02.02.27: Level 1; First Latin Lessons (2); adjectives; nominative and accusative cases; 1st declension; singular

I: Agricola parvam fīliam habet. Parva fīlia agricolam amat. Agricola parvam fīliam amat. Soror mea quoque parvam puellam amat.

II: Agricola casam pulchram habet, sed casa nōn magna est. Casa mea quoque parva est. Parvam casam meam amō.

III: Parva puella epistulam habet. Epistula mea est. Cūr parva puella epistulam meam habet?

IV: Patriam meam amō, sed patriam tuam nōn amō. Soror mea patriam tuam amat. Cūr patriam meam nōn amās? Patria tua nōn est America.

V: Britannia īnsula magna et pulchra est. Hibernia quoque est magna et pulchra. Fīlia tua Britanniam et Hiberniam amat.

VI: Soror mea casam pulchram habet. Casa est pulchra sed parva. Parva puella est soror mea. Parvam puellam amō.

(1) vocabulary

• habet: (he / she / it) has
• agricola*: farmer
• casa: cottage
• epistula: letter
• fīlia: daughter
• puella: girl
• parva: small, little
• et: and
• sed: but
• cūr: why

*Although agricola ends in -a, it is masculine in gender; other Latin nouns ending in -a, especially when describing professions associated with males, are masculine e.g. nauta (sailor), aurīga (charioteer)

(2) All of the words in bold in the text are adjectives i.e. they describe a person or thing:

An adjective can be [i] attributive or [ii] predicative

[i] attributive: a little girl; in English the attributive adjective usually comes immediately before the noun. In Latin the attributive adjective may come before or after the noun:

• parva puella | the / a little girl
• īnsula magna | the / a large island
• Britannia īnsula magna et pulchra est. | Britain is a large and beautiful island.

[ii] predicative: the cottage is beautiful; the adjective follows the verb ‘to be’:

• casa est pulchra | the cottage is beautiful
• casa est pulchra sed parva | the cottage is beautiful but small

Latin word order is flexible and so, very often, the verb is at the end of the sentence:

• casa nōn magna est | the cottage is not big

(3) mea: my (or: mine);  tua: your (or: yours)

• epistula mea | my letter
• fīlia tua | your daughter

Because of the flexible word order, a sentence may translate in different ways:

• epistula mea est | it is my letter, or: the letter is mine

Important point:

(4) adjectives agree; their endings will show:

[i] the gender, number (singular / plural) and case of the attributive adjective:

nominative

• parva puella epistulam habet | the little girl has a letter
• Patria tua nōn est America | your homeland is not America

accusative

• parvam puellam amō | I love the little girl
• patriam meam amō | I love my homeland

[ii] the gender and number after the verb ‘to be’; the case will be nominative

• Hibernia quoque est magna et pulchra | Ireland is also large and beautiful

(5) important:

Not all feminine nouns end in -a; soror, for example, is feminine and the adjective agrees with the noun but it is not imitating the noun. These adjectives – known as 1^st / 2^nd declension adjectives – happen to have the same endings as 1^st declension nouns:

• soror mea | my sister

LINKS

28.02.24: introduction to adjectives

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/introduction-to-adjectives-refer-to.html

07.03.24: more on 1st / 2nd declension adjectives

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/070324-more-on-1st-2nd-declension.html

all posts:

https://adckl.blogspot.com/search/label/adjectives%3A%201st%20%2F%202nd%20declension

____________________

I: The farmer has a small daughter. The small daughter loves the farmer. The farmer loves the small daughter. My sister also loves a small girl.

II: The farmer has a beautiful cottage, but the cottage is not large. My cottage is also small. I love my small cottage.

III: The small girl has a letter. The letter is mine. Why does the small girl have my letter?

IV: I love my homeland, but I do not love your homeland. My sister loves your homeland. Why do you not love my homeland? Your homeland is not America.

V: Britain is a large and beautiful island. Ireland is also a large and beautiful island. Your daughter loves Britain and Ireland.

VI: My sister has a beautiful cottage. The cottage is beautiful but small. The small girl is my sister. I love the small girl.