GoldenRulesfortranslatingLatin

ThereareafewgoldenrulesfortranslatingLatinaccurately,andifyoufollowthem,
youwontgofarwrong.
1.
Lookattheverbfirst
NothinginasentencemakesanysenseandneverwilluntilyouknowWHATIS
HAPPENING.
InLatintheverbisnormallyattheendofthesentenceorclause.Findit!

2.
Checktheverbending
KnowingWHATishappeninginasentenceisvital;butyoualsoneedtoknowWHOIS
DOINGIT.Thekeyinformationforthisiscontainedintheverbending.
Lookatthatverbagainandfindoutwhichpersonitisin:1st,2ndor3rd;andwhich
number,i.e.whetheritissingularorplural.Asaguidetothis,thefollowingverb
endingsapplytothevastmajorityofLatinverbs:

1stpersonsingular
O(orM)
I
nd

2 personsingular
S
You(singular)

3rdpersonsingular
T
He,she,it

1stpersonplural
MUS
We

2ndpersonplural
TIS
You(plural)

3rdpersonplural
NT
They

3.
Findthesubject
Nowthatyouknowthepersonandnumberoftheverb,wearereadytofindoutWHO
isdoingtheverb(i.e.thesubject).Soherewego:

Iftheverbis1stpersonsingular,thesubjectmustbe:I
Iftheverbis2ndpersonsingular,thesubjectmustbe:you(singular)

Iftheverbis1stpersonplural,thesubjectmustbe:we
Iftheverbis2ndpersonplural,thesubjectmustbe:you(plural)

Sowithfourofthese,wehavetheansweralready.Withthe3rdpersonsingularand
plural,itisalittlemorecomplicated,butonlyalittle:

Iftheverbis3rdpersonsingular,thesubjectiseitherHe,sheoritoranounin
thenominativesingular
Iftheverbis3rdpersonplural,thesubjectiseithertheyoranouninthe
nominativeplural(ortwoormorenounsinthenominativejoinedtogetherby
and).

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4.
Findthenominatives
Ok,soifourverbis3rdperson,weneedtofindwhetherornotthereisanouninthe
nominativecase.Luckilyforus,themostusualplacetoputanouninthenominative
caseisattheverybeginningofthesentence,sothatstheplacetolook.
Butremember,youareonlylookingfornounsinthenominativeifyourverbis3rd
person.Dontwastetimeonthisifitisnt,becauseyouwillmakeamistake.

5.
Pauseforabreather
Onceyouaresurereallysurethatyouknowwhatishappeninginthesentence,
andwhoisdoingwhateveritis,youcantakeabreather.Therestofthesentenceis
nowgoingtobeeasy,soyoucanaffordalittleliedown.Butjustbeforeyougetback
towork,haveanothercheck.Beabsolutelysurethatyouhavefollowedtherulesin
Step3above,becauseifyouhavent,youwillgowrong.

6.
Findtheobject
Allsentencesmustcontainasubjectandaverb,butaverylargenumberalsocontain
anobject.Theobjectisthepersonorthingtowhomtheactionoftheverbisbeing
done.Theobjectgoesintheaccusativecase,soallyouneedtodonowisfindany
nounsintheaccusativecase.
Bewarehowever;nounsfollowingprepositions(e.g.adagrum,orinvillam)donot
count.Theyareintheaccusativesimplybecausetheprepositiontheyfollowis
followedbytheaccusative,notbecausetheyaretheobject.

7.
Translate:subject,verb,object
Younowhavethemainframeworkforyoursentence:subject,verb,object.Youknow
whodidwhattowhom.Writeitalldownbeforeyouforgetit.

8.
Dotherestcarefully
Nowthatyouhavebrokenthebackofthesentence,therestshouldjustfallintoplace.
Butyoucanstillgowrong,sotakecare.Lookattheendingsoftheremainingwords,
andtranslatethemaccurately,inthecasesthattheyarein.Dontjustthrowthemin
anyoldhow.

Nowitsyourturn

Ifyoufollowtheserules,youwillnevergowronginyourtranslatingfromthis
wonderfullanguage.

ForfulldetailsofhowtotranslateLatinaccurately,havealookatmySoyoureally
wanttolearnLatincourse,availablefromwww.galorepark.co.uk.Andifyougetstuck,
justsendmeanemailtoLatin@galorepark.co.ukandIllseeifIcanhelp.

NicholasOulton

Tel:01580764242Web:www.galorepark.co.uk

GaloreParkPublishingLtd