Grammar Study Guide for Latin I Stages 1-12
Nouns: describe a person, place or thing.
Declensions: Latin nouns belong to “families” called declensions. Each declension has its on set of endings
for the various cases.
1st : All nouns end in –a in the nominative case and all are feminine expect when the noun indicates a male
(e.g. poeta and agricola)
2nd : Almost all nouns end in –us in the nominative and all are masculine. However, there are a few neuters.
3rd : The largest group of nouns and all genders are present (masc., fem., and neuter)
Cases: In Latin, nouns change their endings according to their function in a sentence. These different forms
of the same noun are called cases.
Nominative: the subject of the verb
Caesar died.
Genitive: belonging to someone/something
The home of my friend.
Dative: the indirect object of the verb
I gave the book to my son.
Accusative: the direct object of the verb
The cat ate the mouse.
Ablative: says by, with or from whom/what
This was agreed by the Senate.
Vocative: addressing someone or something
Welcome, Alexander.
Noun Charts:
1st
Nom.
Gen.
Dat.
Acc.
Abl.
Voc.
sing
-a
-ae
-ae
-am
-a
-a
pl
2nd
sing
pl
3rd
-ae
-arum
-is
-as
-is
-ae
Nom.
Gen.
Dat.
Acc.
Abl.
Voc.
-us
-i
-o
-um
-o
-e
-i
-orum
-is
-os
-is
-i
Nom.
Gen.
Dat.
Acc.
Abl.
Voc.
sing
--------is
-i
-em
-e
--------
pl
-es
-um
-ibus
-es
-ibus
-es
Verbs: indicate an action.
Conjugations: There are four patterns of regular Latin verbs called conjugations. Each can be identified by the
ending of the present infinitve.
1st : verbs end in –are (e.g. amare—to love)
2nd : verbs end in –ere (e.g. habere—to have)
3rd : verbs end in –ere (e.g. mittere—to send)
4th : verbs end in –ire (e.g. audire---to hear)
over-->
Tenses: These forms of the verb show when an action takes place in the present, in the past or in the future.
Present: describes an action that is occurring right now.
Imperfect: describes an action that happened in the past but was going on for some time.
Perfect: describes an action that happened in the past, but it is a completed action that happened once.
Verb Charts
Present
1
2
3
Sing
-o/-m
-s
-t
Plural
-mus
-tis
-nt
Imperfect
1
2
3
Sing
-bam
-bas
-bat
Plural
-bamus
-batis
-bant
Perfect
1
2
3
Sing
-i
-isti
-it
Plural
-imus
-istis
-erunt
**Tricky Verbs***
Please refer to p111 and p234-235 for the ways that the perfect tense is formed for these “tricky verbs.”
**Irregular Verbs**
sum, esse ----to be
Present:
sum---I am
sumus---we are
Imperfect:
eram---I was
eramus—we were
es—you are
estis---you(pl) are
eras—you were
eratis—you (pl) were
est—He/she/it is
sunt---- they are
erat--- he/she/it was
errant—they were
Adjectives: add quality or describe a noun. In Latin they must agree with the noun they modify in case, number, and
gender.
Positive: the adjective in its simplest form.
easy
Compartive: the adjective used when things are being compared
easier
Superlative: the adjective used when things are the most of something
easiest
Question Words: Refer to p191.
qui=who
quid=what
ubi=where
cur=why
Also by adding –ne to the end of the first word of a sentence and num indicate questions.