LESSON III

8. Vocabulary
Nouns
nsula, island (insulate) est, is
silva, forest, woods (Pennsylvania) sunt, are
via, way, road, street (viaduct) nn, not
9. Sentence: Subject and Predicate
A sentence is a group of words which completely expresses a thought. Every sentence consists of two
parts the subject, about which something is said, and the predicate, which says something about the subject:
The sailor (subject) saves the girl (predicate), Nauta puellam servat.

Declension of Nouns

10. Noun. A noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing: Anna, Anna; island, insula; letter, littera.

11. Declension. Nouns change their forms to show differences in use. This change is called declension: girl
girls, puella puellae.

12. Number. A noun is singular when it refers to one person or thing: girl, puella. It is plural when it refers
to more than one: girls, puellae.
In English, nearly all nouns are changed to show plural number. Most nouns add s or es: way, ways;
bush, bushes. A few form their plurals irregularly: pony, ponies; knife, knives; ox, oxen; man, men.
In Latin, the endings of most nouns are changed to show number.

13. Gender. In English, and sometimes in Latin, gender is a distinction in the form of words corresponding to
a distinction of sex. It is shown by change of word (father, pater; mother, matter), by change of endings
(master, dominus; mistress, domina), or by use of a prefix (he-goat, she-goat). Father, master, he-goat are
masculine; mother, mistress, she-goat are feminine. This use of gender is known as natural gender.
In English, nouns that are the names of sexless things are neuter.
In Latin, however, many nouns are regarded as masculine or feminine which are neuter in English: via
(f.), way; numerous (m.), number. This use is known as grammatical gender. It is determined, not by the
meaning of the word, but largely by its ending.

14. Case. Change of form to show the use of a noun in a sentence is called case. Thus we see that nouns are
changed to show number, gender, and case.
In English, with the exception of the genitive (or possessive) case, change of case does not involve
change of ending: nominative (denoting the subject), The man sees; accusative (denoting the object), I see
the man; but genitive (denoting possession), the mans hat.
In Latin, however, change of case regularly requires change of ending. The hundreds of nouns in the
Latin language are divided by case endings into five classes called declensions.

15. Nominative as Subject and Predicate

The nominative case in Latin has the same uses as in English:
(a) The subject is in the nominative case. This is called subject nominative.
(b) A noun used in the predicate after a linking verb (is, are seem, etc.) to complete its meaning is in the
nominative case. This is called predicate nominative.
(a) (b) (a) (b)
Sicilia est insula, Sicily is an island.
 Observe in the above sentence that there is no word in Latin for a or an. The same is true of the.
Therefore, you may add these words as needed in translating.

16. First Declension: Nominative Case Endings

The case endings for the nominative, singular and plural, of the first declension are as follows:
SINGULAR PLURAL
-a -ae
Examples: via viae
These endings are preserved in many English words, as, singular, alumna, plural, alumnae. Other
examples will be given later.

17. Rule. Nouns of the first declension are feminine (except a few which refer to males).

18. English Word Studies

(a) The following are English words, borrowed from the Latin first declension, which have never lost
their Latin nominative endings. Consult the dictionary for the English pronunciation and meaning of these loan
words. (Observe that in English ae is usually pronounced , as in me.)
alumna, alumnae; antenna, antennae (or antennas, when used in radio); larva, larvae; minutiae
(singular rare)
(b) From what Latin word is insular derived? Explain this sentence: Puerto Rico is an insular
possession of the United States.

19. How to Read Latin

Read through a Latin sentence, trying to get the meaning of each word as you come to it. Sometimes an
English derivative will give you a clue, sometimes you will have to guess form the rest of the sentence. Do not
look up the meaning of a word until you have tried these ways of finding its meaning. Pay careful attention to
the endings. When you understand the passage, answer the thought questions; then translate into good English.
Do not always used the English meaning of the Latin words as given in the Latin vocabulary, but find English
words of like meaning which exactly fit the sentence.

20. NSULAE
Britannia1 est insula. Eurpa nn est insula. Italia paene2 est insula; Italia
paennsula3 est. Sicilia et4 Corsica nsulae sunt. Viae et silvae et nsulae et
paennsulae in Eurp sunt. Silvae et viae in insula Britanni sunt.
Thought Questions. 1. How many islands are mentioned in this passage? 2 How many peninsulas?

1 Britain. The meaning of proper nouns and adjectives is usually so clear that they are not listed in the lesson
vocabularies; if necessary, they may be looked up in the Latin-English Vocabulary at the end of the book.

2 almost.

3 Can you obtain the meaning of this word from its English derivative and form the meaning of paene and insula?

4 and.