Magister noster librōrum historicōrum studiōsus est; dē patriā nostrā antīquā libenter narrat. Proximō annō, dum apud nōs erat, dē vītā Britannōrum antīquōrum saepe narrābat. Patruus meus et amita mea libenter auscultābant; ego quoque nōnnumquam aderam. Sīc narrābat:
"Fere
tōta Britannia quondam silvīs densīs crēbra erat. Inter ōram maritimam
et fluvium Tamesam, ubi nunc agrī frūgiferī sunt, silva erat Anderida,
locus vastus et incultus. Silvae plēnae erant ferārum - lūpōrum,
ursōrum, cervōrum, aprōrum. Multa et varia māteria erat in silvīs
Britannicīs: sed fāgus Britannicīs antīquīs nōn erat nōta, sī Gāius
Iūlius vēra affirmat. Et pīnus Scōtica dēerat."
“Solum,
ubi līberum erat silvīs, frūgiferum erat. Metallīs quoque multīs abundābat
- plumbō albō et ferrō, atque, ut Tacitus affirmat, aurō argentōque. Margarītās
et ostreās dabat ōceanus: margarītae parvae erant, sed ostreae
magnae et praeclārae. Caelum tum quoque crēbrīs pluviīs et nebulīs ātrīs foedum
erat; sed pruīnae asperae aberant. Nātūra ōceanī 'pigra' erat, sī
testimōnium Tacitī vērum est: 'Nautae Rōmānī,' inquit, 'in aquā pigrā vix poterant
rēmigāre.' Sed vērumne est testimōnium? An nātūra nautārum Rōmanōrum nōn satis
impigra erat?”
Notes:
[1]
Solum, ubi līberum erat silvīs │ The ablative case expresses the idea of ‘separation’,
in this example: The soil, where it was free from forests
[2]
Review: imperfect tense
[1]
In Latin the tense expresses the following ideas:
[i]
something that happened more than once:
narrābat:
he used to tell (stories) or he told stories (frequently); in the text
the adverb saepe (often) clearly indicates the frequentative
nature of the action
In
English this can also be expressed by “he would tell stories
(whenever he visited us)” i.e. something he was in the habit of doing. English,
confusingly, could also say “he told stories” but the context in English would
suggest it happened more than once, possibly with the addition of an adverb such
as “He often told stories.” A “one-off” action e.g. “He killed
the king” is not expressed by the imperfect tense.
Patruus meus et amita mea libenter auscultābant.
│ My uncle and my aunt used to / would
listen willingly, i.e. this was something they did more than once.
Ego quoque nōnnumquam aderam. │
I too was sometimes there.
[ii]
something that was happening: “he was sitting in
the room and (was) telling stories”; English uses a past
continuous (past progressive) form here i.e. it was an ongoing action with
no indication of it having been completed.
[iii]
Depending on context it can imply “kept on doing something”, a good example of
which came up in an earlier post:
Dīcēbant ergō Pīlātō pontificēs Iūdaeōrum... (John 19) │
Therefore, the chief priests of the Jews were saying (i.e. kept
on saying) to Pilate …, one translation of this sentence is: “The
chief priests protested to Pilate” i.e. what they were saying
to Pilate went on for a long time and was repeated. They didn’t
just tell Pilate once.
[2]
The imperfect tense is easy to spot and the same endings are used for all the
conjugations. Here we'll look at the first conjugation.
labōrō,
-āre [1]: work
remove
the -re from the infinitive
labōrā¦re
> laborā-
Add
the following endings, and note again that the accent [ʹ] is only there to show where the verb is
stressed
labōrā́¦ba¦m [I
used to work; I was working]
labōrā́¦bā¦s
[you (sg.) used to work …] etc.
labōrā́bat
labōrābā́mus
labōrābā́tis
labōrā́bant
What
to look out for – in all the conjugations – is ba / bā: that’s the marker for
the imperfect tense, and all you are doing is adding the personal endings to
that. The first person singular /m/ labōrābam is also a personal
ending indicating ‘I’
[3]
imperfect tense of sum, esse [irr.]: to be
[i]
Proximō annō, dum apud nōs erat…
Last
year, while he was at our house …. i.e. the action was not
completed; it was ongoing.
Ego
quoque nōnnumquam aderam. │ I also was sometimes present
/ there, i.e. The writer was present more than once.
Although
sum, esse is an irregular verb, as soon as you know the first
part, the rest – like a domino effect – falls into place; just add the personal
endings.
éram:
I was [E-ram]
érās: you
(sg.) were [E-ras]
érat: he
/ she / it was [E-rat]
erā́mus: we
were [e-RA-mus]
erā́tis: you
(pl.) were [e-RA-tis]
érant: they
were [E-rant]
[ii]
Any verbs which have been formed from esse will also have the same
imperfect tense forms:
Ego
quoque nōnnumquam ad¦eram. │ I too was sometimes there / present.
pruīnae
asperae ab¦erant │ but harsh frosts were absent [= there were
no harsh frosts]
pīnus
Scōtica dē¦erat │ the Scots pine was lacking [ = there was a
lack of … / there weren’t any …]
[iii]
The same applies to the verb possum, posse: be able, which is a
combination of potis- (able) + esse (be)
pót¦eram:
I was able; I could
pót¦erās:
you (sg.) were able; you could
pót¦erat:
he / she / it could
pot¦erā́mus:
we could
pot¦erā́tis:
you (pl.) could
pót¦erant:
they could
All main posts on the imperfect tense:
https://mega.nz/file/DIVQXRSL#68KnGlwq6-6lFYguvSxIYL8p3b-kQHlGHDKjN_JSjnQ
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