20.03.26: Level 1 (review); presentation; 3rd person pronouns; demonstrative adjectives and pronouns [1]

Video notes

Latin has different ways of expressing the 3^rd person pronouns ‘he’ and ‘she’; we focus here only on two of them:

[i] They are generally not used unless there is some need to be specific i.e. the verb alone is enough.

Quis est? │ Who is (s)he?

Servus est │ He’s a slave.

Ancilla est │ She’s a maidservant.

Amīcus meus est│ He’s my friend.

Magistra nostra est │ She’s our teacher.

[ii] hic [masculine] / haec [feminine] are used when referring to somebody near the speaker, and can translate variously as:

Quis est hic? Who is this [person (male)] / this man / he?

Quis est haec? Who is this [person (female)] / this woman / she?

Hic est amīcus meus │ This / he is my friend.

Haec est magistra nostra │ This / she is our teacher.

In grammar they are known in this context as demonstrative pronouns i.e. they are used in place of a noun.

[iii] Hic and haec can also be used with nouns and act as demonstrative adjectives  i.e. the equivalent of ‘this boy, this lady’:

hic puer │ this boy

Quis est hic puer? │ Who is this boy?

Hic puer fīlius meus est │ This boy is my son.

haec puella │ this girl

Quis est haec puella? │ Who is this girl?

Haec puella fīlia mea est │ This girl is my daughter.

[iv] Although most first declension nouns are feminine, there are some which are masculine in gender because they were traditionally associated with male occupations

agricola: farmer

nauta: sailor

Words which agree with them are masculine in gender:

Hic est nauta │ This (man) / he is a sailor.

Hic agricola in agrō labōrat │ This farmer is working in a field.

[v] A small group of nouns ending in -er are 2^nd declension masculine:

magister: teacher

puer: boy