04.10.24: the Return of the Cat in the Hat

Image: if you’re studying Latin, it’s a good plan to have a sense of humour; eat your heart out, Sesame Street.

The Cat in the Hat

Let’s take him apart

Let’s look at the grammary

This’s and thats

Let’s look at the things

That we’ve done since the start

Some who-words and do-words

We must know by heart

The when, what and where words, the how’s and the why’s

The words with the em’s, and the oom’s and the i’s

And here’s a surprise -

The verb endings tell you “it’s we or it’s it!”

And you’ll get to like them  -

Well,

Maybe a bit.

Cattus petasātus

Imber tōtum diem fluit │ The rain’s been pouring the whole day

Urceātim semper pluit. │ It always rains in buckets.

Taedet intus nōs manēre: │ It bores us to stay inside:

Numquam potest sōl splendēre │ The sun can never shine

Dēsidēsque sīc sedēmus, │ And thus we sit idle at home

Nec rīdēmus, nec gaudēmus. │ We neither laugh nor rejoice

** Fore fīnem quiēscendī / Mihi spēs est et sedendī. │ I have the hope that there will be an end to resting and sitting **

Frīgus vetat forās īre, │ The cold forbids (us) from going outdoors

Caelum vetat lascīvīre. │ The sky / weather forbids (us) from having fun

Domī sumus quiēscentēs, │ We are at home, resting

Nīl omnīnō facientēs. │ Doing nothing at all.

There’s a lot  in there; the only line I won’t look at is marked ** because it contains two points of grammar which need a lot of study and will be discussed in later posts.

2^nd declension nouns

• cattus, -ī [2/m]: cat
• caelum, -ī [2/n] sky; can also refer to weather

3^rd declension nouns

• fīnis, -is [/f]: end; finish
• frīgus, frīgoris [n]: cold
• imber, imbris [m]: rain
• sōl, -is [m]: sun

5^th declension nouns

• diēs, diēī [m / f]: day
• spēs, speī [f]: hope

1^st conjugation verbs

• vetō, -āre: forbid

2^nd conugation verbs

• gaudeō, -ēre : rejoice
• maneō, -ēre: stay
• rideō, -ēre: laugh
• splendeō, -ēre: shine

3^rd conjugation verbs

• fluō, -ere: flow; pour
• quiescō, -ere: rest
• faciō, -ere [3-iō]: do

4^th conjugation verbs

• lasciviō, -īre: be “frisky”

Irregular verbs

• eō, ire:  go
• sum, esse: to be
• possum, posse: to be able

3^rd declension adjective

• dēses, dēsidis: idle

participles

• faciēns, facientis > facientēs: doing
• quiēscēns, quiēscentis > quiēscentēs: resting

adverbs

• forās: outdoors
• intus: inside
• nec … nec: neither … nor …
• numquam: never
• omnīnō: completely; entirely
• semper: always
• sīc: thus; in this way

Other points:

[i] domī: at home; locative case

[ii] These two lines are impersonal expressions which don’t refer to a subject; English translates these using ‘it’, referring to nothing or nobody in particular

• taedet nōs: it bores us
• urceātim pluit: it rains in buckets

[iii] the accusative case used to indicate for how long something happens

• tōtum diem: for the whole day

[iv] nil = nihil: nothing

[v] -que: added to the end of a word: and