28.04.24: review; some basics

Since the group started many aspects of the Latin language have been covered but, in these review sections, we can also include a few short pieces that refer way back to the early posts.

Vincent just posted, for example, the names of the days of the week in Latin, which was done some time ago.

I would like to add another one he did which introduced some basic constructions which, again, appeared in the early posts.

[1]

• salvē (talking to one person) / salvēte (talking to more than one person): hello
• salvēte amīcī: hello friends

[2] Ego sum Vincentius: I am Vincent.

[i] The pronoun ego (I) is optional and most omitted in written Latin because sum alone can mean ‘I am’. That applies to verbs in most situations in Latin since the verb ending makes it clear who is performing the action.

[ii] Word order is flexible in Latin; he could have said ‘Vincentius sum’ and it would mean exactly the same

[3] Nunc Latīnē loquar ¦ cum frātre meō. │ I’ll now speak in Latin  ¦  with my brother.

[i] loquar (I shall speak) isn’t basic and so just note it for now.

[ii] cum: another example of a preposition for review, meaning ‘with’ and it takes the ablative case

[iii] frāter, frātris [3/m]: brother, a third declension noun. A lot has been discussed on this.

[4]

[i] Quid est nōmen tibi? │ What is your name? Literally: What is the name to you? What is the name you have?

[ii] Mihi nōmen est … │ My name is … Literally: To me, the name is … or I have the name …

[5]

[i] Quot annōs nātus [masc.] / nāta [fem.] es? │ How old are you? Literally: for how many years have you been born?

[ii] ūndecim: eleven

[iii] Ūndecim annōs nātus [masc.] / nāta [fem.] sum. │ I’m eleven years old.

[6]

[i] Ut valēs? │ How are you?

[ii] Bene valeō, grātiās. │ I’m well, thank you.

[7]

Placetne tibi lingua Latīna? │ Do you like the Latin language? Literally: Is the Latin language pleasing to you?

[i] placet: it pleases

[ii] mihi placet: (it) is pleasing to me

[iii] mihi placet vīnum (or vīnum mihi placet; word order is flexible) │ I like wine. Literally: wine is pleasing to me. Whatever is pleasing to you is in the nominative case.

[iv] placetne tibi: -ne can be added to the first word of a sentence to create a question

[8] optimē: very good; excellent

[9] Nunc dīc “valēte”! │ Now say good-bye!

[i] dīc: imperative / command form

[ii]

valē (talking to one person) / valēte (talking to more than one person) │ good-bye

[iii] valēte omnēs │ good-bye, everyone