Lesson Six : Rōma in Italiā est.

Salvēte sodālēs.

The first three sentences of Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata introduce the Latin word in. Read those sentences now. Rōma in Italiā est. Italia in Eurōpā est. Graecia in Eurōpā est. The textbook hopes that, by reading through these three sentences, you will be able to determine the meaning of in for yourself.

Reread those three sentences now, and decide what YOU think the Latin word in means. Once you have done that, click below to reveal the meaning of the word.

• Click here to reveal the meaning of the Latin word 'in'.

  The Latin word in means ‘in’.

You should also note that words following in change slightly. The words for ‘Italy’ and ‘Europe’ are written Italia and Eurōpa. But when these words follow in, there is a line placed above the final -a; in Italiā and in Europā. This line is called a macron, and it tells us that when we say these words we should lengthen the sound of that vowel. (Some word always have a macron somewhere in their spelling, such as Rōma and Eurōpa.)

I now want you to read as far as line 10. These lines include another five new words. These are et, sunt, quoque, nōn and sed. Again, the textbook hopes that you will determine the meaning of these words for yourself. Read through these lines until you feel that you have determined their meaning. Once you feel that you understand these words, click below to confirm your understanding.

Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata : Capitulum Primum : lines 1-10. To be fair to the publisher, after Capitulum Secundum extracts will not be given - you will need a copy of the textbook of your own.

• Click here to reveal the meaning of the Latin words et, sunt, quoque, nōn and sed.

  The meaning of these words are:

  et - and

  sunt - are (this is the plural of est) : Graecia in Eurōpā est. Graecia et Italia in Eurōpā sunt.

  quoque - also

  nōn - not

  sed - but

Now that you confidently know the meaning of these words, reread lines 1-10 a couple more times. Try NOT to think about the English meaning as you read. Congratulations. You are reading Latin.

Satis est. See you again soon.

Lesson Five : īnsula fluvius oppidum

Salvēte, sodālēs.

Open up Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata to page 7, Capitulum Primum.

(A capitulum, by the way, is a ‘chapter’. Primum has a primary meaning of ‘first’, but its meaning can range from ‘the beginning’ to ‘the most important.’ Here it means ‘first’. Capitulum Primum is ‘the First Chapter’.)

from Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata (page 7)

The chapter begins with a lovely illustration, with three features labeled - īnsula, fluvius and oppidum. These words, which identify an island, river and town, have been careful selected by the textbook’s author, Hans H. Ørberg. Each one is an example of a different type of noun.

The four types of nouns met in Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata Chapters 1-8

For completeness, I’ve added nouns that end in -r. We can arrange these four noun types into families. Think of all the nouns that end in -us (fluvius, amīcus, equus, deus) as one type of noun. We will call them -us nouns. These nouns are closely related to the -r nouns (vir, puer). They are so closely related, that we might consider them siblings. -us nouns and -r nouns are masculine*. -um nouns like oppidum belong to the same family as -us and -r nouns, but are not quite so closely related. Lets think of them as cousins. -um nouns are neither feminine nor masculine. The grammatical term for that is ‘neuter’. Lastly, -a nouns (īnsula, amīca, equa, dea) belong to a totally different family. And -a nouns are feminine*.

* Usually. There are exceptions, but we won’t be seeing any for quite a while.

So, what does it mean that -a nouns and -us -r -um nouns belong to two different families? Nothing for now. But I’d like you to remember it for when I bring it up again later. Mostly I’d like you to appreciate that Ørberg has chosen these three words with great care.

Before you go, take a look at the map on page 6 (also below) and create a few Latin sentences of your own using īnsula, fluvius and oppidum. I’ll start: Corsica īnsula est. Nilus est fluvius. Oppidum est Sparta. Enjoy!

Lesson Four : The Rest of the Familia

Salvēte, sodālēs.

The time has come to introduce the remainder of the husehold and two more Latin words; puer and puella.

Parents and their children from Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata. Figures by Playmobil.

Puer, like vir, is a noun that ends in -r but is closely related to those nouns that end in -us (more on this next lesson). A puer is a young human male. A puella is a young human female. See how you go reading the following sentences. If you have any trouble, ask for help in the comment section.

1. Iūlius est vir.

2. Aemilia fēmina est.

3. Mārcus est puer.

4. Puer est Quīntus.

5. Iūlia est puella.

A little on Roman family names. Mārcus and Quīntus are both praenomina. Their full names would be Mārcus Iūlius and Quīntus Iūlius. Their father, who is called Iūlius in the book, would also have a praenomen. The famous Iūlius Caesar, for example, was Gaius Iūlius Caesar. Gaius was his praenomen, Iūlius his nomen and Caesar his cognomen. Every girl born into the family is given the feminine form of the family’s nomen - hence Iūlia. Aemilia’s father must have been named Aemilius.

Before you go, repeat the exercise from yesterday. Think of a puella and puer you know, and put them into a Latin sentence. I’ll go with the Simpsons - Lisa est puella. Bartus puer est.

Satis est. See you soon.

Lesson Three : The Enslaved

Salvēte, sodāles.

In the previous lesson, we saw that nouns and names that end in -a (dea, amīca, Minerva, equa) are feminine, and nouns and names that end in -us (deus, amīcus, Mercurius, equus) are masculine. While this rule is not followed 100% of the time, it is followed in the opening chapters of Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata - so we will take it as a rule for now.

The Latin word familia describes something different to our modern concept of ‘family’. A better translation is ‘household’. The familia introduced in the textbook contains a wife and her husband, three children, and a terrifying one hundred (!) enslaved men and women. A few of these enslaved men and women are seen living in the house - most of them go unnamed and unseen.

Two enslaved women and two enslaved men from Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata. Figures by Playmobil.

Beneath Syra and Dēlia you see the word fēmina. A fēmina is a female human aged around 30-50. Ending in -a it is, of course, feminine.

Beneath Dāvus and Mēdus you see the word vir. A vir is a human male aged around 30-50. There are several nouns - like vir - that end in an -r instead of an -us. These are also masculine. We will meet another - puer - in our next lesson.

Here are some sentences for you to read (est, you may remember, means ‘is’) :

1. Syra est fēmina.

2. Dēlia fēmina est.

3. Dāvus est vir.

4. Mēdus vir est.

Lastly, try to internalise these two new words. Think of a fēmina or vir that you know, either personally or otherwise, and throw their name into a Latin sentence. I’ll go first. Natalie Haynes est fēmina. Tom Holland vir est.

Satis est (This is enough). I’ll see you back here soon for Lesson 4.

Lesson Two : OMD!

Salvēte, sodālēs. And welcome back.

Let’s take a look at the front cover of Handy Latin Tables Pars Prima. You will see two Roman gods with their Latin names, Minerva and Mercurius. Remember that the ‘v’ in Minerva is pronounced like a ‘w’ and I’ll put in caps the syllable that you want to stress. miNERva and merCUrius.

From Handy Latin Tables Pars Prima (front cover)

Take your attention to the fact that Minerva ends in an -a and Mercurius ends in a -us. When we meet the characters of our textbook next lesson, we are going to find that all the girls and women have names that end in -a and that all the boys and men have names that end in -us.

In Lesson One I mentioned that the Romans have two words for friend, amīca and amīcus, that are gender specific. The word for a female friend ends in -a and the word for a male friend ends in -us. The same is true for equa (female horse) and equus (male horse).

More relevant here, however, are the words dea (goddess) and deus (god). With this in mind, I’m going to show you your first Latin verb and give you some sentences to read. Your first verb is est, often translated as ‘is’. I’m also going to show you that Latin word order is more flexible than English word order; all four of the following sentences are grammatically correct.

1. Minerva est dea.

2. Minerva dea est.

3. Mercurius deus est.

4. Mercurius est deus.

This is enough (satis) for today. Satis est. See you tomorrow.

By the way - if you have any questions or comments about the course, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below.