Salvēte, sodālēs.
In the previous lesson we talked a little about objects, and I want to expand on that now. The rule is that -a nouns (Iūlia, Aemilia, īnsula) and -us/-r nouns (Marcus, fluvius, puer) all change their endings to an -m when they are the object of a sentence. While -um nouns (oppidum), which already end in an -m, just stay the same.
Changing a word to make it the object might seem strange to English speakers, but just remember that we do it with pronouns all the time. Just try saying ‘I see he in the garden’, ‘Me is happy’ or ‘Them are going walking’. English speakers instinctively use the object form when - and only when - it is appropriate. Latin speakers do this too, but for every single noun and pronoun.
In English we often change a pronoun to show it is the object.
We saw this in action last lesson with the sentence Mārcus Iūliam pulsat. We will see more of it today, beginning in line 11 with Quīntus Mārcum videt. Mārcus nōn videt Quīntum. and a very useful illustration.
from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 19
With this in mind, and mindful of the new words introduced last lesson, you should now READ lines 11-21 of Capitulum Tertium. This will bring you to the end of Scaena Prīma. One last illustration will help you to understand the new verbs vocat and venit.
from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 20
Satis est. See you again soon.