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Latin from scratch course › #2: Second declension and adjectives

Latin from scratch #2: The second declension, and adjectives

In the second module of the Latin from Scratch course, we’ll study the second declension, which will also allow us to learn the first-class (2-1-2) adjectives and deal with them in our translations.

Classes on the second declension and adjectives

  1. The second declension (09m 56s)
  2. 2-1-2 adjectives (10m 08s)

Practice: morphosyntactic analysis and translation (2)

We are already in the second module, so we start directly with the translations. Analyze and translate the following sentences, and the short text about the Germanic people, according to Roman historian Tacitus (fragment from the lectio XI in Ludus Latinus by Wilhelm Hartke):

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Here you have the statements of the words appearing in the translation for this module. It is important for you to learn the vocabulary. To compel you to do so, I won’t usually repeat words from previous modules.

For the sentences:

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For the text:

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Review of the translations

Once you have finished with the analysis and translations, now it’s time to review them on the screen.

⚠️ Even if you think you’ve done everything correctly, it is very important for you to always check the review, since that’s where we actually practice and check what we have learned. You’ve already seen that the analysis-translation process is quite systematic and strict at first, precisely so we can absorb everything we’re doing.

In the following video (⏳ 22m 28s ⌛) I analyze and translate the sentences:

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And now the text (⏳ 20m 40s ⌛):

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Yes, they are definitely harder than the sentences in the previous modules… but we need to keep moving forward!

In the next module, we’ll learn two new tenses: the imperfect past and the imperfect future (both indicative active). Imperfect is especially important, since it’s a narration tense, thus quite frequent in historiography.

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Paco Álvarez

About Paco Álvarez

I’m Paco Álvarez, a Spanish classical philologist. For years I’ve been teaching Latin and Greek online to Spanish students. When I saw there was nothing like my AcademiaLatin.com for English-speaking Latin lovers, I decided to create it myself, and that’s how LatinFromScratch.com was born.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Eetu says

    2023-08-11 at 20:27

    In the sentence “Tacitus, historicus clarus et doctus, multa de terra et vita Germanorum antiquorum narrat”, I’m having a hard time grasping why “Germanorum antiquorum” takes the form of the direct object “multa”, i.e. genitive plural neuter, instead of taking the form of the adverbial “de terra et vita”, which would be genitive plural feminine. Since aren’t the “land and life” the things that are possessed by the “ancient Germans”?

    Could I remove the adverbial so that the last part would become “multa Germanorum antiquorum narrat”, and would that translate to something like “tells a lot of ancient Germans”?

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    • Paco Álvarez says

      2023-08-14 at 10:09

      There, multa isn’t genitive plural, but accusative plural (I’m guessing you just had a slip there). It says literally “narrates *many things*”, and later the adverbial specifies “about what”, so “narrates many things about the land and the life of the ancient Germans”.

      That said, you could have what you say with that meaning, “many things of the ancient Germans” (more generic than “about the land and the life”).

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      • Eetu says

        2023-08-19 at 14:55

        Yes, I meant accusative plural neuter, my bad. Now looking at this with your comments and fresh eyes it makes more sense. I think I had a brainfart and thought of “Germanorum antiquorum” as an adjective instead of a genitive complement of the noun.

        Thanks for your reply!

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Course content

  1. Quick start
  2. Introduction
  3. Cases and their functions
  4. The five declensions
  5. First declension
  6. Verbal conjugation
  7. Present tense
  8. Second declension
  9. 2-1-2 adjectives
  10. Imperfect past tense
  11. Future tense
  12. Third declension nouns
  13. Third declension adjectives
  14. Perfect past tense
  15. Adverbials of place
  16. Fourth declension
  17. Fifth declension
  18. Pluperfect tense
  19. Possessives
  20. Personal pronouns
  21. Apposition
  22. Predicative complement
  23. Present subjunctive
  24. Imperfect subjunctive
  25. Perfect subjunctive
  26. Perfect future indicative
  27. Pluperfect subjunctive
  28. Syntax of cum
  29. Syntax of ut & ne
  30. Comparison of adjectives
  31. Superlative adjectives
  32. Adverbs from adjectives
  33. Demonstratives
  34. Relative clauses
  35. Passive voice
  36. Deponent verbs
  37. Relative time
  38. Participles: morphology
  39. Participles: syntax
  40. Infinitives
  41. Compounds of sum
  42. Irregular verbs
  43. Imperative

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