MM: Lesson - Latin I Review - Introduction

Image: An illustration of the main character, Pseudolus. Latin I Review - Introduction

As soon as Pseudolus heard the news of Marcellus' death, he immediately went into a period of mourning. Marcellus was a part of the imperial family and as person he had been bright, intelligent and friendly. However, Pseudolus was not one to let his mind idle. He was hearing disturbing rumors - rumors that Marcellus' death was not natural, that he had been murdered. As a slave in Augustus' house, he knew he must keep his head down, but he immediately became determined to find the truth.

Additionally, Pseudolus feared for the safety of the other imperial children, and one in particular: Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra VII. As her guardian and protector since childhood, Pseudolus felt a particular duty to protect her as she tried to make her way in the dangerous world of Roman politics.

However, Pseudolus' duties as magister (teacher) for the imperial house came first. And he had a group of young students coming to meet him soon: he had to prepare a review lesson to help these students tackle more complex concepts in Latin grammar.

Latin I Grammar - A Review of the Major Concepts

In Latin I, you learned many details about Latin grammar. Each of the topics you learned about helped to build a foundation for your future learning and study of Latin. Let's take a brief look at each of the major topics of grammar that you learned about in Latin I, starting with an overview of Parts of Speech. What do you remember? Complete the brief interactive pre-quiz, then review the material below.

Important Basic Facts

A few basic facts about Latin:

  1. Latin is an inflected language. That means that it uses inflections (endings) to change how a word is used. This is different from English, which uses positional context to determine usage (though English does contain some inflections).
    • English:
      • Maria loves Julius.
      • Julius loves Maria.
      • By switching the position of the nouns, you have changed the role of the noun. Maria goes from subject to object because of where the noun is placed in relation to the verb.
    • Latin:
      • Maria Iulium amat. = Iulium Maria amat. = Amat Maria Iulium.
      • Mariam Iulius amat.
      • By changing the ending of the nouns, you have changed the role of the noun. Maria, by changing to Mariam, goes from subject to direct object. The position of the words does not affect the usage.
  2. Latin does not use helping verbs. In the sentence above, amat could mean:
    • she loves
    • she is loving
    • she does love
  3. Latin does not use articles (the, a, an):
    • Puella est pulcher. 
    • Translation: The girl is pretty. A girl is pretty.
  4. When you translate, be sure to supply helping verbs and articles as they are often necessary elements of English.

Parts of Speech

The parts of speech in Latin are essentially the same ones used in English. For the purpose of review, there are two sections, Major Parts of Speech and Minor Parts of Speech:

  • Major Parts
    • Verbs
    • Nouns
    • Adjectives
  • Minor Parts
    • Adverbs
    • Pronouns
    • Prepositions

Additionally, Latin has conjunctions and exclamations which will be covered as needed.

The following pages will address the Parts of Speech with additional details.