UPDATE: Latin 2 students – this is your page too. Scroll down for updates.
I have this new student – a very smart girl. She is actually smarter than smart, because her humility makes her very teachable. I just gave her some pointers, and she took off. The secret in a nutshell? Have fun with paradigms (come to Rali for “crazy” patterns) and ALWAYS start with the verb – it’s your key.
This new student of mine truly amazed me. And she was not even interested in dead languages!
Rali
irruptor
sscottrise
sphendonetes
noontide
irkab
fusilazo
pheidippides1896
mikestew
vichelangelo
the1daughter
OK, Puella – play with Latin!
Thank you so much, Rali!!
Considering I only know two declensions and three verb tenses, I’m sure I’m going to completely butcher this, but here goes…
Cum doctora par ele, facilis est habere studium!
O puella, magistra eram, sum et ero, non doctora.
Magistra tua,
Rali
You are doing great! people, write to Victoria!
Quis est qui Victoriae respondeat? (Victoria, we haven’t covered these forms yet, but I am challenging people to respond, using a very crafty grammaco-rhetorical device that no one should be able to resist.)
Hi Victoria,
I’ll responding in my native tongue. But don’t think that it’s only b/c I’m lazy (reading Latin is easier than composing it) but out of empathy too for those who would have to read my verses.
Glad you’re studying the Classics and joined us on the soaring take off of Rali’s fledgling blog.
irruptor aka Sons-of-Blanda
Thanks, Irruptor!
Puella – I mentioned yesterday the ‘Vulgate’ Commentary to Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It’s a riot, and you’ll be able to read it pretty soon, judging from your progress. Here is what it says about the distinction between anima, animus and mens (we haven’t studied the word yet, but mens is generally translated as “mind”):
“Anima vivificat (vivifico1=to make alive), animus vult (ind.pres.act.3sg from volo, an irregular verb meaning “to want”), mens discernit (this one I’ll let you guess – it’s also ind.pres.act.3sg).”
I wonder – what would WE say makes us alive? Ha! High heels?
Hi Rali,
I apologize for my late response; I just saw your post! Hmm… mens discernit? Could it be a discerning mind, giving the mind the power to identify or detect?
And yes, heels definitely fill us – or at least our outfits – with life!!
Close. Mens is the subject of discernit – the mind….does what?
So – the Latin subjunctive. Verbs tell you a lot, so get used to examining them asap. Let’s first review the moods we’ve covered so far.
Indicative mood
If you want to present the action or state as actually happening, you’ll use the indicative mood. Remember that the indicative is not always a guarantee of truthfulness: if I say “I ate my lunch today,” I’d be lying, although I am using the indicative form of the English verb. Things get even iffier when I use the future tense of the indicative: “I will eat my lunch later today.” I can’t be stating a fact about my eating – just that I do have the intent to do it soon. But again – I may be blowing smoke.
Imperative mood
That’s the one I use when I command you directly: “Look at your verbs first!” and “Always examine the structure of the whole before focusing on the details!” You comply, or else.
Of course, I can instead urge you to do what I want you to do: “You should be focusing on your verbs first,” or “You might want to focus on your verbs first.” I leave it to you tell me which works better (I know people who go ballistic when you tell them what they might want to do). These alternative phrasings in English give you some idea of what the Latin subjunctive is all about – softness and tact, in most cases.
Subjunctive mood: Independent Subjunctives
There are three main types of subjunctive, depending on the way the speaker presents the action as non-fact: will, wish and opinion as to possibility. Today I am focusing on the first type.
A. Subjunctive of will. The speaker presents the action as something that s/he wills to happen. S/he also has the authority to bring it about – in a smart way. The negation is always ne (but see A4 for possible substitutions). The tense of this subjunctive is present, except in prohibitions (cf. A4 below).
A1. Hortatory subjunctive: “Let ‘s do the laundry.”
This type routinely comes in the first person plural. The name comes from a verb you should know – hortor, hortatus sum, hortari 1. Using the hortatory subjunctive is a nifty way to make people do what you want them to do – rather than directly commanding people, you present the action as an attractive possibility that you and your pals can perform as a group.
Here are some Latin examples (I leave these particular translations to you):
A2. Jussive subjunctive 1: “Let him stew” and “The Raiders should fire John Fassel.”
Note that in this case, you are not talking directly to the person you want to do this or that activity/state (this can be a rather imperious way of ordering, but sometimes is just laying down the rules). The verb is in the third person.
A3. Jussive subjunctive 2: “You must be careful, my dear Tiro.”
Instead of using the imperative, which demands immediate compliance from your interlocutor, you use this very gentle 2d-person form of jussive subjunctive. You can also use it with ne as a negative alternative of command.
A4. If you want to issue a very strong negative command, use the 2d person of the perfect subjunctive: ne hoc feceris, ne cogitaveris. Instead of ne, some people substitute negative words, like nihil and nemo. Here is an example of a negative command from Cicero:
And one from Livy:
One more independent subjunctive comes under this heading. We are going to see it Chapter 12. Here is a preview. Imagine I say to myself: “I should finish this write-up tonight…or should I?” The stern exhortation yields to doubt, and I begin to deliberate mecum. That’s in a nutshell the so-called deliberative subjunctive – a perversion of will and determination.
To be cont’d.