Latin course for the Virtual School of Languages

Lesson 2: Acquaintances everywhere

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Text
Nunc Marcus et Cornelia, Aemilia et Titus sedent et gaudent, nam
Lucius et Gaius appropinquant; rident et salutant. Cornelia narrat:
"Hodie etiam Tullia et Claudia adsunt. Ecce! Ibi sedent."
Gaius rogat: "Cur Quintus non adest?"
Tum Marcus: "Quintus aegrotat, sed ibi sunt Titus et Aemilia!
Ludus non solum me delectat, sed etiam..."
Subito Aemilia vocat: "Ecce elephantus, ecce simia!"
Claudia et Cornelia et Aemilia gaudent et rident.
---------------------------
Reading vocabulary you needn't learn:
aegrotat: (he) is ill
simia: monkey

Vocabulary

Practise the vocabulary of this lesson by matching it.


Grammar
In the last lesson, we found out that the ending -t is for the 3rd person singular (he/she/it) 
and we found it on verbs like sedet, gaudet, ridet. In this lesson, you can find the words 
sedent, gaudent, rident. These are the same verbs, except that this time, they're in the 
3rd person plural (they), because Marcus no longer sits / laughs alone, his friends do so, 
too. You can easily form the plural of every verb you learned in the last lesson by taking 
off the -t, which gives you the verb stem, and then adding -nt, the 3rd person plural ending 
(e. g. ridet -> ride -> rident). This converts the sentence ride-t (he laughs) into ride-nt 
(they laugh).

Unfortunately this does not work with the verb "to be". Just as in English, it is an irregular 
verb in Latin. The 3rd person singular is est (he/she/it is) and the 3rd person plural is sunt 
(they are). The verb "to be there" is derived from the verb "to be" and has according forms: 
adest and adsunt. Adest is really just the verb "to be" combined with the preposition "ad" 
(at, towards), so you can form any of its forms by just putting "ad" in front of the form of 
"to be". There are lots of similar cases, which make these words very easy to learn.

Another thing that I just slipped in because it's so easy: if you put "non"(not) in front of a 
verb, you make the sentence negative. 
E. g. "Quintus adest" = "Quintus is there" / "Quintus non adest" = "Quintus is not there".
        "Marcus ridet" = "Marcus laughs" / "Marcus non ridet" = "Marcus doesn't laugh".
If you want to say something like "Quintus isn't there but is ill", use "sed" for the "but".
So this sentence would be: "Quintus non adest, sed aegrotat."

Another addition for those who are bored: the personal pronoun "they" is "ii" for 
male or mixed groups, "eae" for groups of females and "ea" for collections of things.  


Exercises
As usual, you will find the correct answers at the bottom of this page, beneath the information.
I) Add the correct endings:
 1. Gaius et Claudia appropinqua_ et roga_ .
 2."Ubi Marcus et Cornelia hodie su_?"
 3. Ibi Titus sta_ ; sed Aemilia non ades_ .
 4. Subito Claudia ride_ : nam ibi Marcus es_ .
 5. Nunc etiam Gaius et Tullia ride_ .
II) Fill in the blanks using either "nam", "sed" or "et".
 1. Titus __ Aemilia in Colosseo sunt. 
 2. Aemilia sedet, __ Titus stat.
 3. Titus et Aemilia gaudent, __ ludus delectat.
 4. Marcus non gaudet, __ dolet, __ Cornelia cessat.
 5. Marcus adest, __ Cornelia cessat.
 6. Subito Marcus gaudet, __ Cornelia ibi stat.
 7. Nunc Titus gaudet __ Marcus gaudet. 

Information : Games in Rome
The Romans had 3 kinds of games: chariot races in the racing parcours (circus), scenic plays in the theatre and gladiator games
in the amphitheatre. Since 105 BC gladiators were trained to do their bloody job. Brave fighters were pardoned by the people
by showing the fist with the thumb pointing upwards; if the thumb pointed downwards, the gladiator was sentenced to death.

An aerial shot of Circus Maximus, the biggest chariot racing "circus", and a photo
of a modern enactment of the ancient races.

Exercise answers:
I) 1. appropinqua-nt, roga-nt, 
    2. su-nt
    3. sta-t, ades-t
    4. ride-t, es-t
    5. ride-nt
II) 1. et  
     2. sed
     3. nam
     4. sed, nam
     5. sed
     6. nam
     7. et