The unit is a student friendly unit. We will not have to memorize a lot of endings for this unit. We already know them. Instead we will be concerned with using some of the information we have already learned.
In an earlier unit, we learned that adjectives must agree in number, gender, and case with the noun they are modifying. In order to have an adjective modify a noun, the adjective must have endings. It does. A 1st & 2nd declension adjective has the same endings as does a 1st or 2nd declension noun. But instead of just have one gender, an adjective must have all three (3) genders. Why? Because any adjective can modify any noun. And since a noun could be either masculine or feminine or neuter, the adjective which will modify the noun must have the possibilities of being any of the three genders.
Remember when we learned a verb we learned its four (4) principle parts.
When we learned a noun we learned its two (2) principle parts and its gender.
Now, when we learn a 1st & 2nd declension adjective, we will learn its three
(3) principle parts: its masculine nominative singular, its feminine nominative
singular, and its neuter nominative singular.
Coincidently they are the same as the endings we learned for the nouns.
Example of a 1st & 2nd declension adjective
Singular
Masculine feminine neuter
Nom: us, er, ir a um
Gen: I ae I
Dat: o ae o
Acc: um am um
Abl: o a o
Plural
Nom: I ae a
Gen: orum arum orum
Dat: is is is
Acc: os as a
Abl: is is is
When ever I memorize a 1st & 2nd declension adjective, I will learn as an
example: bonus, bona, bonum, its masculine, feminine, neuter form.
Whenever I want to have an adjective modify a noun, the first bit of
information I must know is the gender of the noun. Why do I want to know that?
Well by know that small piece of information, I can eliminate two-thirds of
the endings.
If I know that the noun is masculine, I don’t have to concern myself with
the feminine or neuter endings at the moment. If I know the noun is feminine,
I don’t have to concern myself with the masculine or neuter endings. And
the same if the noun is neuter. I then do not have to concern myself with the
masculine or feminine endings. So knowing the gender of a noun can eliminate
a lot of data for me.
Okay! So now I know the gender of the noun so what! I still have ten endings from which to choose. Well we can simplify it again. All we have to do is ask ourselves, “what number is the noun”? Is it singular or is it plural? With that small bit of information we’ve reduced our selection from ten to five. Notice the odds are beginning to work in your favor. We only have one more question to ask ourselves and that is “which case is the noun”? That will tell us the precise ending to place on our adjective. Let’s look at a few examples.
Let’s use “a good servant”
Singular Plural
Nom servus bonus servi boni
Gen servi boni servorum bonorum
Dat servo bono servis bonis
Acc servum bonum servos bonos
Abl servo bono servis bonis
Do you see how it works? Let’s try another
“A good girl”
Singular Plural
Nom puella bona puellae bonae
Gen puellae bonae puellarum bonarum
Dat puellae bonae puellis bonis
Acc puellam bonam puellas bonas
Abl puella bona puellis bonis
Getting the hang of it?
Let’s try a neuter word
“a good temple”
Singular Plural
Nom templum bonum templa boni
Gen templi boni templorum bonorum
Dat templo bono templis bonis
Acc templum bonum templa bona
Abl templo bono templis bonis
Now let’s try and get a little tricky. Remember the rule for adjectives
agreeing with nouns.
Adjective must agree with the noun they are modifying in gender, number and
case. But here’s the caveat! They don’t have to look the same.
Let’s use “the good sailor”
Singular Plural
Nom nauta bonus nautae boni
Gen nautae boni nautarum bonorum
Dat nautae bono nautis bonis
Acc nautam bonum nautas bonos
Abl nauta bono nautis bonis
Notice that in the case above, the adjective does agree with the noun in gender, nauta is masculine; in number, singular, then plural; and case both are in the same case. I know it can seem a bit tricky, but with a little thought it will be come easier.
Let’s do a little practicing declining nouns and adjectives
A bad poet…poeta malus
A large sword …gladius magnus
A good war …. Bellum bonum
Much money…pecunia multa
Now allow me to introduce you to a new concept. It’s the concept of a substantive. A substantive is a fancy word for the process of dropping the noun of a noun adjective combination, when the gender, such as men or women, can be ascertained from the ending on the adjective.
Example. Boni sunt. They are good (men). The adjective is masculine.
We’re referring to masculine people.
Bonae sunt. They are good (women). Here, we’re referring to female beings
since the adjective is feminine. There are more examples in the Wheelock’s
latin on page 27.
We only have one more concept to grasp today as well as the present tense of the verb “to be” and then we will be done with the grammar for today.
The next concept, predicate nouns or adjectives and the verb “to be” go hand in hand. It’s difficult to have a predicate noun or adjective without a form of the verb “to be”.
You see, the verb “to be” is an intransitive verb. Wow! Another big word. All this means is that the verb “to be” is incapable of taking a direct object. Instead, the verb “to be” can be thought of as a coupling or an equal sign.
Example
Bush is president. Good is not receiving any action from is. Rather, “is”
here is acting more like an equal sign joining Bush and president. Bush = president.
It’s like saying they are the same thing. If an adjective is used, it’s
called a predicate adjective; if a noun is utilized, it’s referred to
as a predicate noun. In either situation, only the nominative case, singular
or plural will be used.
Also in such a sentence, the verb form of “to be” also has a fancy name. It’s referred to as a coupulative verb, because it couples or links to two ideas together.
As in most languages, the verb “to be” is irregular. As a result, there’s only one way to learn it. Memeorize it.
We’ll take it very slowly. We’ll only learn one part of it. Today we learn the present active indicative. Notice that even though the verb is irregular, the endings on the verb are the same as the ones we first committed to memory.
Sum esse fui futures to be
Singular plural
1. sum..I am sumus..we are
2. es..you are estis..you are
3. est..he, she, it is sunt..they are
Now to the workbook