Latin grammar for readers
Short notes for reading, not for passing an exam. Every example comes from a text in this course.
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Endings show who does what
In English, “the wolf sees the lamb” and “the lamb sees the wolf” differ only in word order. Latin marks the job on the word itself, so the words can come in almost any order.
The first ending to learn is -m. A noun ending in -m is usually the thing the verb is done to.
Bibo aquam frigidam.
I drink cold water.
aquam ends in -m: it is what gets drunk.
In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram.
In the beginning God created heaven, and earth.
caelum and terram end in -m, so they are what was created. Deus, the one doing it, comes after the verb.
The verb says who
A Latin verb's ending tells you who is doing it, so “I” and “you” are usually left out: -o or -m for I (-i in the “did” form, as in odi), -s for you, -t for he, she or it, -mus for we, -tis for you all, -nt for they.
| possum | I | I can |
| potes | you | you can |
| potest | he, she, it | he can |
| possunt | they | they can |
Eo in scholam.
I go to school.
The -o of eo means “I”. No separate word is needed.
Odi et amo.
I hate and I love.
Catullus needs only three words.
What Latin leaves out
Latin has no word for “the” or “a”. Add whichever fits the English.
The word for “is” is often missing too, especially in short sayings, so you supply it yourself.
Superior stabat lupus,
Higher up stood the wolf,
lupus is “the wolf” here, and could be “a wolf” elsewhere.
Beati mites:
Blessed are the meek:
Just two words: “blessed” and “the meek”. Both “are” and “the” come from you.
Five jobs, five endings
Each noun has a form for each job in the sentence. Grammar books call these cases. You do not need to memorise the names yet, only to notice the ending and ask what job it signals.
| pater | nominative | the father does it |
| patrem | accusative | it is done to the father |
| patris | genitive | of the father |
| patri | dative | to or for the father |
| patre | ablative | by, with or from the father |
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie;
Give us this day our daily bread;
panem is what gets given; nobis is who it is given to.
Morbo decessit
He died from disease
morbo is ablative: the “by, with or from” form, here with no preposition at all.
Nouns come in families
Not every noun uses the same set of endings. Nouns fall into five families, called declensions. Dictionaries list a noun's “of” form next to its basic form, because that shows the family.
For reading, the family matters less than this: when a form looks odd, compare it with the basic form the app shows you.
| causa, causae | first family | a cause |
| populus, populī | second family | a people |
| pater, patris | third family | a father |
Adjectives match their nouns
An adjective copies its noun's case, number and gender. That is how you can tell which noun it belongs to, even when other words stand between them.
The two endings will not always look alike, because the adjective and the noun may belong to different families.
Bibo aquam frigidam.
I drink cold water.
aquam and frigidam look alike here: both show they are the object.
Panem nostrum cotidianum
our daily bread
panem looks different from nostrum and cotidianum, but all three have the same job.
Past, present and future
Look at the middle of the verb. A -ba- usually means “was doing”, a past action seen as going on. A separate past form, with -i for “I” and -it for “he”, means “did”, a finished action. A -bi- can mean “will do” in some verbs; others mark the future differently.
| dat | present | he gives |
| dabat | imperfect | he was giving |
| dabit | future | he will give |
| dedit | perfect | he gave |
audacem faciebat amor.
Love made her bold.
faciebat has the -ba-: love kept on making her bold.
Serpens decepit me, et comedi.
The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
Two finished actions: he deceived, I ate.
Small words choose the ending
Words like “in”, “to” and “from” take a noun in a particular case. Some always use the accusative (ad, “to”), some the ablative (ex, “out of”, “from”).
A few can take either, and the meaning changes: in with the accusative means “into”, with the ablative “in”.
Eo in scholam.
I go to school.
Accusative -am: movement into the place.
Hoc erat in principio
The same was in the beginning
Ablative -o: being in a place or time.
Ex eo oppido pons ad Helvetios pertinet.
From that town a bridge extends to the Helvetii.
ex takes the ablative, ad the accusative.
When it is done to the subject
An -r at the end of a verb, often in -tur or -ntur, usually means the subject has it done to them. For a finished past action, Latin uses two words: a form like facta plus est. “Was being done” stays one word, in -batur.
Some verbs look like this but mean an ordinary action. The app's gloss will show you which.
Ad eās rēs cōnficiendās Orgetorīx dēligitur.
For accomplishing these things Orgetorix is chosen.
dēligitur: he is chosen, he does not choose.
Et facta est lux.
And light was made.
Two words for one past action.
Pransus revertor iterum in scholam.
After lunch I go back to school again.
revertor has the -r, but it simply means “I go back”.
Verbs that act like adjectives
A participle is a verb form that describes a noun. Forms in -ns mean “while doing”; forms like dimissus mean “having been done to”.
Very often a participle and a noun stand together in the ablative to set the scene: “the nets having been left”. English would say “when they had left their nets”.
Loco meo sedens deleo.
Sitting in my place, I smooth the wax.
sedens: “sitting”, describing the “I” in deleo.
Dimissus venio domi.
Let go, I come home.
dimissus: “having been let go”.
Et protinus relictis retibus, secuti sunt eum.
And immediately, the nets having been left behind, they followed him.
relictis retibus: both in the ablative, setting the scene.
Commands, wishes and “to do”
A command is often just the bare verb, with -te added for more than one person. A wish or “let it be” uses a different form, called the subjunctive, which often has a changed vowel before the ending, as in fiat.
An infinitive, “to do”, usually ends in -re. In reported speech Latin says “that there was no doubt” with an infinitive: literally “there to be no doubt”.
Incipite ab initio.
Start from the beginning.
A teacher speaking to the whole class: -te for more than one.
Fiat lux.
Be light made.
fiat is a wish or command for “let it happen”.
nōn esse dubium
that there was no doubt
esse, “to be”: reported speech.
Practise on real texts
These notes make most sense once you have seen the forms in context. Urling brings each one up as you meet it in a text.
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Notes written by Claude and checked against Allen & Greenough's New Latin Grammar (1903). Not yet reviewed by a Latin teacher.