Image: Latin text inscribed on a large tablet.

Introduction to Grammar Review

Before jumping into new content, it is a good idea to review the Latin grammar that was taught in Latin I and II. This is by no means a comprehensive review, but is designed to touch on the basics. For any topics that are less familiar, be sure to reach out to your instructor for additional review and remediation.

A Review of the Major Concepts

In Latin I and II, 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.

Overview

A few basic facts about Latin:

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.
Latin does not use helping verbs. In the sentence above, amat could mean:
- she loves
- she is loving
- she does love
Latin does not use articles (the, a, an):
- Puella est pulcher.
- Translation: The girl is pretty. A girl is pretty.
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.