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LESSON 1
Introduction 1
Pre Grammar
Dictionary 1
First Translation
Grammar 1
Exercises 1
Runnning Vocabulary 1
L.LT1.- Ovid
Self Test 1
LESSON 2
Introduction 2
Verb Example
Verb Practice
Declension 2
Adjectives 1st Class
Translation Exercise 2
L.LT.2- Plautus
L.LT.2- Lucretius
Exercises 2
Introduction
Let's start by reviewing some fundamentals  regarding all languages, called the Parts of Speech (PoS).
In English there are nine parts of speech, and they are:
  1. Nouns
  2. Pronouns
  3. Adjectives
  4. Verbs
  5. Adverbs
  6. Articles (nowadays called Determiners)
  7. Prepositions
  8. Conjunctions
  9. Interjections

In Latin the parts of speech are eight because the articles do not exist. The list therefore is the same as in English bar the Articles (or Determiners), i.e. "the", "a" and "an".

What I am saying is that if you look at any word in any text it will fit into one of the above listed categories. This type of categorisation is called grammatical analysis; see the exercise below.

 

Exercise
Take an English dictionary and look up any random word.  You will find that immediately after the word you are looking at, the definition of which part of speech it belongs to is given.   Here is an example:

foyer, n.; noun
fracas, n.;
fraction, n;
fractious, a.; adjective
fracture, n;

Already in this short random list you will notice that there are more nouns than adjectives. I think it is

fair to say that the majority of words are nouns, followed by verbs and adjectives. The other parts of speech will represent a much smaller group of words, perhaps a few percentage points of all the words.
I will try to find some statistics on this point; a rule of thumb split of 50% for nouns, 40% for verbs and 9.9% for adjectives and adverbs is perhaps in the right domain. The remaining 0.1% will be for prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, articles and interjections.

 

Naming Parts of Speech in English and Latin

 Sing. (Plural)ExampleSingularPlural

Noun(s)

or

Substantive(s)

lake(s) 

substantivum 

substantiva 

Pronoun(s)

she

pronomen 

pronomina 

Adjective(s)

pretty

adiectivum 

adiectiva 

Verb(s)

went

verbum

verba 

Adverb(s)

greatly

adverbium 

adverbia 

Article(s)

the, a, an 

missing 

missing 

Preposition(s)

with 

praepositio

praepositiones 

Conjunction(s)

and 

coniunctio

coniunctiones 

Interjection(s)

ouch

interiectio

interiectiones 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the root of these definitions go to the page Root of PoS under the CORNUCOPIAE section, or click the hyperlink.

 

N.B.: This table shows that in Latin the plural is not formed simply by adding an (-s) to the singular number, or (-es) to names ending in -s, -sh or -ch. In due course, you will find that knowing the plural of a singular word in Latin will be just as easy and spontaneous as adding the "-s" or "-es" in English.

 

Latin Abbreviations and Words in English

Here are some common Latin abbreviations in common use in English as well as some Latin words which have remained unchanged in English:

 

N.B.-  Nota bene, take good notice

i.e. -    id est, that is

viz.-    videlicet, namely, often found in deeds and testaments

e.g.-    exampli gratia, for example

QED-  quod erat demonstrandum, that which was to be demonstrated

DV-     Deo volenti, God willing

a.m.-   ante meridiem, morning, before noon

p.m.-   post meridiem, afternoon, after-noon

etc.-    et cetera, and so on

locum- locum tenens (pl. locum tenentes, shortened to locums), stand-in

bison - bison, wild bull

candelabra- candelabra

maximum - maximum

minimum- minimum

plumbleus - Plumber

syllabus - syllabus

rhinoceros - rhinoceros
plectrum - plectrum

discus - discus

Suggested Reading
Learning Latin will be made much easier by reading the history of this language.   It is strongly recommended to read a recent book written by Prof. Tore Janson of the University of Göteborg.  
The book explains how Latin grew and spread to become the most influential language in the world until about two centuries ago.
Its impact is still all pervasive, especially in the vocabulary of many modern languages, as well as natural science, medicine, law, and many other fields.

I don't personally know Prof. Janson, but his book is good and well worth reading.

Book Title:     A Natural History of Latin
Author:          Tore Janson
Publisher:      Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, UK.
Cost:             c. £17, hardcover.
Link:              www.oup.com