Latin Grammar

If you're trying to learn the most essential topics about Latin you will find some useful resources including a course about adjectives, adverbs, articles, gender (feminine, masculine...), negation, nouns, numbers, phrases, plural, prepositions, pronouns, questions, verbs, vocabulary, excercises... to help you with your Latin grammar Enjoy our courses!

Latin Lessons

Learning Latin can help you communicate with other people who speak Latin. The following courses will provide you with some help based on the lessons you choose. Here is a list of what we offer:

1-    Cases Lesson

a)    Introduction, Nominative and Accusative:

In English, a noun’s role in a sentence is determined by its position in that sentence, and/or by any prepositions immediately before it. For example, the subject of a sentence (the person performing the action) usually goes at the start of the sentence, while the object (the person to whom the action is done) goes at the end:

The boy [subject] loves the girl [object].

In Latin, a noun’s role is determined by its case. The subject of a sentence is always in the Nominative case, and the object in the Accusative case:

puer puellam amat*.

(The boy [subject] loves the girl [object].)

In contrast to English, word order is unimportant, so you could reverse the words and the meaning would stay the same:

puellam puer amat.

(The boy loves the girl)

The accusative can also indicate extent of space or time:

puer quinque pedes altus est

(The boy is five feet tall)

puer puellam duos annos amavit

(The boy loved the girl for two years)

b)    Vocative:

The Vocative case is used when calling or addressing someone, and is the same as the nominative except for 1^st Declension masculine singular nouns ending in -us or –ius. Examples:

c)    Genitive:

The Genitive case denotes ownership, and has the same meaning as (-‘s) in English:

pueri liber

(The boy’s book)

puellae liber

(The girl’s book)

d)    Dative:

In an English sentence, the recipient of an item is preceded by “to” or “for”. In Latin they are put in the Dative case, for example:

puella dat librum puero

(The girl gives the book to the boy)

puer dat librum puellae

(The boy gives the book to the girl)

e)    Ablative:

The Ablative case has several uses. Used on its own, it can denote authorship, use of something as a tool (like “with” in English), the time when or the time within which something happens:

puella amatur puero

(The girl is loved by the boy)

puella pulsat puerum libro

(The girl hits the boy with the book)

esurientes implevit bonis

(He has filled the hungry with good things)

resurrexit tertia die

(On the third day He rose again)

puer librum tribus diebus legit

(The boy read the book in three days)

2-    Declensions Lesson

In Latin a noun’s ending is determined both by its case and by its declension. There are five declensions, of which 1-3 are by far the most common. Here are examples of words from each declension, showing the endings for all cases in the singular and plural:

Singular

Plural

Three general rules about case endings:

·         For all neuter nouns, the accusative singular ending is the same as the nominative singular, and the accusative plural is identical to the nominative plural.

·         For second declension nouns, the ablative singular ending is the same as the dative singular (-o)

·         With all nouns, the ablative plural is identical to the dative plural (‘-is’ for declensions 1 and 2, ‘-ibus’ for declensions 3-5)

3-    Adjectives Lesson

While in English an adjective doesn’t change when the noun changes, in Latin an adjective should agree in gender, number and case with the noun. For example:

a)    Masculine to feminine example:

hic est filius parvus meus (this is my little son) becomes: haec est filia parva mea (this is my little daughter)

b)    Singular to plural example:

hic est servus novus meus (this is my new slave) becomes: hi sunt servi novi mei (these are my new slaves)

c)    Nominative to accusative example:

haec pulchra puella me amat (this beautiful girl loves me) becomes ego amo hanc pulchram puellam (I love this beautiful girl)

As you can see from the first two examples, the adjective usually (but not necessarily) comes after the noun.

As with nouns, an adjective’s ending is determined by its gender, number, case and declension. Most adjectives either belong to both the first and second declension, or to the third declension:

1^st/2^nd Declension Adjectives - Singular

Plural 

3^rd Declension Adjectives – Singular

3^rd Declension Adjectives – Plural

General rules:

·         1st/2nd declension adjectives decline like puella, servus or templum, depending on whether they are respectively feminine, masculine or neuter.

·         Masculine and feminine 3rd declension adjectives decline like mercator.

·         For neuter 3^rd declension adjectives the accusative singular ending is the same as the nominative singular (‘-e’) and the accusative plural the same as the nominative plural (‘-ia’).

In Latin there are five Possessive Adjectives, which denote ownership:

meus, tuus and suus decline like bonus, except that the vocative singular of meus is mi, and that  tuus and suus do not require vocative endings. noster and vester decline like pulcher. (See 1^st/2^nd Declension Adjectives, above).

4-    Adverbs Lesson

In English adverbs are usually formed by adding (-ly) to adjectives. In Latin too many adverbs are formed from adjectives. With 1^st/2^nd declension adjectives this is done by changing the ending to ‘-e’. Examples:

tardus (slow) becomes tarde (slowly)

verus (true) becomes vere (truly)

With 3^rd declension adjectives, the ending is ‘-(i)ter’:

prudens (wise) becomes prudenter (wisely)

felix (lucky) becomes feliciter (luckily)

levis (light) becomes leviter (lightly)

However, that’s not always the case, as miser (wretched) is 3^rd declension but takes the ‘-e’ ending when it becomes an adverb:

misere (wretchedly)

Adjectives of extent take their singular neuter form when used as adverbs, e.g.:

multum  (much)

paulum (a liitle)

primum (first, firstly)

nimium (too much)

Some words are adverbs by nature, and thus do not need a special ending, such as

nunc (now), saepe (often), sic (thus) and mox (soon).

Adverbs come before the verb that they modify, with adjectives of time coming at the beginning of a sentence:

vehementer errabas, Verres.

(You were erring grievously, Verres)

bis consul

(twice consul)

cras mane se putat venturum esse

(He thinks he will come early tomorrow morning)

5-    Numbers Lesson

In Latin numbers from 1 to 10 are unique and therefore need to be memorized individually. Numbers from 11 to 17 are formed by using 1 + 10 while connecting them: 11 = undecim. 18 and 19 are formed by using 2 from 20 and 1 from 20 respectively: duodeviginti and undeviginti. These patterns repeat themselves, but with numbers above 20 putting the tens before the units, so that 21 is vigintiunus and 31 trigintaunus. Similarly, 28 is duodetriginta (‘2 from 30’) and 29 undetriginta (‘1 from 30’).

unus (one), duo (two), and tres (three) all agree with the noun that they describe. unus and duo decline like a 1^st/2^nd declension adjective (e.g. bonus) and tres declines like a 3^rd declension adjective (e.g. amans):

Singular

Plural

You can see from the above tables that duo and tres do not exist in the singular, as they are only needed to describe plural nouns. unus, surprisingly, does exist in the plural when describing nouns such as epistolae (letter) and castra (camp). Although these nouns refer to singular objects, they have plural endings (epistolae is 1^st declension feminine and castra is 2^nd declension neuter) and thus require their number to be in the plural.

6-    Articles Lesson

There are no articles in Latin. For example, domus (house) can mean ‘the house’ or ‘a house’, depending on context.

7-    Verbs Lessons

Present Tense

In Latin, most verbs exist in the Active voice, where the subject of the sentence is performing an action, and in the Passive voice, where the subject is having an action performed on them. An example of a sentence in the Active voice would be:

puer puellam amat

The boy [subject] loves the girl [object].

Here the boy is the subject, and is thus in the nominative case (puer). The girl is the object, and is in the accusative (puellam). ‘Loves’ takes the present active ending (amat). If you wanted to express the same idea using the Passive voice, you would write:

puella puero amatur

The girl [subject] is loved by the boy

The girl is now the subject, and thus now takes the nominative (puella). The verb takes the passive ending (amatur = ‘is loved’), and the boy is now in the ablative (see Cases Lesson).

The endings that a verb takes depend on its conjugation. There are four conjugations plus a few irregular verbs. The table below shows the present tense endings for the four conjugations and for two of the most common irregular verbs:

Present tense – Active voice

Present tense – Passive voice

·         Verbs such as possum (I am able) and absum (I am absent) are derived from sum and take the same endings. Similarly, verbs like ineo (I enter), take the same endings as eo.

·         sum and eo do not exist in the passive voice.

Future Tense

As in English, the future tense denotes actions that are going to happen:

cras ibo Romam

(I shall go to Rome tomorrow)

diceris in carminibus poetarum

(You will be celebrated in the songs of poets)

Future tense endings – Active voice

Future tense – Passive voice

Past Tenses

There are three main types of past tense in Latin – the Imperfect, the Perfect and the Pluperfect:

a)    Imperfect:

As in English, the imperfect tense describes an action that happened over a length of time or repeatedly. It can also describe an action that was interrupted as it was happening or about to happen. Examples:

cantores audiebam

(I was listening to the singers)

Roma Gallis obsedebatur

(Rome was being besieged by the Gauls)

Romani fortiter pugnabant

(The Romans used to fight bravely/kept fighting bravely)

Romam intrabam

(I was about to enter Rome)

Imperfect tense – Active voice

Imperfect tense – Passive voice

b)    Perfect:

The perfect tense in Latin corresponds to the simple past tense in English (‘-ed’) in that it describes a single completed past action. It can also correspond to the English perfect tense (‘have/has -ed’) by describing a past action that has been completed but which still has an effect in the present. Examples:

puella puerum in via conspexit

(The girl glimpsed the boy in the street)

Caesar monitus est de Bruto et Cassio

(Caesar was warned about Brutus and Cassius)

nunc puella puerum nupsit

(The girl has now married the boy)

Perfect tense – Active voice

Perfect tense – Passive voice

Perfect Passive and Pluperfect Passive verb endings match the subject of the sentence in gender, number and case and decline like 1^st/2^nd declension adjectives such as bonus/bona/bonum (see Adjectives Lesson). 

c)    Pluperfect:

The pluperfect tense corresponds to the English pluperfect, ‘had -ed’. It denotes an action that was completed before another action happened (the later action is usually in the perfect or imperfect). It can also denote an action that was completed but has since been negated and thus no longer has an effect in the present. For example:

cibum edebam quem servi paraverant

(I was eating the food that the slaves had prepared)

iam Hanibal fugerat cum Romani advenerunt

(Hanibal had already fled when the Romans arrived)

Romani civitates liberaverunt quae captae erant Hanibale

(The Romans freed the cities that had been captured by Hanibal)

Pluperfect tense – Active voice

Pluperfect tense – Passive voice

8-    Direct and Indirect Speech/Infinitives

In English there are two ways of reporting speech, thought or perception. Direct Speech is when you directly quote the speaker’s words within quotation marks, e.g.:

My teacher says: “People who learn Latin are very clever.”

Indirect Speech does not use quotation marks and need not quote the speaker word for word, although it may do. An indirect speech clause is normally introduced by a verb of telling, perceiving or thinking, followed by ‘that’. For example, in indirect speech the above sentence would be expressed as:

My teacher says that people who learn Latin are very clever.

In Latin, indirect speech does not use ‘that’, but instead puts the subject of the clause (e.g. ‘people’) in the accusative case, followed by the infinitive form of the verb (‘to be’):

magister meus dicit homines qui Latinam discunt callidissimos esse

[Literally]: My teacher says people [acc.] who learn Latin to be very clever

There are three types of infinitive in Latin: The Present Infinitive (reporting a current or ongoing action), the Perfect Infinitive (reporting a past action) and the Future Infinitive (reporting a future action). For example:

When the main verb of the sentence is in a past tense, the infinitive is translated slightly differently:

Notice how English translates putavi te errare as ‘I said you were making a mistake’, but in the Latin errare remains in the present. This is because the original direct statement would have been in the present tense - “You are making a mistake” - and in Latin indirect speech clauses always keep the tense in which the statement was originally made.

Here are the active infinitives for the four regular verb conjugations, sum and eo:

Infinitives - Active voice

Future infinitive endings agree with their subjects in gender, number and case (the case always being accusative). They decline like 1^st/2^nd declension adjectives:

puto virum Romam iturum esse

(I think that the man will go to Rome)

putavi puellas Romam ituras esse

(I thought that the girls would go to Rome)

imperator promisit templum aedificaturum esse

(The emperor promised that a temple would be built)

The Passive Infinitive is used for indirect statements where the verb is passive, e.g.:

audio Romam obsideri

(I hear that Rome is being besieged)

audivi Romam obsideri

(I heard that Rome was being besieged)

Infinitives - Passive voice

Passive perfect and future infinitive endings agree with their subjects, and decline like 1^st/2^nd declension adjectives:

Plutarchus scribit Antonium amatum esse Cleopatrā

(Plutarch writes that Antony was loved by Cleopatra)

nuntius dicit barbaros victos esse

(The messenger says that the barbarians have been defeated)

spero carmina mea audita iri

(I hope that my songs will be heard)

As in English, the infinitive can also be used to express a wish to perform an action, or to have an action performed on oneself, e.g.:

volo carmina pulchra audire

(I wish to hear beautiful songs)

Caesar voluit amari populo

(Caesar wished to be loved by the people)

9-    Asking a Question Lesson

Latin has three ways of turning a statement into a question. The first way is to place the key word at the start of the sentence and add –ne, so that:

Marcus in civitate habitat

(Marcus lives in the city)

becomes:

habitatne Marcus in civitate?

(Does Marcus live in the city?)

If you want to alter the emphasis of the question, simply attach -ne to a different word and place that at the beginning of the sentence, for example:

Marcusne habitat in civitate?

(Is it Marcus who lives in the city?)

The second way is used when a ‘yes’ answer is expected. Simply place nonne at the start of the sentence:

nonne Roma optima civitas est in mundo?

(Surely Rome is the best city in the world? / Rome is the best city in the world, isn’t it?)

Thirdly, if you expect a ‘no’ answer, begin the sentence with num:

num putas barbaros victuros esse?

(Surely you don’t think the barbarians will win? / You don’t think the barbarians will win, do you?)

The main interrogatives (question words) in Latin are quis (who?), quantus (how much?), quails (of what kind?), cur (why?), quando (when?), ubi (where?), quo (to where?) and unde (from where?). quantus declines like bonus, and quails declines like levis (see Adjectives Lesson). The endings for quis are shown opposite. All the other interrogatives do not decline but keep the same endings.

quis - Singular

quis - Plural

10- Negation Lesson

In Latin, negation can be made simply by placing "non" before the main verb:

non possum hoc facere.

(I can't do this) 

mihi illud non placet.

(I don't like it)

(Literally: “It is not pleasing to me”).

As in standard English, but unlike, say, Spanish, Russian or colloquial English, a double negative makes a positive:

qui non numquam Baias vidit

(He who has indeed seen Baiae)

(Lit: “He who has not never seen Baiae”)

Other common negatives are nullus (no…), nemo (nobody), nil (nothing), nihil (nothing) neque…neque…(neither…nor…), nec…nec…(neither..nor..) and numquam (never). The endings for nullus and nemo are shown below, nullus matching the noun that it describes. The other negatives do not decline.

nullus - Singular

nullus - Plural

nulla in mundo pax sincera

(There is no true peace in the world)

voluntas testium nullo negotio flecti et detorqueri potest

(The testimony of witnesses can be bent and distorted with no difficulty)

nemo - Singular

nemo does not exist in the plural.

nemo me impune laecessit

(No-one provokes me with impunity)

fabula mea nemini narravi

(I told my story to no-one)

Cyclops dixit neminem fugisse

(The Cyclops said that no-one [accusative] had escaped)

11- Pronouns Lesson

There are ten pronouns In Latin:

ego… (I), tu… (you [singular]), is… (he), ea… (she), id...(it).

nos… (we), vos…(you [plural]), ei… (they [masc.]), eae… (they [fem.]) and ea (they [neut.])

All the personal pronouns decline, and their endings are shown below: