Here is the new catch-up day post for the -es verbs and -is verbs (both 3rd and 4th conjugation!) from the past two weeks, along with a slideshow (including cats) of those sayings, plus a link to the crossword as usual (which you can download and print), and then... the self-quiz also!
So, let's start with the slideshow with all the sayings. You can read out loud, first with the English to remind you of the vocabulary... and then read out loud again with the cat!
I also made a printable crossword PDF as usual, and the same prompts for the crossword are used in the quiz questions below. Enjoy!
Calvum ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answervellisVides horam, ______ tuam. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answernescisUltra Epimenidem ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerdormisFrange nucis tegmen, si ______ esse nucem. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answercupisCribro aquam ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerhaurisIn arena ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerscribisAnte victoriam ______ triumphum. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answercanisAquam in cribro ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answergerisAcum in meta faeni ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerquaerisEx arena funiculum ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answernectisA pumice aquam ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerpetisLucernam ______ in meridie. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answeradhibesMurem ex leone ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerefficisAb ______ lanam petis. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerasinoAnimum debes mutare, non ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answercaelumAut non ______ tentes, aut perfice. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerrem______ implere debes, non arcam. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answeranimumIn pertuso hauris ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerdolioPersonam, non ______ geris. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerfaciemSi ______ iugulare tentes, fortiter apprehende. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerleonem And here's a random cat:
The focus for today's lesson is more practice with the 3rd-conjugation "you" verbs, which end in -is. Also, each of today's sayings also has a prepositional phrase, so it's a nice review of prepositional phrases as well!
To get started, here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before, and you have indeed seen most of the words in today's sayings already!
And here are today's proverbs:
1. In arena scribis.
You're-writing in sand.
in a-RE-na scribis.
You know all the words in this saying!
The verb scribis is the 2nd-person form of the verb scribit.
The word arena (arenā) is the ablative form of the noun arena, ablative because of the preposition in.
This is another of those fool's errands: you don't want to write in water or in sand or in ash. It's never going to last if you do that!
2. A pumice aquam petis.
You're-seeking water from (a) stone.
a PU-mice aquam petis.
The verb petis is the 2nd-person form of the verb petit, "seeks, asks for," as in the English word "petition." You haven't see this verb before, but you've seen it in a compound form: appetit.
The word pumice is the ablative form of the noun pumex, ablative because of the preposition a.
The word aquam is the accusative form of the noun aqua, accusative because it is the object of the verb.
Another fool's errand! Compare the English saying, trying to get "blood from a stone" or "blood from a turnip."
3. Ab asino lanam petis. You're-seeking wool from (a) donkey.
ab A-sino lanam petis.
You now know all the words in this saying, since you learned petis in the previous saying.
The word asino is the ablative form of the noun asinus, ablative because of the preposition a, which is spelled ab here because of the following vowel: ab asino. (Compare the use of "n" in English in a phrase like "an apple").
The word lanam is the accusative form of the noun lana, accusative because it is the object of the verb.
And yet again, another fool's errand: you get wool from sheep, not from donkeys.
4. Acum in meta faeni quaeris.
You're-looking-for (a) needle in (a) stack of-hay.
acum in meta faeni quaeris.
The two new words here are the needle, acus, in the stack, meta of hay; you already know the word for hay: faenum. And yes, the word acus is related to the "sharp" words in English like "acuity" and "acumen." But, as far as I know, we don't get any English words from Latin meta; all those meta- words in English (like metaphor, metadata, etc.) are from Greek meta, not Latin.
The verb quaeris is the 2nd-person form of the verb quaerit.
The word meta (metā) is the ablative form of the noun meta, ablative because of the preposition in, and faeni is the genitive of faenum, so: in meta faeni, "in a stack of hay," i.e. in the proverbial haystack!
The word acum is the accusative form of the noun acus, accusative because it is the object of the verb.
Not quite a fool's errand this time, but a very difficult task! We have the same saying in English, looking for a needle in a haystack.
5. Ante victoriam canis triumphum.
You're-singing (the) victory-song before (the) victory.
ante vic-TO-riam canis triumphum.
The new word here is triumphus, the celebration of victory in ancient Rome — the highest military honor that a general could win — and it's easy to recognize because this is the origin of the English word "triumph."
The verb canis is the 2nd-person form of the verb canit. And yes, the Latin word canis also means dog! The words canis, "you sing," and canis, "dog," are homographs in Latin: different words with the same spelling. Of course, we have lots of homographs in English also, far more than Latin does. For example, you use a "bat" to play baseball, but "bats" are also animals!
This is the Roman imperial version of "counting your chickens before they're hatched."
The focus for today's lesson is the 2nd-person forms for the 3rd-conjugation. No surprise, the ending is -is! Here's a review of all the 3rd-conjugation forms that you know:
-o. scribo: I write. (also -io, capio. I take.)
-is. scribis: you write.
-it. scribit: she/he/it writes.
-itur. scribitur: is written.
-ere: scibere: to write.
-e: scribe! write!
And here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before. There is only one new word in today's sayings. You have seen all of the words here before!
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Calvum vellis.
You’re-plucking (a) bald (man).
calvum vellis.
You know both words in this saying already!
The word calvum is the accusative form of the adjective calvus, accusative because it is the object of the verb. The adjective is being used substantively as a noun, "bald, a bald man."
This is one of those proverbial fool's errands: a bald man has no hair for you to pluck.
2. Personam, non faciem geris.
You’re-wearing (a) mask, not (your) face.
per-SO-nam, non FA-ciem geris.
You know all of these words too!
The word geris is from the verb gerit, which has a wide range of meanings. In this saying, it means "wear."
The word personam is the accusative form of the noun persona, and faciem is the accusative form of the noun facies, accusative because these are objects of the verb.
This is a way to describe someone who is being hypocritical, presenting a false face to the world, a mask, not their true face.
3. Aquam in cribro geris.
You’re-carrying water in (a) sieve.
aquam in cribro geris.
These words are also familiar! In this saying, the verb geris means "carry."
The word aquam is the accusative form of the noun aqua, accusative because it is the object of the verb.
The word cribro is the ablative from of the noun cribrum, ablative because of the preposition in.
This is another one of those fool's errands: if you carry water in a sieve, you will have lost all the water by the time you get to your destination.
4. Murem ex leone efficis.
You’re-making (a) mouse out-of (a) lion. murem ex le-O-ne EF-ficis.
You'll recognize these words also.
The word murem is the accusative form of the noun mus, accusative because it is the object of the verb.
The word leone is the ablative from of the noun leo, ablative because of the preposition ex.
This saying goes in the opposite direction of proverbs you've seen before: instead of making a big thing out of a small thing (compare "making a mountain out of a molehill"), this saying goes in the opposite direction: making something big and valuable into something small and worthless.
5. Ex arena funiculum nectis.
You’re-weaving (a) rope out-of sand. ex a-RE-na fu-NI-culum nectis.
This is the one new word for today: the word nectis, "you weave," is from the verb nectit. This is where we get English "connect" and also "nexus," which is a Latin word we use in English.
The word funiculum is the accusative form of the noun funiculus, accusative because it is the object of the verb.
The word arena (arenā) is the ablative from of the noun arena, ablative because of the preposition ex.
Another fool's errand: if you try to make a rope out of sand, it will fall apart; it will not be a rope.
The review this week is... the 3rd conjugation! You'll see a variety of forms: 1st-person active, -o and -io (remember, this conjugation has those two different 1st-person forms!); 3rd-person present active, -it; present passive, -itur (sometimes with active meaning); imperative: -e; and active infinitive, -ere. There's a quiz slideshow, a crossword, and a self-check quiz afterwards too. :-)
For each saying, you will try to supply the missing word. You can check yourself by looking at the cat slide that follows the slide with the missing word(s).
You can also begin at the end and work backwards, giving yourself a different kind of quiz: seeing the slide without English and trying to supply the English, checking your answer on the next slide, reviewing with the cat slide, and then seeing if you can fill in the blank.
Plus don't forget: on the slides that contain the English translation, the English is linked to the original blog post if you want some help in understanding the grammar of the saying.
I also made a printable crossword PDF as usual, and the same prompts for the crossword and slieshow are used in the quiz questions below. Enjoy!
Quietae aquae non ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answercredoDum ______, spero. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answervivoNon pudor est non scire; pudor, nil ______ velle. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerdiscereRex numquam ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answermoriturSum, ergo ______; ______, ergo sum. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerbiboPatientia ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answervincoPoeta ______, orator fit. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answernasciturDeo fortunaeque ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answercommitto______ audacter. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerpergeContentus ______ parvo. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answervivoUltra ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answeraspicioAvarus, nisi cum ______, nil recte facit. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerfacitSapientia est vera: nolle nimis ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answersapereNec cupio nec ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answermetuoNoctem dies ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answersequiturFelis amat piscem, sed non vult ______ flumen. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answertangereInterdum stultus bene ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerloquiturTolle ______, tolle ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answerlegeLupus lupum non ______. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answereditDormienti vulpi ______ intra os nihil. fill in the blank: reveal/hide answercadit
And here's a random cat:
You've done the -as "you" verbs for the 1st conjugation and the -es "you" verbs for the 2nd conjugation, and we're going to skip over the 3rd conjugation for now and do the 4th conjugation today. That's because the 4th conjugation is the least common of the conjugations, and I only have a few examples to share with you. So, we can do the 4th conjugation today, and then spend next week on the 3rd conjugation.
Can you guess what the "you" ending will be for the 4th conjugation? It is -is, just as you would expect from the other endings you have seen:
1. Cribro aquam hauris. You’re-drawing water with-a-sieve.
cribro aquam hauris.
The word hauris, "you draw, drain, drink," is the 2nd-person form of the verb haurit. This verb is at the root of English "exhaust," which originally meant "drain out, drink dry."
The word cribro is the ablative form of the noun cribrum, "sieve," and in the ablative case it means "with a sieve, by means of a sieve."
This is another one of those fool's errands: there's no way to collect water in a sieve full of holes. (Although I know a nice African folktale about the trickster tortoise: he uses mud and leaves to seal the holes in the sieve and thus is able to draw water with a sieve after all!)
2. In pertuso hauris dolio. You’re-drawing water in (a) perforated jar.
in per-TU-so hauris DO-lio.
The word dolio is the ablative form of the noun dolium, which you have seen before. The word pertuso is in the ablative case too; it's from the adjective pertusum, "perforated." The ablative case is being used here with the preposition in. Notice how the prepositional phrase is wrapped around the verb: in pertuso ... dolio.
This is a variation on the same idea: you will not succeed in filling a jar with water if the jar has a hole in it. This was the proverbial punishment of the daughters of Danaus, the Danaids, in the underworld: they were condemned to forever fill jars with water while the water ran out the jars. More at Wikipedia.
The word dormis is the 2nd-person form of the verb dormit, which you know already.
You've also seen the word ultra before, but when you saw it in the saying Ultra aspicio it was an adverb. This time it is being used as a preposition, taking the accusative case: Epimenidem is the accusative form of the name Epimenides. (There is a close connection between prepositions and adverbs, as you'll see later on!)
Epimenides was a famous long sleeper: he supposedly fell asleep in a cave in a cave sacred to Zeus. He slept there for over 50 years without waking up, and then when he did awake, he had the power of prophecy! More at Wikipedia.
4. Vides horam, nescis tuam. You-see the-hour, you-don’t-know (which is) yours.
vides horam, nescis tuam.
The word vides is the 2nd-person form of the verb videt, which you know already.
The word nescis is the 2nd-person form of the verb nescit, which you have seen before also. In fact, you have seen all the words in this saying before!
The word horam is the accusative form of hora, the object of the verb vides.
The word tuam is the accusative form tua, and the word horam is implied here too: nescis horam tuam.
And just what is the hour that this saying refers to? It is the hora mortis, the "hour of (your) death."
5. Frange nucis tegmen, si cupis esse nucem.
Break (the) nut’s shell if you-want to eat (the) nut.
frange nucis tegmen, si cupis esse nucem.
The word cupis is the 2nd-person form of the verb cupit, which you know already.
The word frange is the imperative form of the verb frangit, which you have seen before too.
The word nucis is the genitive form of nux, "nut," and nucem is the accusative form. You can see this Latin word in English "nucleus."
The word tegmen is a variant spelling of a word you've seen before: tegimen. You first encountered that word meaning the shell of a turtle, and now it refers to the shell of a nut: nucis tegmen, hence the genitive case. Meanwhile, tegmen is a neuter noun, so the nominative and accusative forms are the same; here it is in the accusative case, the object of frange.
The esse is very sneaky: it is the infinitive of sum, meaning "to be," but it is also the infinitive of edo, meaning "to eat." Yes, "to be" is "to eat" in Latin, esse, and there are some jokes and riddles that play on that ambiguity. In this saying, though, esse is not ambiguous: it is taking an accusative object, nucem, so the verb needs to be a transition verb: si cupis esse nucem, "if you want to eat the nut."
Compare the English saying about "breaking a few eggs to make an omelet."
The focus for today's lesson is more -es verbs, and I've also included two sayings to give you a sense of what's ahead for you in the Latin verb system and why it takes lots of practice with both vocabulary (learning the words) and syntax (putting the words into the sentences) in order to read Latin.
So far, most of the verb forms you've seen have unambiguous endings. That means you can look at the ending and figure out what form of the verb you are looking at: 1st or 2nd or 3rd person (I or you or she/he/it), active or passive, present tense or imperative or infinitive. But it's often the case, as you learn more and more of the verb forms, that they will be ambiguous. To decipher the ambiguity, you do need to know whether a verb belongs to the 1st or 2nd or 3rd or 4th conjugation.
You've been practicing the 2nd-person forms of the 2nd-conjugation which end in -es; some of the forms you've seen are: habes, doces, tenes, misces, and so on. The dictionary form of these verbs shows that they are 2nd conjugation: habeo, doceo, teneo and misceo. The infinitive forms are habere, docere, tenere and miscere.
In today's lesson, you will have some more of these 2nd-conjugation verbs, but you will also have two sayings that use the verb tentes. You might think that is another 2nd-conjugation verb, right? But you've seen these verb before: it's not 2nd-conjugation; it's 1st-conjugation. Tentarenonnocet. "It doesn't hurt to try." The dictionary form is tento and the infinitive is tentare; it's a 1st-conjugation verb.
So what is that -es doing on a 1st-conjugation verb? This is a subjunctive ending, a different "mood" of the verb. We don't use the subjunctive mood in modern English; instead, we use what are called modal verbs, which accomplish the same result: would, could, should, might, etc. So to translate tentes, you'll see that I've used the modal verbs "should try" and "would try" in English.
Most English speakers aren't aware of modal verbs and how weird they are (they are WEIRD!), so if you are curious to learn a little bit about English modal verbs now, you can read this article at Wikipedia. Meanwhile, you'll be learning about the Latin subjunctive later on. I just thought this might be a nice moment to give you a sense of things to come!
1. Lucernam adhibes in meridie.
You’re-using (a) lamp at noon.
lu-CER-nam AD-hibes in me-RI-die.
The word adhibes is the 2nd-person form of the verb adhibet, "apply, employ, use." You haven't seen this verb before, but it is a compound of a verb that you do know: ad+habet.
The word lucernam is the accusative form of the noun lucerna; it is the object of the verb.
The word meridie is the ablative form of the noun meridies, "midday, noon." You haven't seen this word before, but it is a compound of words you have seen: medius+dies. (The "d" turns into an "r" in a process called dissimilation, when a word changes in order to prevent two similar sounds occurring next to each other.) The word is in the ablative case with the preposition in.
This is equivalent to the English saying "burning daylight." In other words: it's foolish to use a lamp, and waste lamp oil, when it is broad daylight outside!
2. Animum debes mutare, non caelum.
You-must change (your) mind, not (your) sky.
A-nimum debes mu-TA-re, non caelum.
The word debes is the 2nd-person form of the verb debet, "owe, ought, must." You haven't seen this verb before, but it is a compound of a verb that you do know: de+habet. This Latin word is the root of English "debit" and "debt."
The word mutare is the infinitive form of the verb mutat, which you have seen before. It is an infinitive complementing the verb debes: "you ought to change," debes mutare.
The word animum is the accusative form of the noun animus, and it is the object of mutare.
The word caelum is also in the accusative, the object of the infinitive: Animum debes mutare, non [debesmutare] caelum.
In other words, you can't run away from your problems! This famous piece of advice comes from the Roman poet Horace.
3. Animum implere debes, non arcam.
You-must fill (your) soul, not (your) money-chest.
A-nimum im-PLE-re debes, non arcam.
The word implere is the infinitive form of the verb implet, "fill." You haven't seen this verb before, but you have seen a related adjective: plena, "full."
The word animum is the accusative object of the infinitive implere, and so is arcam. The sentence pattern is the same as in the previous saying: Animum implere debes, non [impleredebes] arcam.
In other words: accumulate treasures of the heart, not money in your bank account.
4. Aut non rem tentes, aut perfice.
Either you-shouldn't-attempt (the) thing, or get-it-done.
aut non rem tentes, aut PER-fice.
You know all the words in this saying already, but there is a form here you have not seen before: tentes. As I explained above, this is the 2nd-person subjunctive form of the verb tentat, "tries, attempts." Because it is subjunctive, I have translated it as "should attempt" here.
The word perfice is the imperative form of the verb perficit, which you have seen before.
The word rem is the accusative object of the noun rem; it is the object of both the verb tentes and the imperative perfice.
As you've seen before, aut... aut... "or... or...," is equivalent to the expression "either... or..."
Compare the English saying, "Fish, or cut bait."
5. Si leonem iugulare tentes, fortiter apprehende.
If you would-try to strangle (a) lion, grab (him) forcefully.
si le-O-nem iugu-LA-re tentes, FOR-titer appre-HEN-de.
The word iugulare is the infinitive form of the verb iugulat, "strangles." You can see this same Latin root in English "jugular vein."
The word apprehende is the imperative form of the verb apprehendit, a verb you have seen before.
The word leonem is the accusative form of leo; it is the object of the infinitive and of the imperative: Si leonem iugulare tentes, fortiter apprehende [leonem].
The word fortiter, "forcefully, strongly," is the adverbial form of an adjective you have seen before: fortis.
Compare the English saying, "grasping the nettle." Although a lion is much more hazardous than a nettle!
