Saturday, February 28, 2026

16.07.26: Level 1 (review); shopping [3] dialogue (1) text; vocabulary and notes

A: Salvē, tabernārie!

B: Salva sīs, domina!

A: Quid agis?

B: Optimē, grātiās tibi agō. Et tū?

A: Haud male.

B: Quid hodiē quaeris?

A: Ūvās nigrās quaerō. Habēsne ūvās?

B: Ūvās nōn vendō. Ūvae in vīnētō coluntur. Quid aliud quaeris?

A: Ostreās emere volō. Vendisne ostreās?

B: Minimē. Ostreās nōn habeō. Quot ostreās emere vīs? Piscātōrēs multās ostreās in forō piscātōriō vendunt.

A: Fabās igitur volō. Habēsne fabās?

B: Fabās numquam vendō. Fabās dēliciōsās in forō olitoriō emere potes.

A: Duās vaccās emere volō. Vendisne vaccās?

B: Meherculē, esne insāna? Vaccās hic nōn vendimus! Nūllum animal hīc venditur! Agricolae vaccās pulchrās in forō boāriō vendunt.

A: Cūr nihil vendis? Cūr neque ūvās neque ostreās neque fabās neque vaccās habēs?

B: Edepol, in tabernā librāriā es! Librōs tantum vendō!

A: Librōsne vendis? Suntne dēliciōsī?

Vocabulary

[1] Verbs

habeō, -ēre [2]: have

colō, -ere [3]: grow, cultivate

emō, -ere [3]: buy

quaerō, -ere [3]: look for, seek

vendō, -ere [3]: sell

possum, posse [irregular]: be able, can

volō, velle [irregular]: want

[2] Nouns

[i] First Declension

agricola, -ae [1/m]: farmer

faba, -ae [1/f]: bean

ostrea, -ae [1/f]: oyster

taberna, -ae [1/f]: shop

ūva, -ae [1/f]: grape

vacca, -ae [1/f]: cow

[ii] Second Declension

liber, librī [2/m]: book

tabernārius, -ī [2/m]: shopkeeper

forum, -ī [2/n]: market; marketplace

vīnētum, -ī [2/n]: vineyard

[iii] Third Declension

piscātor, -ōris [3/m]: fisherman

animal, -ālis [3/n]: animal

[3] Adjectives

(a)

alius, alia, aliud: other

dēliciōsus, -a, -um: delicious

multus, -a, -um: much; (pl.) many

niger, nigra, nigrum: black

nūllus, -a, -um: no (in the sense of ‘not any’)

pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum: beautiful

(b)

librārius, -a, -um: of books

  • taberna, -ae [1/f] librāria: bookshop

olitōrius, -a, -um: of vegetables

piscātōrius, -a, -um: of fish

boārius, -a, -um: of cattle

  • forum boārium: cattle market
  • forum olitōrium: vegetable market
  • forum piscātōrium: fish market

Notes

[1] Salvē, tabernārie! The vocative case used when addressing people directly:

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/addressing-people-directly-look-at.html

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/declensions-and-cases-1-nominative.html

[2]

Nūllum animal hīc venditur! │ No animal is sold here!

Ūvae in vīnētō coluntur. │ Grapes are grown in a vineyard.

If you are still at an early stage of Latin, look out for –(t)ur / -(nt)ur at the end of a verb which most often marks the passive voice i.e. the subject of the sentence is not doing anything; something is being done to it.

Agricolae ūvās colunt. │ The farmers grow grapes.

Ūvae in vīnētō coluntur. │ Grapes are grown in a vineyard.

Agricola vaccam in forō boāriō vendit. │ The farmer sells / is selling a cow in the cattle market.

Vacca in forō boāriō venditur. │ The cow is (being) sold in the cattle market.

[3]

Meherculē! │ by Hercules!

Edepol! < ē + deus + pol │ by (the god) Pollux!

Both are examples of interjections i.e. words or phrases that express emotion, not unlike “My goodness!” or “Heavens above!” They commonly appear in, for example, the plays of Plautus, but are not offensive in any way.

[4]

Librōsne vendis?

-ne can be added to the first word of a sentence to make a question unless there is a question word already present i.e. you cannot add it to words such as quid? (what?) or quot? (how many?)

The first word with -ne is most often a verb:

Esne insāna? │ Are you mad?

Habēsne …? │Do you have …?

Vendisne …?│ Do you sell …?

Suntne dēliciōsī? │ Are they delicious?

However, a Roman author may shift the word order so that the key word being questioned appears first:

Librōsne vendis? │ Do you sell books?

English can do something similar by adding spoken emphasis or making a change in sentence structure: It’s books that you sell?

ne id dīcere audēs? (Plautus) │ You dare to say that? / It’s you who dares to say that?

No comments: