabulary of North American English

• In modern scientific circles, Latin is used directly - chemistry, physics, biology, botany, astronomy - NASA (spacecraft names, Apollo, Gemini, etc.)



• Everyday structure of English remains Germanic

• Latin’s direct and indirect (via daughter languages) on English vocabulary is huge and important

• Cultural, literary, artistic, religious, and academic English all enriched by Latin


Nouns – Singular and Plural• Nouns have 3 major properties

Case – Nominative, Accusative, Ablative

Gender – Masculine, Feminine, Neuter

Number – Singular, Plural


Plural nouns – 2nd Declension Masculine

Singular PluralNom. Mulus Muli

Acc. Mulum Mulos

Abl. Mulo Mulis


Examples of plural nouns – 2nd Declension Masculine - Nominative

• The mule is walking in the woodMulus in silva ambulat

• The mules are walking in the woodMuli in silva ambulant


Examples of plural nouns – 2nd Declension Masculine - Accusative

• Paul watches the mulePaulus mulum spectat

• Paul watches the mulesPaulus mulos spectat


Examples of plural nouns – 2nd Declension Masculine - Ablative

• The monks are on the muleMonachi in mulo sunt

• The monks are on the mulesMonachi in mulis sunt


Latin reading – Mulus equos non amat

Benedictus et Stephanus monachi sunt.Monachi in monasterio habitant.Paulus discipulus in schola est.Discipuli cum monachis in monasteriohabitant.Mulus cum equis in agro habitat.Mulus saepe in agris laborat.Equi cum mulo non laborant.Equos mulus non amat.


Plural nouns – 1st Declension Feminine

Singular PluralNom. Fabula Fabulae

Acc. Fabulam Fabulas

Abl. Fabula Fabulis


Examples of plural nouns – 1st Declension Feminine - Nominative

• The woman is walking in the woodFemina in silva ambulat

• The women are walking in the woodFeminae in silva ambulant


Examples of plural nouns – 1st Declension Feminine - Accusative

• Paul watches the womanPaulus feminam spectat

• Paul watches the womenPaulus feminas spectat


Examples of plural nouns – 1st Declension Feminine - Ablative

• Paul carries the food in the bagPaulus cibum in sarcina portat

• Paul carries the food in the bagsPaulus cibum in sarcinis portat


Nota bene

• When the subject (nominative) of the sentence is plural, the verb changes to agree with it (i.e. it becomes plural too)

• E.g.• Monachi in mulo sunt• Feminae in silva ambulant


Latin reading – Umbrae in silvis

Benedictus vinum desiderat.Paulus igitur vinum in oppido emit et admonasterium cum mulo ambulat.Mulus vinum portat. Nunc sunt in silva.Mulus saepe in silvis ambulat, sed nonsilvas amat quod in silvis sunt umbrae.Mulus neque umbras neque sarcinas amat.Mulus amicos in agro desiderat.


Nouns – sneak peek at the other cases1st Declension Feminine

Singular PluralNominative Fabula FabulaeVocative Fabula FabulaeAccusative Fabulam FabulasGenitive Fabulae FabularumDative Fabulae FabulisAblative Fabula Fabulis


Nouns – sneak peek at the other cases2nd Declension Masculine

Singular PluralNominative Mulus MuliVocative Mule MuliAccusative Mulum MulosGenitive Muli MulorumDative Mulo MulisAblative Mulo Mulis


Verbs – how they work

• Declension – the way that nouns inflect when they change case/gender/number

• Conjugation – the way that verbs inflect when they change number/person/tense etc.


Verbs – how they work• I love amo• You (s) love amas• He/she/it loves amat• We love amamus• You (pl.) love amatis• They love amant

Note: In Latin, the pronoun is not required


Verbs – Spot the subject

Because a Latin verb ‘contains’ a pronoun

Amo – I love amat – he/she/it loves

you must often supply the subject whentranslating


Verbs – Spot the subject

Mostly it is obvious from the context

Mulus in silva ambulat. Paulum amat.

But you have to really read the Latin first

Paulus monachos spectat. In silva sunt.


On the spot test – Translate into Latin

1. Paul and Stephen are students in the monastery

2. Benedict buys neither food nor wine.

3. The mule often walks slowly in the woods because it carries wine in bags to the monastry.


What we have looked at:

• Latin’s influence on the English language

• Plurals of nouns

• How verbs work

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