CHAPTER III – OUTLINE

There are several important things to learn from this chapter:

· the basics about verbs: what they are, how they are grouped into conjugations, the significance of their endings;

· what the accusative case ending is and how to use and understand it;

· the forms and meanings of more pronouns: personal, relative and interrogative;

· the interrogative adverb “why” and the causal conjunction “because”;

· the conjunction that means “nor”, “and not” or “but not”.

I. A verb is a part of speech (pars ōrātiōnis) that expresses an action or state of being: it describes what someone does or that something exists or occurs.

A. In this chapter the verbs are the words that end in “t” – this is the third person singular form. This ending means “he” “she” or “it”; when there is a word of singular number in the nominative case in the sentence this ending means that word is the subject. Example: cantat = he, she or it sings; Iūlia cantat = Julia sings.

B. The letter before the “t” shows which group of verbs the particular verb is in. There are four groups, three of which are introduced in this chapter:

1. The first conjugation – or “ā” conjugation – will always have an “a” or “ā” in it.

a. cantat

b. pulsat

c. plōrat

d. vocat

e. interrogat

f. verberat

2. The second conjugation – or “ē” conjugation – will always have an “e” or “ē” in it.

a. rīdet

b. videt

c. respondet

3. The fourth conjugation – or “ī” conjugation – will always have an “i” or “ī” in it.

a. venit

b. dormit

c. audit

II. In English, some verbs can have direct objects. We call this kind of verb transitive. Some don’t. We call this kind intransitive.

A. In English, since there are no case endings for nouns, the direct object in a sentence that has a verb which is or can be transitive is usually determined by its position: it usually comes after the verb, e.g., if Marcus is the one doing the hitting, and Julia is the one whom he its, we would usually say “Marcus is hitting Julia.”

B. In Latin the direct object in a sentence is determined by its case ending; most direct objects of transitive verbs are in the accusative case.

C. Here is a box showing, in the singular number, the accusative case endings:

Feminine	Masculine	Neuter
-am	-um	-um

D. Since the object of a transitive verb is indicated by the accusative case ending, its position in the sentence becomes a matter of emphasis instead of basic meaning. Mārcus Iūliam pulsat = Iūliam Mārcus pulsat = Pulsat Mārcus Iūliam = Mārcus pulsat Iūliam = Iūliam pulsat Mārcus

III. A pronoun is a part of speech which stands in for a noun.

A. Personal pronouns refer to a person.

1. The accusative forms of the pronouns that mean “him” or “her” are eum and eam.

2. The accusative forms of the pronoun that mean “me” or “you” are mē and tē.

3. Examples:

a. Iūlia plōrat quia Mārcus eam pulsat. “Julia is crying because Marcus is hitting her.”

b. Mārcus plōrat quia Iūlius eum verberat. “Marcus is crying because Julius is beating him.”

B. Relative pronouns relate a subordinate clause to a noun in the main sentence.

1. Here is a box showing, in the singular number, the nominative and accusative forms of the words which mean “who” or “whom” or “which”:

	Feminine	Masculine	Neuter
Nom.	quae	quī	quod
Acc.	quam	quem	quod

2. These words always have the same number and gender as the word they relate to.

3. Examples:

a. Puer quī Iūliam pulsat est Mārcus. “The boy who is hitting Julia is Marcus.”

b. Puella quam Mārcus pulsat est Iūlia. “The girl whom Marcus is hitting is Julia.”

C. Interrogative pronouns ask questions.

1. Here is a box showing, in the singular number, the nominative and accusative forms of the pronouns which ask “who?” and “whom?”

	Feminine	Masculine	Neuter
Nom.	quis or quae	quis	quid
Acc.	quam	quem	quid

2. Examples:

a. Quam pulsat Mārcus? Mārcus Iūliam pulsat.

b. Quae est puella quae plōrat? Who is the girl who is crying?

IV. Why and because

A. Cūr is an interrogative adverb which asks “why”.

B. Quia is a causal conjunction which introduces the reason, cause or explanation.

C. Example: Cūr plōrat Iūlia? Iūlia plōrat quia Mārcus eam pulsat. “Why is Julia crying? Julia is crying because Marcus is hitting her.”

V. And not and but not – a conjunction

A. Instead of saying “et nōn” or “sed nōn” Romans used the word neque or nec. (ne + que)

B. Examples:

1. Iūlius dormit neque Quīntum audit. “Julius is sleeping and does not hear Quintus.”

2. Iūlius venit neque Aemilia eum videt. “Julius is coming but Aemilia doesn’t see him.”