Latin for Beginners Part 13

C. Non agricolae sunt. Bellum amant Galli, non agri culturam. Apud eos viri pugnant et feminae auxilio liberorum agros arant parantque cib.u.m.

M. Magister noster pueris puellisque gratas Gallorum fabulas saepe narrat et laudat eos saepe.

C. Mala est fortuna eorum et saepe miseri servi multis c.u.m lacrimis patriam suam desiderant.

[Footnote 1: There are a number of departures from the normal order in this dialogue. Find them, and give the reason.]

[Footnote 2: When a noun is modified by both a genitive and an adjective, a favorite order of words is _adjective, genitive, noun_.]

[Footnote 3: A modifying genitive often stands between a preposition and its object.]

>

LESSON XVIII

> THE PRESENT, IMPERFECT, AND FUTURE TENSES OF >

[Special Vocabulary]

NOUNS ludus, -i, m.,_school_ >, m., _companion, ally_ (social)

ADJECTIVES >, _angry, furious_ (irate) >, _happy, glad_ (social)

ADVERBS hodie, _to-day_ >, _there, in that place_ mox, _presently, soon_, of the immediate future >, _now, the present moment_ >, _lately, recently_, of the immediate past

<119.>> The inflection of a verb is called its _conjugation_ (cf. --23).

In English the verb has but few changes in form, the different meanings being expressed by the use of personal p.r.o.nouns and auxiliaries, as, _I am carried, we have carried, they shall have carried_, etc. In Latin, on the other hand, instead of using personal p.r.o.nouns and auxiliary verbs, the form changes with the meaning. In this way the Romans expressed differences in _tense, mood, voice, person_, and _number_.

<120.>> > The different forms of a verb referring to different times are called its _tenses_. The chief distinctions of time are present, past, and future:

1. >, that is, _what is happening now_, or _what usually happens_, is expressed by THE PRESENT TENSE

2. >, that is, _what was happening, used to happen, happened, has happened_, or _had happened_, is expressed by THE IMPERFECT, PERFECT, AND PLUPERFECT TENSES

3. >, that is, _what is going to happen_, is expressed by THE FUTURE AND FUTURE PERFECT TENSES

<121.>> > Verbs have inflection of _mood_ to indicate the manner in which they express action. The moods of the Latin verb are the _indicative, subjunctive, imperative_, and _infinitive_.

_a._ A verb is in the _indicative_ mood when it makes a statement or asks a question about something a.s.sumed as a fact. All the verbs we have used thus far are in the present indicative.

<122.>> > There are three persons, as in English. The first person is the person speaking (_I sing_); the second person the person spoken to (_you sing_); the third person the person spoken of (_he sings_). Instead of using personal p.r.o.nouns for the different persons in the two numbers, singular and plural, the Latin verb uses the personal endings (cf. --22 _a_; 29). We have already learned that <-t>> is the ending of the third person singular in the active voice and <-nt>> of the third person plural. The complete list of personal endings of the active voice is as follows:

SINGULAR PLURAL _1st Pers._ _I_ -m or -o _we_ -mus _2d Pers._ _thou_ or _you_ -s _you_ -tis _3d Pers._ _he, she, it_ -t _they_ -nt

<123.>> Most verbs form their moods and tenses after a regular plan and are called _regular_ verbs. Verbs that depart from this plan are called _irregular_. The verb _to be_ is irregular in Latin as in English. The present, imperfect, and future tenses of the indicative are inflected as follows:

PRESENT INDICATIVE SINGULAR PLURAL _1st Pers._ su-m, _I am_ su-mus, _we are_ _2d Pers._ e-s, _you[1] are_ es-tis, _you[1] are_ _3d Pers._ es-t, _he, she_, or _it is_ su-nt, _they are_

IMPERFECT INDICATIVE SINGULAR PLURAL _1st Pers._ er-a-m, _I was_ er-a'-mus, _we were_ _2d Pers._ er-a-s, _you were_ er-a'-tis, _you were_ _3d Pers._ er-a-t, _he, she_, or _it was_ er-a-nt, _they were_

FUTURE INDICATIVE SINGULAR PLURAL _1st Pers._ er-o, _I shall be_ er'-i-mus, _we shall be_ _2d Pers._ er-i-s, _you will be_ er'-i-tis, _you will be_ _3d Pers._ er-i-t, _he will be_ er-u-nt, _they will be_

_a._ Be careful about vowel quant.i.ty and accent in these forms, and consult ----12.2; 14; 15.

[Footnote 1: Observe that in English _you are_, _you were_, etc. may be either singular or plural. In Latin the singular and plural forms are never the same.]

<124.>> DIALOGUE

THE BOYS s.e.xTUS AND MARCUS

First learn the special vocabulary, p. 287.

S. Ubi es, Marce? Ubi est Quintus? Ubi estis, amici?

M. c.u.m Quinto, s.e.xte, in silva sum. Non soli sumus; sunt in silva multi alii pueri.

S. Nunc laetus es, sed nuper non laetus eras. Cur miser eras?

M. Miser eram quia amici mei erant in alio vico et eram solus. Nunc sum apud socios meos. Nunc laeti sumus et erimus.

S. Eratisne in ludo hodie?

M. Hodie non eramus in ludo, quod magister erat aeger.

S. Eritisne mox in ludo?

M. Amici mei ibi erunt, sed ego (_I_) non ero.

S. Cur non ibi eris? Magister, saepe iratus, inopiam tuam studi diligentiaeque non laudat.

M. Nuper aeger eram et nunc infirmus sum.

<125.>> EXERCISE

1. You are, you were, you will be, (_sing. and plur._). 2. I am, I was, I shall be. 3. He is, he was, he will be. 4. We are, we were, we shall be. 5. They are, they were, they will be.

6. Why were you not in school to-day? I was sick. 7. Lately he was a sailor, now he is a farmer, soon he will be a teacher. 8. To-day I am happy, but lately I was wretched. 9. The teachers were happy because of the boys' industry.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PUERI ROMANI IN LUDO]

LESSON XIX

THE FOUR REGULAR CONJUGATIONS PRESENT ACTIVE INDICATIVE OF _AMO_ AND _MONEO_

<126.>> There are four conjugations of the regular verbs. These conjugations are distinguished from each other by the final vowel of the present conjugation-stem.[1] This vowel is called the _distinguishing vowel_, and is best seen in the present infinitive.

[Footnote 1: The _stem_ is the body of a word to which the terminations are attached. It is often identical with the base (cf.

--58). If, however, the stem ends in a vowel, the latter does not appear in the base, but is variously combined with the inflectional terminations. This point is further explained in --230.]

Below is given the _present infinitive_ of a verb of each conjugation, the _present stem_, and the _distinguishing vowel._

DISTINGUISHING CONJUGATION PRES. INFIN. PRES. STEM VOWEL I.