Grammar: Cases, Uses, Constructions, and Misc. - LATIN 111

What letters are “missing” from the Latin alphabet?

no j or w

What are the ways to represent long vowels?

• long vowels given a macron (what we use now)

• long vowels written larger than other letters

• long vowels written twice

• long vowels given an apex (looks like an acute accent)

long vs. short vowels is an important distinction in Latin!

What kind of letter is the letter y?

a vowel, imported from the Greek upsilon; makes a sound between u and i, as in the German ü

Latin diphthongs and sounds

ae/ai = ai (aisle)

au = ou (house)

ei = ei (reign)

eu = e + u (not an English sound)

oe = oi (oil)

ui = u + i (gooey)

What sounds does the letter b represent?

usually a b sound

when bs or bt, a p sound (ps or pt)

What sound does the letter c represent?

k sound (hard c)

(the letter k itself is rarely used)

What sound does the letter g represent?

always a hard g (not a j sound)

before n, a nasalized ng sound

What sound does the letter h represent?

a breathing sound/aspiration (basically the typical h sound)

What sound does the letter i represent?

a vowel

• when not a consonant, a vowel

a consonant

• before a vowel at the beginning of the word, a y sound (yes)

• between two vowels, forms a diphthong with the preceding vowel and acts as the consonant y for the second vowel

consonantal i becomes “j” later on

What sound does the letter q represent?

always followed by consonantal u; kw sound

What sound does the letter r represent?

always trilled

What sound does the letter s represent?

voiceless

What sound does the letter t represent?

always t as in tired, never sh or ch sounds

What sound does the letter v represent?

w sound (used to also represent the u sound, but u was later introduced as a letter and will be used for our purposes as a separate letter from v)

What sound does the letter x represent?

ks sound, not gz sound

What sound does the letter ch represent?

ckh sound (blockhead; comes from the Greek letter chi), not ch sound (church)

What sound does the letter ph represent?

ph sound (uphill; comes from the Greek letter phi), not f sound

What sound does the letter th represent?

th sound (hothouse; comes from Greek letter theta), not th sound (thin)

Syllabic Division

• # of syllables = # of vowels/diphthongs

• single consonant between two vowels goes with the 2ND vowel

• two or more consonants between two vowels, generally ONLY the LAST consonant goes with the 2ND vowel (the rest tag onto the 1st)

  • Exception: a stop (p, b, t, d, c, g) + a liquid (l, r) count as a single consonant and BOTH would go with the 2ND vowel

  • Exception: qu, ch, ph, and th are all considered single consonants and BOTH would go with the 2ND vowel

Syllable Length/Quantity

• Long by Nature: long vowel/diphthong

• Long by Position: short vowel followed by 2 or more consonants (pronounced separately) or x (a double consonant)

  • basically, when you break the word into syllables, if any consonants follow the vowel and are part of the syllable (not pushed into the beginning of the next syllable), that vowel is long by position

• Short: short vowel followed by no consonants, one consonant, or consonants pronounced together

Accent

• a stress accent

• 2 syllable word

  • accent always falls on PENULT (aka first syllable)

• 3 or more syllable word

  • Penult is LONG: accent falls on PENULT

  • Penult is NOT LONG: accent falls on ANTEPENULT

• different from Greek accent!

• very regular rules for accentuation, so accent marks (as opposed to macrons) are not ordinarily included when writing Latin

Word Order (a basic guide)

• subject and its modifiers

• indirect object and modifiers

• direct object and modifiers

• adverbial words or phrases

• verb

*adjectives and genitive nouns commonly FOLLOW the words they modify

*in general, though, due to the power of declining, word order is pretty flexible

Nominative Case

• most commonly indicates the SUBJECT of a finite verb

• also employed with forms of “to be” and other linking verbs, as a PREDICATE NOMINATIVE

Genitive Case

• a noun that modifies/limits another noun

• commonly conveys POSSESSION

• “of” or apostrophe (‘s or s’) are commonly supplied in translating a genitive

• usually FOLLOWS the noun it modifies

Dative Case

• commonly marks the thing or person indirectly affected by the action of the verb (INDIRECT OBJECTS)

• “to” or “for” are commonly supplied in translating a dative

Accusative Case

• indicates the DIRECT OBJECT of the verb (person or thing directly affected by the verb’s action)

• can be the OBJECT OF A PREPOSITION, with certain (not all) prepositions

Ablative Case

• sometimes called the “adverbial case”

• used to modify, or limit, the verb by such ideas as means, agent, accompaniment, manner, place, and time

• often employed as the object of a preposition

• when a preposition is not used, typically “by,” “with,” or “from” should be supplied in translating to English

Vocative Case

• addresses or calls on a person or thing directly

• used with the interjection Ō

• typically separated from the rest of the sentence by commas

• with one major exception, the vocative has the same form as that of the nominative

Suppletion

the use of one word as part of the form set of another, though the two are not cognate