Despite the fact that it is considered dead, it is studied and used in many areas of human activity: law, medicine, pharmacology, biology. The amount of knowledge a person needs depends on the scope of application and the ultimate goal, but in any case, you need to know the basics. In this article we will look at the question of what a “beginners” course looks like. An alphabet, a grammar review and practice tips are the minimum required to help you study on your own.
Alphabet and phonetics
Where to start learning Latin? For beginners, it is important, first of all, to know the alphabet. It includes 24 letters. Based on research, their pronunciation is unified and close to the approximate pronunciation of the ancient Romans. Below is a transcription in Russian.
There are some peculiarities in reading them.
The vowel i is read as [i] and [th] before vowels, h is aspirated, l is soft as in French, y sounds like [i]. The letter c is read as [ts] before e, i, y, ae, oe or as [k] before a, o, u and at the end of words. S sounds like [z] between vowels, x - like [ks].
Diphthongs are read like this:
- ae - [e]
- oe - [Ö]
- au - [ау]
- eu - [eu]
- ch - [x]
- ngu - [ngv]
- ph - [f]
- qu - [kv]
- rh - [r]
- th - [t]
- ti - [ti]
Accent
- short (pronounced quickly) - ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, ŭ, y̆;
- long (stretched when pronounced) - ā, ē, ī, ō, ū, ȳ.
Syllables are:
- open - end with a vowel;
- closed - end with a consonant.
The stress is placed on the first syllable if the word is two-syllable (it is never placed on the last syllable). If a word consists of three or more syllables, then the stress is placed on the second syllable from the end if it is long, and on the third if it is short.
Grammar
The course "for beginners" assumes knowledge of the basics of grammar. In Latin, all parts of speech are divided into changeable numerals, pronouns) and unchangeable interjections).
When studying grammar on your own, you should study using textbooks that contain answers to exercises for self-testing. It is advisable to complete a large number of practical tasks, which will automate the skill of using grammatical structures, and, as a result, the material covered will be remembered for a long time.
Practice
When learning the alphabet and grammar, a passive vocabulary gradually accumulates, which later needs to be activated when reading texts. At this stage, new words will appear, for the translation of which you will need an academic dictionary, for example, the Great Latin-Russian. If you know English, then you can take advantage of the Elementary Latin Dictionary and the Oxford Latin Dictuonary. You also need to get your own dictionary and periodically repeat words from it.
Reading is the final stage of the Latin for Beginners course. At this level it is recommended to read texts such as:
- Fabulae Facilities.
- Latin Reader.
- De Viris Illustribus.
- The Latin Vulgate Bible.
Gradually you need to complicate the tasks and move from simple reading to understanding without a dictionary. For this purpose, courses "Assimil", Schola Latina Universalis and forums for Latin learners are suitable, where you can practice speaking and get advice if something is not clear.
Latin language (or just Latin) for beginners and “from scratch” at the “European Education” school - training is conducted via Skype.
Two languages have their roots in the history of European civilization - ancient Greek and Latin. They are also often called classic.
The ancient Greek language was the most important factor in the development of European civilization in its various spheres. It was the Greeks who laid the foundation of philosophy, the basis for the natural and human sciences, gave direction to literature, and were also the first to demonstrate complex socio-political connections and relationships. It was the Greek language that became the first European language to have its own written language. Ancient civilization begins in Greece, but then the Roman Empire picks up the baton. Rome brings further development to Western Europe, but it is no longer Greek that is the language of civilization, but Latin.
Latin belongs to the Indo-European family (along with Greek, English, German and other Germanic languages), and later on its basis the Romance languages arose: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and others.
Latin has been the language of living communication since the 6th century BC. to VI AD e. One of the Italic peoples, Latini, was the first to use the Latin language. The Latins inhabited the central part of Italy - Latium. Since VIII BC. e. Rome becomes their cultural and political center.
Over the course of its thousand-year existence, the Latin language, like any other living language, has changed and been replenished with new words and rules.
In the modern world, Latin is considered dead (that is, it is no longer used for live communication).
Today, Latin is needed by students of philological faculties, medical workers, lawyers, politicians, philosophers and representatives of some other professions. In addition, Latin terminology is adopted as a basis by other languages, remaining in its original form or subject to certain changes. It should be noted that in mathematics, physics and other sciences they still use symbols, which often serve as abbreviations for Latin words. In biology, medicine, pharmacology, a single international Latin nomenclature is still used today. Along with Italian, Latin is the official language of the Vatican.
Since Roman science was built on the foundation of Greek, modern scientific terminology contains a significant Greco-Latin component.
Latin for beginners is a fairly broad concept, because its study serves various purposes. Teachers at our school will help you clearly define the structure of your work and build a course that will be as focused as possible on your goals and wishes. Even if many have the same goal, the path to achieving it may be different. Since we are all different, we have different perceptions and understanding of the structure of language, different memorization patterns, etc. The teacher tries to take into account the individual characteristics of each student when preparing for classes, which greatly facilitates the process of mastering a particular topic and language as a whole. For example, if you are a medical student, then topics such as the Latin language and the basics of medical terminology, Latin for doctors, Latin for studying pharmaceutical terminology, a brief anatomical dictionary, Latin terminology in the course of human anatomy, etc. will probably be relevant to you. d.
Each profession has its own programs and topics for study, which can be changed and supplemented in accordance with the wishes of the student.
It is better to study Latin for beginners for an hour and a half, and on days when you do not have classes, consolidate the material in shorter approaches. On the weekends, you can devote a little more time to learning Latin. It should be remembered that working with a teacher is only part of the journey. To achieve results you need to put in a lot of effort and independent work.
Latin phonetics is quite simple, as it is based on letters that we are all familiar with (the Latin alphabet is the basis for almost all European languages). For beginners, it is more difficult to master the rules of reading in Latin. If you want to learn to understand the language, and not just learn a couple of Latin proverbs and phrases, you need to master grammar. Understanding the meaning of Latin texts is simply impossible without knowledge of grammar. The fact is that conjugation and other transformations of parts of speech occur according to certain rules, therefore, at the initial stages, textbooks often contain explanations and footnotes to texts to facilitate understanding and perception of the meaning of what is read.
It should also be remembered that the Latin course for beginners is not aimed at mastering spoken Latin (since Latin has not been used in spoken language for a very long time). A beginner's Latin course will help you master the grammar and vocabulary needed in your field.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. CHANGES IN WORDS. MEANING OF GRAMMAR.
Latin, like Russian, is an inflectional language: the connection of words in a sentence is determined by their form, i.e., the presence in each specific case of inflection (ending) and suffix.
Due to its inflectional nature, the Latin language belongs to the synthetic type of languages in which a word synthesizes (combines) lexical and grammatical meanings; The word order in it is relatively free, as in Russian.
In contrast to languages of the synthetic structure (to which German partially belongs), there are languages of the analytical structure (for example, English and French), in which the role of inflections (endings) is minimal and the word is usually the carrier of only lexical meaning, and grammatical relations are determined mainly by various function words (auxiliary verbs, personal pronouns, prepositions, etc.), as well as word order in sentences.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction. Latin meaning 3
How the tutorial is built and what it teaches 8
What is grammar 10
Part I
Chapter 11
§ 1. Letters and their pronunciation (11). § 2. Vowel combinations (13).
§ 3. Combinations of consonants (14). § 4. Longitude and shortness of vowel sounds (quantity) (14). §5. Accent (15). Exercises (15).
II chapter 16
§ 6. Characteristics of the structure of the Latin language (16). § 7. Initial information about the noun (18). § 8.1 declination (20). § 9. Verb esse (to be) (22). § 10. Some syntactical remarks (22). Exercises (23).
III chapter 24
§11. Initial information about the verb (25). § 12. Characteristics of conjugations. General understanding of the dictionary (basic) forms of the verb (26). § 13. Basic (dictionary) forms of the verb (28). § 14. Praes-ensindicativiactivi. Imperativus praesentis activi (29). § 15. Negations of verbs (31). § 16. Preliminary explanations for the translation (32). Exercises (38).
Chapter IV 40
§ 17. Imperfectum indicativi activi (40). § 18. II declension. General remarks (41). § 19. Nouns of the II declension (42). §20. Phenomena common to the I and II declensions (43). § 21. Adjectives of I-II declensions (43). § 22. Possessive pronouns (45). § 23. Accusativus duplex (46). Exercises (46).
Chapter 47
§ 24. Futurum I indicativi activi (48). § 25. Demonstrative pronouns (49). § 26. Pronominal adjectives (51). § 27. Ablativus loci (52). Exercises(53).
Test 54
VI Chapter 56
§ 28. III declension. General information (57). § 29. Nouns of the III declension (59). § 30. Correlation of the forms of oblique cases with the form of the nominative case (60). § 31. Gender of nouns of the III declension (62). § 32. Ablativus temporis (62). Exercises (63).
VII Chapter 64
§ 33. Adjectives of the III declension (64). § 34. Participium praesentis acti (66). § 35. Nouns of the III declension of the vowel type (67). Exercises (68).
Articles to read 69
Part II
Chapter VIII 74
§ 36. Passive voice. Form and meaning of verbs (74). § 37. The concept of active and passive constructions (76). § 38. Personal and reflexive pronouns (78). § 39. Features of the use of personal, reflexive and possessive pronouns (79). § 40. Some meanings of genetivus (80). Exercises (81).
Chapter IX 82
§41. Latin verb tense system (82). §42. The main types of formation of the bases perfect and supine (83). § 43. Perfectum indicativi activi (84). § 44. Supinum and its word-formation role (86). § 45. Participium perfecti passivi (87). § 46. Perfectum indicativi passivi (88). Exercises (89).
Chapter X 90
§ 47. Plusquamperfectum indicativi activi and passivi (91). § 48. Futurum II indicativi activi and passivi (92). § 49. Relative pronoun (93). § 50. The concept of complex sentences (94). § 51. Paraticipium futuri acti (95). Exercise (96).
Test 97
Chapter XI 99
§ 52. Verb esse with prefixes (99). § 53. Complex verb posse (101). § 54. Accusativus cum infinitivo (102). § 55. Pronouns in use ase. With. inf. (103). § 56. Infinitive forms (104). § 57. Definition in the text and methods of translating the expression ace. With. inf. (105). Exercises (107).
XII Chapter 108
§ 58. IV declension (109). § 59. Verba deponentia and semidepo-nentia (110). § 60. Nominativus cum infinitivo (112). § 61. Ablativus modi (113). Exercises (114).
Chapter XIII 115
§ 62. V declension (115). § 63. Dativus duplex (116). § 64. Demonstrative pronoun hie, haec, hoc (117). Exercises (117).
Chapter XIV 118
§ 65. Degrees of comparison of adjectives (119). § 66. Comparative degree (119). § 67. Superlatives (120). § 68. Formation of adverbs from adjectives. Degrees of comparison of adverbs (121). § 69. Supplemental degrees of comparison (122). Exercises (124)
Articles to read 125
Part III
Chapter XV 129
§ 70. Participial phrases (129). § 71. Ablativus absolutus (130). §72. Definition in the text and methods of translating the abl phrase. abs. (132). § 73. Ablativus absolutus without participle (133). Exercises (134).
Chapter 135
§ 74. Numerals (136). § 75. Use of numerals (137). § 76. Determinative pronoun idem (138). Exercise (138).
XVII Chapter 139
§ 77. Forms of the conjunctiva (139). § 78. Meanings of the subjunctive (142). § 79. Shades of the meaning of the subjunctive in independent sentences (143). § 80. Additional and targeted clauses (144). § 81. Subordinate clauses of the consequence (146). Exercises (147).
XVIII Chapter 148
§ 82. Forms of the conjunctive of the perfect group (149). § 83. Use of the perfect conjunctive in independent sentences (150). § 84. Consecutio temporum (150). §85. Subordinate clauses are temporary, causal and concessional (151). Exercises (153).
XIX Chapter 154
§ 86. Indirect question (154). Exercise (155).
Test 155
XX Chapter 159
§ 87. Conditional sentences (159). Exercise (160).
Chapter XXI 161
§ 88. Gerund and gerund (161). § 89. Use of the gerundive (162). § 90. Use of gerund (164). § 91. Signs of difference between gerund and gerund and comparison of their meanings with the infinitive (164). Exercises (165).
Part IV
Selected passages from the works of Latin authors
S. Iulius Caesar. Commentarii de bello Gallico 168
M. Tullius Cicero. Oratio in Catilinam prima 172
Cornelius Nepos. Marcus Porcius Cato 184
C. Plinius Caecilis Secundus Minor. Epistulae 189
Velleius Paterculus. Historiae Romanae libri duo 194
Eutropius. Breviarium historiae Romanae ab U. with 203
Antonius Possevinus. De rebus Moscoviticie 211
Alexander Gvagnus. Moscoviae descriptio 214
P. Virgilius Maro. Aeneis 224
Q. Horatis Flaccus. Carmen. Satira 230
Phaedrus. Fabulae 234
Pater Noster 237
Ave, Maria 237
Gaudeamus 238
Aphorisms, catchwords, abbreviations 240
Grammar reference
Phonetics 250
Morphology 250
I. Parts of speech (250). P. Nouns. A. Case endings (251). B. Regularities of declinations (252). B. Nominativus in III declension (252). D. Features of the declension of individual nouns (253). III. Adjectives and their degrees of comparison (254). IV. Numerals (254). V. Pronouns (257). VI. Verb. A. Formation of verb forms from three stems (259). B. Depositive and semi-depositive verbs (262). B. Insufficient verbs (262). D. Archaic verbs (outside conjugations) (262). VII. Adverbs (266). VIII. Prepositions (267). Simple Sentence Syntax 267
IX. Word order in a sentence (267). X. Use of cases (268). XI. Accusativus cum infinitivo (271). XII. Nominativus cum infinitivo (272). XIII. Ablativus absolutus (272). XIV. Gerundi-um. Gerundivum (272). XV. Meaning of conjunctiva (272).
Complex sentence syntax 273
XVI. Unions. A. Coordinating (most common) (273). B. Subordinating (most common) (274). XVII. Cons-secutio temporum (274). XVIII. Subordinate clauses (275). XIX. Determinative subordinate clauses (275). XX. Determinative sentences with adverbial meaning (276). XXI. Additional subordinate clauses (276). XXII. Subordinate clauses of purpose (276). XXIII. Subordinate clauses of consequence (277). XXIV. Temporary subordinate clauses (277). XXV. Causal subordinate clauses (278). XXVI. Concessive subordinate clauses (278). XXVII. Conditional clauses (279). XXVIII. Indirect question (279). XXIX. Indirect speech (279). XXX. Attractio modi (280). XXXI. Subordinate clauses with conjunctions ut, quum, quod (280).
Elements of word formation 282
Applications 287
About Roman names 287
About the Roman calendar 288
On Latin versification 292
About sheet music 293
About etymology and vocabulary 294
Key to tests 295
Latin-Russian dictionary 298.
