08.07.24: is, ea, id [5]; the “table”: how will you handle it?

There’s no purpose in pretending that Latin is a ‘push button’, “all your problems are solved in an instant” language.

Image #1:  One member – quite rightly – talked about the difficulty of remembering the “small” words, and they don’t come much smaller than the ones in “the table”  because, when you see them like this, it looks challenging.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74R9hHFr0JI

In the video link, the presenter himself refers to the table as being ‘daunting’ but goes on to say that students “everywhere have memorised this through rote, repetition …”. His videos are very good and very detailed. However, I would say one thing:

I can recite that table now – but I couldn’t at first and, more than that, I didn’t even try.

Image #2: The declension of is, ea, id: how will you deal with them? If you threw your hands up in despair, that wouldn’t be surprising, and the problem is that these words are “fired” at you – often without much explanation – and with the impression that it’s the only way to learn them. Alternatively, take it apart, see connections, learn short sentences and / or phrases, find ways of remembering them – any way that suits you –  and, as always see them in context. In other words, you can play it cool.

Image #3: the only way to “crack” a block of Latin case endings is to chip away at it.