Certamen Grammarian Study Guide (Level I)

___Step 1: Know how to do everything from class really well! ___Step 2: Learn how to conjugate and translate the imperfect and future tenses of 1st conjugation verbs and sum, esse ___Step 3: Learn the 2nd declension, masculine and neuter ___Step 4: Learn the 20 most important Latin prepositions and how to use them ___Step 5: Learn how to use the genitive and dative cases ___Step 6: Learn the imperative (for verbs) and the vocative (for nouns) ___Step 7: Learn how adjectives work in Latin ___Step 8: Learn how to form adverbs ___Step 9: Learn the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th conjugations ___Step 10: Learn the 3rd declension

Certamen Grammarian Study Guide (Level I)

How the IMPERFECT TENSE works in Latin

How to conjugate it: (using porto, portare as an example Take off the re from the infinitive Add ba- (the imperfect sign) Add the personal endings, using m for 1st person singular portaportabaportabam portabas portabat portabamus portabatis portabant

How to translate it: (the bold translations are the most common)

1) I was carrying 2) I carried 3) I used to carry 4) I kept on carrying

How to conjugate sum, esse in the imperfect tense:

IGNORE the sum, esse part; Just start off with erathe imperfect sign, but instead of bause eraAdd the personal eram endings eras erat IMPORTANT RULE TO REMEMBER! The verb TO BE (sum, esse) is allERgic to Bs!

eramus eratis erant

When it sees a b- coming,

it goes to the ER!

Certamen Grammarian Study Guide (Level I)

How the FUTURE TENSE works in Latin

How to conjugate it: (using porto, portare as an example Take off the re from the infinitive Add bo, bi, bi, bi, bi, bu(the future sign) Add the personal endings, using o for 1st person singular portaportabo portabiportabiportabo portabis portabit portabiportabiportabuportabimus portabitis portabunt

How to translate it: (bold is most common)

1) I will carry 2) I shall carry IGNORE the sum, esse part; Just start off with the future sign, but instead of bo-, etc., use ero, etc. Add the personal endings

How to conjugate sum, esse in the future tense:

ero erieri-

erierieruerimus eritis erunt

ero eris erit IMPORTANT RULE TO REMEMBER! The verb TO BE (sum, esse) is allERgic to Bs!

When it sees a b- coming,

it goes to the ER!

IMPORTANT OBSERVATION!

Certamen Grammarian Study Guide (Level I)

The only difference between imperfect and future in Latin is the vowel that comes after the b-/er-

Here is the chart of endings for the 2nd declension masculine

CASE NOMINATIVE GENITIVE DATIVE ACCUSATIVE ABLATIVE SINGULAR PLURAL

-us/-(e)r -i -o -um -o

-i -orum -s -os -s

There are 5 masculine words in the 2nd declension that end in (e)r instead of us in the nominative singular. They can be remembered with the mnemonic device PALM V Puer(boy) Ager(field) Liber(book) Magister(teacher) Vir(man

Certamen Grammarian Study Guide (Level I) Some of the r words only have an e- in the nominative, others have it in every case. The genitive will tell you whether they lose their e- or not: o puer, pueri (keeps it) ager, agri (loses it) o liber, libri (loses it) magister, magistri (loses it) Each of the r words has a derivative which also shows whether the estays or not o puerile (has an e) agriculture (no e) o library (no e) magistrate (no e)

Remember, agricola, poeta, etc. are masculine, but they only use 1st declension endings. Latin nouns belong to only one declension.

Here is the chart of endings for the 2nd declension neuter

CASE NOMINATIVE GENITIVE DATIVE ACCUSATIVE ABLATIVE SINGULAR PLURAL

-um -i -o -um -o

-a -orum -s -a -s

Certamen Grammarian Study Guide (Level I)

2nd declension neuter nouns use the same endings as 2nd declension masculine nouns EXCEPT in the following three cases (bolded above): o Nominative Singular o Nominative Plural o Accusative Plural NEUTER RULES! 1. Nominative and Accusative always have the same ending 2. Nominative and Accusative plural always end in a Here are some 2nd declension neuter nouns to memorize: o bellum, belli, n: war o caelum, caeli, n: sky, heaven o verbum, verbi, n: word o donum, doni, n: gift o periculum, periculi, n: danger (think peril) o auxilium, auxilii, n: help, aid o rooms of the house (cubiculum, atrium, etc) o places in the thermae (baths): frigidarium, caldarium, tepidarium

Latin Prepositions
In both Latin and English, a preposition is followed by a noun. This noun is called the object of the preposition. in the forest in silv forest is the object of in silv is the object of in

In Latin, the object of a preposition can be in either the accusative or the ablative case. Most prepositions can have their object in only one of the two cases. SID SPACE is the Ablative Astronaut; the letters in his name tell you which prepositions take their object in the ablative case. Sub In De Sine Pro under in down from; about without for; on behalf of; instead of

Certamen Grammarian Study Guide (Level I)

Ab/A Cum Ex/E away from, from; by with out of, from

All other prepositions take their object in the accusative. ad (toward) circum (around) inter (between) per (through) prope (near) super (above) ante (before; in front of) contra (against) intra (within) post (after; behind) propter (on account of) trans (across)

In can be used with the ablative or accusative in villam = into the country house in vill = in the country house

GENITIVE CASE
The genitive case is used to show possession. In English, there are two ways to show that a particular noun possesses something: 1. Add s or s to the noun a. Examples: boys, girls, Caesars, Marcus 2. Use the preposition of before the noun a. Examples: of the boy, of the girl, of Caesar, of Marcus In Latin, you simply put the noun in the genitive case to show that it possesses something. Important: 1. There is NO s or s in Latin!

Certamen Grammarian Study Guide (Level I)

2. There is no word for of in Latin!

To say girls in Latin: puellae (genitive singular) To say boys in Latin: pueri (genitive singular) To say of the boy in Latin: pueri (genitive singular) To say of the girls in Latin: puellarum (genitive plural)

CAREFUL! In the sentence The girls father is a poet father is the subject and nominative, while girls is a possessive noun and genitive. One more thing: The genitive singular tells you what declension a noun is in: genitive singular ending -ae -i -is -s -ei declension 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

DATIVE CASE
FIRST of all: Remember that dative is derived from do, dare to give and thus the dative case is the giving case. The dative case is used for the indirect object of a Latin sentence. Definition of Indirect object : the person to whom something is given, shown, or told. Look at the following sentences: I gave the dog a bone. I showed the boy a picture. I told the girl a story. In each of the above sentences, the indirect object is in bold. To translate the words in bold, just put them in the dative case.

Certamen Grammarian Study Guide (Level I)

Notice that I can say each of those sentences a slightly different way without changing their meaning. I gave a bone to the dog. I showed a picture to the boy. I told a story to the girl. In each of the above sentences, the phrases in bold are translated by putting the words dog, boy and girl in the dative case. There is no separate word for to; the dative case of a word can mean to the dog/boy/girl/etc If you see one of the following words in a sentence, there will probably be an indirect object/dative case in the sentence: 1. do, dare to give 2. demonstro, demonstrare to show 3. narro, narrare, to tell CAREFUL! When you have an indirect object, you probably also have a direct object. The direct object is a thing, while the indirect object is a person. The girl is giving the poet. money = direct object = accusative case = pecuniam poet = indirect object = dative case = poetae Puella pecuniam poetae dat.

the IMPERATIVE mood

Study this! Learn it! Know it!

(and thats an order!)

The imperative is used to give commands. It is really easy! To give a command to one person, use the singular imperative: ambula! To give a command to more than one person, use the plural imperative: ambulate! How to form the singular imperative: take off the re from the infinitive pugnare MINUS re = pugna!

Certamen Grammarian Study Guide (Level I)

How to form the plural imperative: add te to the singular imperative pugna + te = pugnate!

How to translate imperatives:

Fight! Walk! Stand! Carry! Quiet! etc.

The negative imperative is used to tell someone not to do something. e.g. Dont forget this! How to form the singular NEGATIVE imperative: How to form the plural NEGATIVE imperative: How to translate NEGATIVE imperatives:

noli & infinitive

noli pugnare!

add te to noli

nolite pugnare!

Dont fight! Dont talk! etc.