Latin course for the Virtual School of Languages

Lesson 4: The fight

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Text
Iam Barbatus Syrum temptat.
Gladii crepant, populus adversarios incitat,
nam pugnae turbam valde delectant.
Etiam Marcus gaudet et clamat,
nam ludos et pugnas libenter spectat;
Corneliam autem ludi non delectant: itaque sedet et tacet.
Marcus amicam rogat: "Cur pugna te non delectat?"
Cornelia non respondet.
Subito Syrus adversarium temptat, vulnerat.
Turba clamat, sed Cornelia lacrimas non iam tenet.
Neque Marcum nunc ludus delectat.

Vocabulary

Practise the vocabulary of this lesson by matching it.
	
Grammar
In this lesson, you're introduced to (Accusative-)Objects, which usually are a very important part of 
a sentence. Even Roman names, such as Marcus or Cornelia, have to be put into the correct cases. 
As usual, there's a difference between the masculine words of the O-declension and the feminine 
words of the A-declension. 
The O-declension takes the word stem and adds -um for Accusative singular and -os for Accusative 
plural. Examples: lud-us -> lud-um    lud-i -> lud-os
The A-declension takes the word stem and adds -am for Accusative singular and -as for Accusative
plural. Examples: amic-a -> amic-am   amic-ae -> amic-as 
You will later notice that the M as ending of the Accusative singular is very typical.

Let's analyse a sentence now, using the technique that will help you later to understand complex sentences
covering a quarter of a page, like Caesar likes to write them, or word salad à là Ovid. There are no rules
pertaining to word order in Latin, so you will need to approach sentences the way they'll translate to meaningful
English sentences. That means by translating the predicate first. Let's take the example sentence 
"Subito adversarii Syrum temptant." The predicate is "temptant". It is 3rd person plural and the meaning of
the stem is "to try, attack". Using both of this information, we can give the exact English translation of this word:
"they try" or "they attack". Since "they" is plural, the subject (if there is one) has to be plural, too, and Nominative
because all subjects are Nominative. Considering the declensions we know, the ending can be -i or -ae. The only
possible subject in this sentence is therefore "adversarii", the opponents. That gives us "The opponents try" or
"The opponents attack". If the first is right, we should find an infinitive (try TO DO), however there's none, so it's
the second translation: "The opponents attack." Now there's one question: WHOM do they attack? The Accusative
object gives the answer. Of the remaining words, just Syrum has an Accusative ending. So "The opponents attack
Syrus". The last remaining word, subito, is an adverbial of time meaning "suddenly". Accordingly, the whole 
sentence is "Suddenly the opponents attack Syrus." Even if this structured approach at translating a sentence
isn't really necessary in order to translate the easy sentences you have been given so far, please keep it in mind for
the future and don't just translate sentences by translating the single words one by one in their dictionary 
form, pay attention to cases and especially singular/plural!

Exercise
Determine the function of the words in the sentence and translate:
1. Populus Syrum et Barbatum salutat.
2. Populum Syrus et Barbatus salutant.
3. Nunc Syrus et Barbatus temptant et pugnant.
4. Gladios tenent et clamant.
5. Subito Syrus Barbatum vulnerat.
Compare your answers to the correct answers, which are displayed at the bottom of this page.

Information: Gladiator fights

At the beginning, there's a ceremony in honor of the Gods and the emperor. 
Foreground: priests, referees and musicians, Background: gladiators 

The Retiarius is about to kill the Samnite, the referee makes sure that the Retiarius
waits until the crowd has given the signal.

Exercise answers:
1. Populus = Subject, Syrum et Barbatum = (Accusative-)Object, salutat = predicate (3rd person singular)
    The audience greets Syrus and Barbatus.
2.  Populum = (Accusative-)Object, Syrus et Barbatus = Subject, salutant = predicate (3rd person plural)
     Syrus and Barbatus greet the audience.
3.  Nunc = Adverbial of time, Syrus et Barbatus = Subject, temptant et pugnant = predicates (3rd person plural)
     Syrus and Barbatus attack and fight now.
4.  Gladios = (Accusative Plural) Object, tenent et clamant = predicates (3rd person plural)
      They hold the swords and shout.
5.   Subito = Adverbial of time, Syrus = Subject, Barbatum = (Accusative-)Object, vulnerat = predicate (3rd person singular)
      Suddenly Syrus wounds Barbatus.