12.06.26: Level 1 (review); asking for directions; places in a town [5] Traupman [ii] notes

[1] Potesne … ? Can you…?

possum, posse [irr.]: to be able

This verb is irregular, but it is a “fusion” of potis (able) + the verb you already know i.e. sum, esse [irregular]: to be

possum: I am able; I can

potes: you (sg.) can

potest: (s)he / it can

possumus: we can

potestis: you (pl.) can

possunt: they can

[2] What you are able to do is expressed by an infinitive:

Potesne mē audīre? │ Can you hear me? [Are you able to hear me?]

Ignōsce mihi, tē audīre nōn possum. │ Forgive me / I’m sorry, I can’t hear [I am unable to hear] you.

Potesne mē adiuvāre? │ Can you help me?

Certē tē adiuvāre possum. │ Of course I can help you.

[3] volō, velle [irregular]: want

volō: I want

vīs: you (sg.) want

vult: (s)he / it wants

volumus: we want

vultis: you (pl.) want

volunt: they want

[4] Again, what you want to do is expressed by the infinitive:

Quid vīs facere ¦ in oppidō? │ What do you want to do ¦ in town?

In forō dēambulāre volō. │ I want to take a walk in the market place.

Quid vīs emere? │ What do you want to buy?

Cibum emere volō. │ I want to buy food.

[5] exadversum [either an adverb or a preposition with the accusative]: opposite; facing e.g. other side of the street

Priusquam ad portam veniās, apud ipsum lacum est pistrilla et exadversum est fabrica (Terence)

• Before you come to the gate, near the lake itself there is a small bakery and opposite there is a workshop.

[6] A nice – and polite – phrase to use when you’re completely lost, or possibly desperate:

Ubi terrārum est …? │ Where in the world is …?

Ubi terrārum est lātrīna?!! │ Where in the world is the toilet?!!

Tacitus makes a derogatory remark concerning a gladiatorial show put on by Vatinius:

…inter foedissima eius aulae ostenta fuit, sūtrīnae tabernae alumnus, …

• … one of the most conspicuously infamous sights in the imperial court, the product of a shoemaker's shop,…

Image #1: a taberna sūtrīna, a shoemaker or shoe repairer’s workshop

Image #2: Ubi terrārum est Argīlētum? │ Where in the world is the Argiletum?

The image shows you where in the world the Argiletum actually is.

29.07.25: Level 1; Road to Latin [22]; Tullia, magistra fīliārum I

[present tense of sum, and of verbs of the first and second conjugation]

Tullia Cornēliam et Secundam linguam Latīnam docet. Tullia sevēra magistra est; itaque puellae dīligenter student.

"Ego sum (I am) fēmina. Ego sum mātrōna Rōmāna. Tū (You), Cornēlia, es (are) puella. Tū es fīlia mea. Secunda quoque est puella Rōmāna. Secunda est parva fīlia mea. Sum matrōna Rōmāna; es fīlia mea; Secunda est parva fīlia mea."

Vocabulary

dīligenter: diligently, carefully

doceō, docēre [2]: teach

Latīna: Latin

lingua, -ae [1/f]: tongue, language

mātrōna, -ae [1/f]:  matron; married woman

mea: my​ (feminine singular)

sevēra: severe

studeō, studēre [2]: be eager; study

Exercise [1]

Respondē Latīnē:

1. Quis sum?
2. Quis es Cornēlia?
3. Quis est Secunda?
4. Quis es Secunda?
5. Quis est Cornēlia?
6. Quis est Tullia?

"Sum incola Rōmae. Tū, Cornēlia, quoque es incola Rōmae. Ego et tū sumus (are) incolae Rōmae. Nōs (We) sumus laetae. Tū, Cornēlia, es fīlia mea. Tū quoque, Secunda, es fīlia mea. Vōs (You all), puellae, estis (are) fīliae meae. Estis puellae cārae. Lucia est fīlia Camillae. Tertia est parva fīlia Camillae. Lucia et Tertia sunt fīliae Camillae."

meae: my (feminine plural)

Exercise [2]

Respondē Latīnē:

1. Quis sum?
2. Quis es?
3. Estisne incolae Rōmae?
4. Nōnne sumus laetae, Tullia?
5. Cuius fīliae sunt Lucia et Tertia?

Only the key points will be referred to since these texts deal with topics that have been covered extensively in earlier posts; links to the most important posts are given below

Notes

[1] subject pronouns

ego (or egō): I

tū: you (singular)

is, ea, id: he / she / it (see links)

nōs: we

vōs: you (plural)

eī [m] / eae [f] / ea [n]: they (see links)

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/subject-pronouns-it-has-already-been.html

https://www.facebook.com/groups/latinforstarters/posts/397325229545418/

https://mega.nz/file/2B8AFZIB#JhIUpdxyusiK2MZ953PleUhHNmZ0Yd5wrXXWojbs8o8

[2] the verb esse (to be)

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/02/070525-level-1-readings-6-11-review-18.html

https://www.facebook.com/groups/latinforstarters/posts/396233422987932

https://mega.nz/file/DZNlEAbB#l82i7KjEFJcpsXTeH42gMXAgWGQwzX78MV66llDnSHY

15.05.24: review; eō, īre: go [1]

This verb has been discussed a lot in previous posts and it is one that you need to know well.

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/160324-eo-ire-irregular-go-compounds-of.html

The verb is classified as irregular, but it shares certain features of 4th conjugation verbs. Below is the 4th conjugation verb audiō, audīre alongside eō, īre and you can see how close the endings match. In the present tense, most of eō, īre simply looks like the endings of the 4th conjugation

audīre [4]: to hear │ īre: to go

audiō: I hear │ eō: I go

audīs: you (sg.) hear │īs: you (sg.) go

audit: (s)he / it hears │it: (s)he / it goes

audīmus: we hear │īmus: we go

audītis: you (pl.) hear │ ītis: you (pl.) go

audiunt: they hear │ eunt: they go

• Nōs ad lūdum īmus. │We go / we’re going to school.
• Omnēs ad Mārcum eunt. │ Everyone (all people i.e. plural) goes to(wards) Marcus.

Imperative / command forms:

audī! (sg.): listen! │ī! (a one letter command): go!

audīte! (pl.): listen! │īte!: go!

And all the fans of Python’s ‘Life of Brian’ know it.

Rōmānī, īte domum! │ Romans, go home!

Image #1: review of eō, īre in the present tense

Image #2: can you match them up?

Image #3: If you want to tell the Romans to go home, this is how you do it!

28.04.24: review; irregular verbs

In the Ecce Romani posts, references were made to a couple of verbs that need to be looked at carefully; Latin has very few irregular verbs i.e. those that don’t conform to patterns. Since the group began we’ve looked at some of these; below are links to where they are referred to.

[i] sum, esse: be

[ii] possum, posse: be able

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/050424-working-with-different-tenses.html

[iii] eō, īre: go

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/050424-working-with-different-tenses_26.html

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/160324-eo-ire-irregular-go-compounds-of.html

[iv] nōlō, nolle: not want

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/05/190424-nolo-nolle.html

[v] vōlō, velle: want

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/230324-asking-for-directions-irregular.html

19.04.24: nolō, nōlle

This is a follow-up on a verb used in the video in the previous post.

The verb sciō, scīre [4]: know has an opposite: nesciō, nescīre [4]: not know i.e. the verb itself expresses negation with no need for nōn before it.

nesciō: I don’t know; *nōn sciō is wrong

In part, the verb volō, velle: want has a negative equivalent …

nōlō, nōlle: not want

In the video, Vincent said:

Nōlō domī manēre et domīre: I don’t want to stay at home and sleep.

Parts of this verb are formed with a single word, and parts of it use nōn like the negative of any other verb:

velle (want) ¦ nōlle (not want)

volō: I want ¦ nōlō: I don’t want [i.e. *nōn volō is wrong]

vīs: you (sg.) want ¦ nōn vīs: you (sg.) don’t want

vult: he / she / it wants ¦ nōn vult: he / she / it doesn’t want

volumus: want ¦ nōlumus: we don’t want

vultis: you (pl.) want ¦ nōn vultis: you (pl.) don’t want

volunt: they want ¦ nōlunt: they don’t want

The present, imperfect and future forms of the verb (the three tenses covered so far) are posted below. You will see that, in the imperfect and future tenses, the idea is expressed by a single word; nōn is not used at all.

24.03.24: Traupman [1]; irregular verb possum, posse (to be able)

A: Potesne mē addūcere in oppidum? │ Can you take me into town?

B: Certē. Quid vīs facere in oppidō? │ Of course, what do you want to do in town?

A: Multa. Prīmum volō īre in tabernam sūtrīnam. │ A lot of things. First, I want to go to [into] the shoe shop.

B: Quid ibi emere vīs? │ What do you want to buy there?

A: Soleās emere volō. Ubi possum librōs emere? │ I want to buy sandals. Where can I buy books?

B: Multae tabernae lībrāriae in Argīlētō sunt. │ There are many book shops in the Argiletum*.

A: Ubi terrārum est Argīlētum? │ Where in the world is the Argiletum?

B: Argīlētum exadversum macellum est. │ The Argiletum is opposite the market.

*Argiletum: a street in Ancient Rome, famous for its booksellers and referred by several Roman authors.

Notes

[1] Pōtesne … ? Can you…?

And so, we can now look at another irregular verb:

possum, posse [irr.]: to be able

This verb however is a “fusion” of potis (able) + the verb you already know i.e. sum, esse [irr.]: to be

1. possum: I am able; I can
2. potes: you (sg.) can
3. potest: he / she / it can
4. possumus: we can
5. potestis: you (pl.) can
6. possunt: they can

Like volō, velle [irr.]: want, what you are able todo is expressed by an infinitive

Potesne mē audīre? │ Can you hear me?

Ignōsce mihi, tē audīre nōn possum. │ Forgive me / I’m sorry, I can’t hear you.

Potesne mē adiuvāre? │ Can you help me?

• Certē tē adiuvāre possum. │ Of course I can help you.

[2]

Quid vīs facere ¦ in oppidō? │ What do you want to do ¦ in town?

• In forō dēambulāre volō. │ I want to take a walk in the market place.

Quid vīs emere? │ What do you want to buy?

• Cibum emere volō. │ I want to buy food.

[3] exadversum [either an adverb or a preposition with the accusative]: opposite; facing e.g. other side of the street

Terence, in the same dialogue from which the previous directions were selected, also used this:

• Priusquam ad portam venias, apud ipsum lacum est pistrilla et exadversum est fabrica.

Before you come to the gate, near the lake itself there is a small bakery and opposite there is a workshop.

[4] A nice – and polite – phrase to use when you’re completely lost, or possibly desperate: Ubi terrārum est …? Where in the world is …?

• Ubi terrārum est lātrīna?!!

Tacitus makes a derogatory remark concerning a gladiatorial show put on by Vatinius:

• Vatīnius inter foedissima eius aulae ostenta fuit, sūtrīnae tabernae alumnus, …

The man was one of the most conspicuously infamous sights in the imperial court, the product of a shoemaker's shop,…

The first image shows a taberna sūtrīna, a shoemaker or shoe repairer’s workshop, and the second shows you where in the world the Argiletum actually is.

23.03.24: Asking for directions; irregular verb volō, velle (want)

We can use the topic of directions to do further practice in command forms and learn some new verbs and phrases.

[1] Asking where something is

[dīc mihi [dative] ... Tell me [Say to me]

• dīc mihi, quaesō, ... Tell me, please, …
• dīc mihi, amābō tē, ... Tell me, please …

dīcō, dīcere [3]: say; tell. You need the command form which, in the singular, is a little irregular because it does not end in -e; the plural is regular

• dīc! (talking to one person)
• dīcite! (talking to more than one person)

quaesō, quaesere [3]: ask (for); seek, but here in the 1st person, it translates as ‘please’

amābō tē: it may sound odd but another way of saying ‘please’ literally means “I shall love you”.

• Dīc mihi, quaesō, ubi est forum? Tell me, please, where is the market?
• Dīc mihi, amābō tē, ubi sunt thermae? Tell me, please, where are the baths?

Think of other places in a town you already know in Latin. How would you ask where they are? Here are some examples:

• amphitheātrum
• fluvius
• forum holitōrium
• forum piscātōrium
• taberna lībrāria
• tabernae
• templum
• thermopōlium

[2] Asking if something is nearby:

“Cōnsulis castra in propinquō sunt” (Livy): The consul’s camp is near (at hand).

“Vīcī erant in propinquō.” (Curtius Rufus): There were villages near by.

• Estne in propinquō caupōna? Is there a pub around here?

[3] How to say that you want to go somewhere.

Here we can look at a new and important irregular verb: vōlō, velle: want

1. volō: I want
2. vīs: you (sg.) want
3. vult: he / she / it wants
4. volumus: we want
5. vultis: you (pl.) want
6. volunt: they want

The verb functions in the same way as English i.e. if you say that you want to do something, then what you want to do is in the infinitive. Although Latin word order is flexible, stick to the pattern of putting the main verb at the end:

• Domum īre volō. I want to go home.
• Rōmam īre volō. I want to go to Rome.
• In Ītaliam īre volō. I want to go to Italy.

You can see that there are different ways of expressing ‘to’:

There are a handful of words, including domus that don’t need a preposition; the accusative alone is enough.

Place names e.g. Rōma also don’t require a preposition; again, the accusative is enough: Rōmam (to Rome)

• In Ītaliam īre volō: Italy’s a pretty big place and so you go ‘into’ it! And you would do the same with the names of other countries.
• Ad Ītaliam navigāre volō: I want to sail to Italy i.e. towards it, in the direction of it

The preposition may vary depending on precisely what you want to say, but with most places you can simply use ad + accusative.

• Ad tabernam īre volō. I want to go to the shop.
• Ad forum īre volō. I want to go to the market.
• Vīsne ad forum īre? Do you want to go to the market?
• Volō illūc īre. I want to go (to) there. [illūc is an adverb meaning ‘to there’ or ‘to that place’]

In the next post, with the help of Plautus, we’ll look at how you give directions.

• “Ī … ī ad forum” (Plautus). Go …go to the forum!

16.03.24: eō, īre [irregular]: go; compounds of eō, īre

If you learned French as a non-native speaker you may remember with rolling eyes the term “irregular verbs” i.e. those verbs which do not follow the usual conjugation pattern, and the irregularities of which can appear completely random: je fais, tu fais, il fait, nous faisons, vous faites, ils font. Latin is much kinder because it has very few irregular verbs and those verbs which are classified as irregular are far less “shots in the dark” than irregular verbs in other languages. You already know one:

esse: to be; no, there is no way of working out how that verb is conjugated based upon its infinitive alone, but the personal endings remain clearly marked:

• sum [/m/ is also a personal ending referring to the first person singular ‘I’; it does not appear often in the present tense, but it does occur in other tenses]
• es
• est
• sumus
• estis
• sunt

The irregular verb introduced in the previous unit on daily routine is eō, īre: to go [mark as irregular: irr.]:

• eō: I go
• īs: you (sg.) go
• it: he / she / it goes
• īmus: we go
• ītis: you (pl.) go
• eunt: they go

compound verbs

a compound verb is one that is made of two or more parts e.g. over¦eat, black¦mail, under¦estimate etc. In Latin, compound verbs are often created with prefixes, many of which also function as prepositions. With eō, īre you can add prefixes that, in fact, you aready know as prepositions. Here are a few examples although other compounds with eō exist.

ā / ab [(away) from] > ab¦eō, abīre: go away; depart

ad [towards] > ad¦eō, adīre: go to; approach

circum [around] > circum¦eō, circumīre: go around; surround

ē / ex [out of] > ex¦eō, exīre: go out

in [in(to) > on] in¦eō, inīre: go into

trāns [across] > trāns¦eō, trānsīre: go across

The prefix re- in English in, for example, reread and renew is derived from Latin re(d)- with the same original idea of ‘again’ or ‘back’: redeō, redīre: go back; return

Another commonly found example is: praeter (preposition + accusative): past > praeter¦eō, praeterīre: go past

The slightly odd one is per¦eō, perīre, using the preposition per (through) as a prefix: its meaning is ‘to perish; pass away; die’

You might want to remember this Mediaeval line:

Novus, novus amor est quō pereō!

It’s a new, new love by which I perish!

A word of advice / warning: Latin verbs can have multiple meanings which, while still rooted in the basic sense of the verb, are used to convey many abstract concepts e.g.

domum inīre: to go into a house, but bellum inīre (begin a war), consilium inīre (take a resolution)

You can fall into the trap of becoming too involved in what can be lists of definitions. When reading Latin, the best approach is to look at the use of a word in context (many good publications will provide notes) while bearing in mind the root meaning of the word.

23.02.24: verb esse (to be); talking about jobs

esse: to be; one of the most important verbs to know in Latin

sum: I am

es: you (singular) are

est: he / she / it is

sumus: we are

estis: you (plural) are

sunt: they are

[i] The first point to note is the absence of pronouns i.e. the words ‘I, you etc.’ Latin does have pronouns, and we will look at them, but the verb endings themselves indicate what in grammar is called the person and number i.e. who is performing the action and whether more than one person is performing that action; sum means ‘I am’ and the meaning is clear without the need for pronouns.

[ii] Latin verbs have two forms for ‘you’ depending on whether you are talking to one person or more than one person. Unlike, for example, French, German and Spanish, where the status of the person and / or your relationship with that person will determine which form of ‘you’ is used, that is not the case in Latin: whether you are talking to a slave, your sister, a shopkeeper or an emperor, you use the singular form.

[iii] In terms of grammar, we refer to the forms of the verb as follows:

sum: first person singular

es: second person singular

est: third person singular

sumus: first person plural

estis: second person plural

sunt: third person plural

It is important to become familiar with these terms since they are used all the time when discussing verb forms.

Now, it is easy to say what job you do. However, if you’re a graphic designer, then Classical Latin will not provide you with a word for it. Therefore, you can either find a ‘New Latin’ word (i.e. words that have been created in Latin to serve our contemporary needs, and such information is available online) or you can simply lie and say that you train gladiators….

Salvē! Nōmen mihi Gāius est. Lanista sum.

Hello, my name’s Gaius. I am a gladiator trainer.

Nūntius es. You (sg.) are a messenger

Iūlia ancilla est. Julia is a maidservant.

And we can [i] add -ne to the verb to ask questions and [ii] put nōn before the verb to make the statement negative:

Esne magister? Are you a teacher?

Minimē, magister nōn sum. Medicus sum. No, I'm not a teacher. I'm a doctor.

Estne agricola? Is he a farmer?

Minimē, agricola nōn est. Rēx est. No, he's not a farmer. He's the king.

Look carefully at the list of jobs below. You will see that the nouns have been divided into groups. For the purposes of the next post on declensions, focus on those nouns that end in [i] –(i)us, [ii] -er and [iii] -a; the other nouns we will look at in a later post.

Group [i]: ending in –(i)us

-us

• architectus: architect; master builder
• coquus: cook
• discipulus: pupil; student
• grammaticus: a grammar school or secondary school teacher of grammar (originally Latīn or Greek)
• lēgātus: envoy; ambassador (a word that commonly occurs in Latīn literature since, during battles, they were often sent to negotiate settlements)
• medicus: doctor
• servus: slave; servant
• vīlicus: steward of a farm or an estate

-ius

• argentārius / mēnsārius: banker; money-changer
• ēmissārius: spy
• gemmārius: jeweller
• nūntius: messenger
• plumbārius: plumber
• raedārius: coach / carriage driver
• sagittārius: archer

Group [iī] ending in -er

• faber: carpenter; workman
• magister: teacher
• signifer: standard-bearer (in the army)

Group [iiī] ending in -a

Masculine

• agricola: farmer
• aurīga: charioteer
• lanista: trainer / manager of a team of gladiators
• nautā: sailor
• pīrāta: pirate
• poēta: poet

Feminine

• ancilla: maidservant
• discipula: pupil (f)
• magistra: teacher (f)
• medica: doctor (f)
• rēgīna: queen

Be able to recognise the following nouns, but don’t focus on their endings yet.

• gladiātor: gladiator
• imperātor: commander; general; emperor
• pāstor: shepherd
• piscātor: fisherman; piscātrīx: fisherwoman
• pistor: baker (m); pistrīx: baker (f)
• scrīptor: writer (m); scrīptrīx: writer (f)
• textor: weaver (m); textrīx: weaver (f)
• tōnsor: barber (m); tōnstrīx: barber (f)
• vēnditor: seller; vendor
• cōnsul: consul (the highest political office in the Roman republic)
• caupō: innkeeper
• fullō: fuller (a launderer; a person who finished processing fabric, later to be made into clothing, blankets etc.)
• iūdex: judge
• rēx: king
• mīles: soldier

[i] The images show some of the occupations in Ancient Rome. Can you match them with the words from the list above?

[ii] A more detailed list of second declension masculine nouns ending in -er is also posted below.