Lectio quarta decima

Revision and Notes

1. Before methodically tackling grammar, it is essential to know what it applies to. Also, our goal is to teach you first the greatest possible number of expressions, in order then to be able to show you in a more living manner the reason of their construction.

That is why, during many lessons, you meet the same words in various forms, which can sometimes surprise you: do not be astonished if we do not give you each time the reason behind these changes. Even less was explained to young Romans, which did not prevent them from making use of their language.

Therefore, imitate them! Do not be afraid from now to try to speak and to compose sentences of your own making, initially very close to the examples from this book, and then increasingly more original. Of course, and even for a long time, you will make mistakes which attract to you the worst wrath of the purists. In response to these criticisms, you will be able to answer:

Errando discitur: It is by making mistakes that one learns (making-mistakes it-is-learned); and also

Fabricando fit faber: It is by forging that one becomes a blacksmith (forging is-made blacksmith).

In summary, notice with curiosity the variations of nouns and adjectives, try to remember some whole sentences, without trying still to analyze them; and, if you want to, also try to use the words which you already know to construct new sentences. But especially, recite and recite again lessons and exercises: we are just only at the stage of passive assimilation.

2. The conjugations (continued).— Although it is still premature systematically to examine the variations of the nouns and adjectives, we will see that it is possible as of now to put a little order in our knowledge of the verbs. Even if it must appear a little unpleasant to you at the beginning, you will eventually see that the Latin conjugation is easier to learn than the French conjugation.

Let us revise initially the present indicative, but this time with a verb in are: invitare, to invite:

invit O,

I invite;

invit AMUS,

we invite;

invit AS,

you invite;

invit ATIS,

you[pl.] invite;

invit AT,

he invites;

invit ANT,

they invite.

This form in o, as, at, etc., is that of the 1st conjugation.

We also saw other forms, which we can now group as follows:

2nd conjugation:

vid EO, I see,

vid ES,

vid ET,

vid EMUS,

vid ETIS,

vid ENT.

3rd conjugation:

dic O, I say,

dic IS,

dic IT,

dic IMUS,

dic ITIS,

dic UNT.

4th conjugation:

aud IO, I hear,

aud IS,

aud IT,

aud IMUS,

aud ITIS,

aud IUNT.

In the infinitive, these verbs are respectively: invit ARE, vid ERE, dic ERE, and aud IRE, and it will be noticed that, except for dic ERE, the accent is placed on the penultimate syllable: this is very important.

For these four active conjugations, the endings are always o, s, t, mus, tis, nt, as we told you during the previous revision.

N.B.— There is yet another conjugation which takes its forms sometimes from the 3rd and sometimes from the 4th; e.g.: facio, I make, whose infinitive is facere, to make. It is called the 3rd mixed conjugation.

3. The present passive.— If now you want to put these verbs in the passive, it is enough to replace the endings above by: or, ris, tur, mur, mini, ntur.

Thus we will have:

invit OR, I am invited;

invit AMUR, we …;

invit ARIS, you are invited;

invit AMINI, you[pl.] …;

invit ATUR, he is invited;

invit ANTUR, they …

Similarly, we also have:

videor, I am seen, videris, etc…, videntur;

dicor, I am said, diceris (note this irregular e in the 2nd person singular), dicitur, dicimur, dicimini, dicuntur.

audior, I am heard, audiris, etc…, audiuntur.

4. The perfect active.— After the present tense, we can see the perfect: it is even simpler to conjugate, since once having known the form of the first person, the others are obtained in the same way for the four conjugations. Thus:

invit AV-I, I invited

invit AV-IMUS

invit AV-ISTI

invit AV-ISTIS

invit AV-IT

invit AV-ERUNT

(sometimes invitavere)

Similarly, we will have:

vidi, vidisti, etc…, viderunt, I saw, you saw, etc…, they saw;

dixi, dixisti, etc…, dixerunt, I said, you said, etc…, they said;

audivi, audivisti, etc…, audiverunt, I heard, you heard, etc…, they heard.

In all the cases, the endings are always: i, isti, it, imus, istis, erunt.

Do not try to find right now a general rule for the choice of the intermediate letters (av after invit, etc.) and simply consider each verb as a particular case.

4. The perfect passive.— It is even simpler: it is enough to know the perfect participle (passive) and to add the verb sum after it, without forgetting that this participle must agree in gender and number with the subject, as any adjective would:

invit ATUS SUM, I was invited (and I am a man), literally: I am having-been-invited;

invit ATA ES, you were invited (and you are a woman);

invit ATUM EST, it was invited (and it is a thing, insofar as a thing could have been invited! You should not forget that there is a neuter gender);

invit ATAE SUMUS, we were invited (and we are women);

invit ATI ESTIS, you[pl.] were invited (and you are men);

invit ATA SUNT, they were invited (and they are things);

Similarly we will find with other verbs:

visus (visa, visum)

}

AM,

{

seen

I am

dictus (dicta, dictum)

ARE,

{

having been

told

you are

auditus (audita, auditum)

IS.

heard

he (she, it) is

visi (visae, visa)

}

ARE,

{

seen

we are

dicti (dictae, dicta)

ARE,

{

having been

told

you[pl.] are

auditi (auditae, audita)

ARE.

heard

they are

5. How does one recognize that a verb belongs to this or that conjugation? — You must guess it partly. But for the time being, it is not necessary to know it. Simply know how to recognise the present from the perfect. Also know that one passes from the active to the passive by very simple changes of ending.

For the rest, let us carry you by the conveyor belt! We will warn you as soon as it is necessary to pass to a stage of more active comprehension.

This review is rather long. We ask you to excuse us. Even if it means repeating ourselves, we remind you that in all these forms, you need to learn nothing by heart. Do not even try to assimilate at once all that we have just pointed out to you. Instead, return here each time you feel the need to clarify your ideas: in this way, the result will be much better this way.