Lectio undecima

Quota hōra est?

What time is it?

Quota1 hōra est?

What time is it (how-many-eth hour is)?

Dīmidia hōra est...

It is the half hour (half hour is)…

Nōn intellegō! Cujus hōrae dīmidia est?

I do not understand! Of what hour [is it the half] (half is)?

Nesciō! Tantum sciō dīmidiam esse: acus minor hōrologiō meō deest.

I don’t know! I only know [it is the half hour] (half to-be): the small hand is missing from my watch (needle smaller to-clock mine is-lacking).

Quandō Lutetiam relīquistī?

When did you leave Paris?

Heri sextā2 hōrā et dīmidiā Lutetiam relīquī3.

I left Paris yesterday at six thirty (yesterday at-the-sixth hour and at-the-half Paris I-left).

Lugdūnum hodiē tertia hōrā postmerīdiānā4 relinquō.

I leave Lyon today at three o’clock p.m. (Lyon today at-third hour afternoonian I-leave).

In hanc urbem advēnī decima hōra et quīnta decima minūta, id est decima hōra et quadrante5.

I arrived in this city at ten fifteen (To this city I-arrived at-tenth hour and at-fifth tenth minute), i.e. (that is) at a quarter past ten (at-tenth hour and at-quarter).

Mānēs Lugdūnī quattuor hōrās et quadrāgintā quīnque minūtās.

You are staying in Lyon four hours and forty-five minutes.

Nōbīs est ōtium: vīsne6 mēcum7 prandēre? Ecce popīna!

We have time (to-us is leisure): do you want to lunch with me? Here-is (behold) a restaurant!

Optimē! Valdē ēsuriō; popīnam adeāmus8!

Excellent! I’m really hungry (strongly I-am-hungry). Let’s go to the restaurant.

Relinquō, relinquis, relinquit, relinquimus, relinquitis, relinquunt, relinquere. Reliquī, relīquistī, relīquit, relīquimus, relīquistis, relīquērunt, relīquisse.

I leave, you leave, etc., they leave, to leave. I (have) left, you (have)…, etc., they (have) left, to have left.

Notes

  1. Quota is an adjective which agrees with hora.

  2. Sexta hora and not sex horae, because it is the sixth hour (see note number 6 in the previous lesson). But further down (P 9) quattuor horas because this time it is four hours forming together a certain interval of time.

  3. Reliqui is a perfect (tense corresponding to the English simple past, I left, and also the English present perfect tense, I have left). Simply note, in phrase 12, the differences between the present and the perfect tense.

  4. Postmeridianá, just as dimidiá, is an adjective: it agrees therefore with horá, hence the long quantity of the á which indicates here the form of the adverbial phrase.

  5. Quadrante; if this word were the subject, we would have quadrans. It means: a quarter of an as, the as being a currency; and hence quarter of a circle (Eng.: quadrant), whence quarter of an hour.

  6. Visne = vis + ne, interrogative particle which should know well by now. The verb volo, I want, is irregular: we will see it again soon.

  7. Mecum = cum me, with me; we also have tecum, with you; nobiscum, with us; vobiscum, with you(pl.).

  8. Adeamus, let us go! adimus, we go. The former is a subjunctive, a mood very often used in Latin, but of which we will only see the conjugation later on. The latter is the present indicative, which is conjugated as follows: adeo, adis, adit, adimus, aditis, adeunt.

    This verb is irregular (cf. L 5, N 3), just as is the verb eo from which it is compounded by the addition of the preposition ad, towards. Regular verbs ending in -eo in the first person remain in e in all the others. Thus video, I see, gives: vides, videt, videmus, videtis, vident.

N.B. In phrase 4 one could have said index instead of acus.

Exercitatio

Nāvīs onerāria sexta decima hōra et quīnquāgēsima minūta portum relīquit.

The freighter left port at four fifty (16:50).

Sī ēsūrīs, popīnam adīre possumus.

If you are hungry, we can go to a restaurant.

Mihi est ōtium: Lutetiam vidēre volō.

I’m at leisure: I want to see Paris.

Quandō popīnam relīquistī?

When did you leave the restaurant?

Hōra vīcēsima altera eam relīquī.

I left it at ten pm (22:00).

Multa vīnī pōcula bibistī.

You drank many glasses of wine.

Minimē, caffeum tantum bibī.

Not at all, I only drank coffee.