Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #127: 1st Declension Infinitives

The focus for today's lesson is some new: the infinitive! This is the form of the verb that corresponds to the "to" form in English.

In Latin, the infinitive is how you recognize the different conjugations, so you will be learning the infinitive endings one conjugation at a time, starting with the 1st conjugation.

To form the 1st-conjugation infinitive, you just take the stem and add the ending -are. It's a long a, āre, so that means the stress is going to be on that vowel, making it easy to hear!

Here are the infinitives you will see in today's sayings:

festinare, "to hurry," from the verb festinat, "hurries"
tentare, "to try, attempt," from the verb tentat, "tries"
celare, "to hide, conceal," from the verb celat, "hides"
servare, "to keep, observe," from the verb servat, "keeps"
regnare, "to rule, reign," from the verb regnat, "rules"

Just like in English, the infinitive is a verbal noun. So, that means the infinitive can be the subject of another verb, and it can also be the predicate of a verb, as you will see in the sayings for today.

At the same time that the infinitive is like a noun, it also still functions like a verb. For example, an infinitive can take a direct object in the accusative; you'll see examples of that in today's sayings also.

And here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:

So, here are today's proverbs:

1. Festinare nocet.
To-hurry is-harmful.
festi-NA-re nocet.

You already know both of these words.
The idea is that you don't really save time by hurrying. Instead, you run the risk of making things worse if you rush through something.

Compare a saying you saw earlier about the downside of doing things in a hurry: Festina lente, "Make haste (but do so) slowly."

2. Tentare non nocet.
(It) doesn't hurt to-try.
ten-TA_re non nocet.

The infinitive tentare, "to try, attempt," comes from the verb tentat. You can see this root in English "tentative" and also "attempt."

The infinitive is serving as the subject of the verb nocet.

Compare the English phrase, "There's no harm in trying."

3. Ars est celare artem.
Art is to-conceal art.
ars est ce-LA-re artem.

The infinitive celare, "to hide, conceal," comes from the verb celar. You can see this root in English "conceal" and "ceiling."

The word artem is the accusative form of ars, and it is serving as the object of the infinitive celare.

Meanwhile, that infinitive phrase, celare artem, is the predicate of the sentence.

The Latin word ars has a wide range of meaning from "art" or "skill" but also "artifice" or "trick," so you could also translate this as "The trick is to conceal the trick."

4. Fraus est celare fraudem.
[It is] fraud is to-conceal fraud.
fraus est ce-LA-re fraudem.

You see here the nominative fraus and the accusative fraudem, which gives us English "fraud." This accusative is the object of the infinitive celare.

Just like in the previous saying (on which it is modeled), the infinitive phrase, celare fraudem, is the predicate of the sentence.

This is a legal principle: it is one thing to commit fraud, and then to conceal that fraud constitutes a second fraud.

5. Legem servare est regnare.
To-reign is to-observe (the) law.
legem ser-VA-re est reg-NA-re.

You already know all the words in this saying!

The word legem is the accusative of lex, and it is serving as the object of the infinitive servare. This infinitive phrase, legem servare, is the predicate of the sentence, while the infinitive servare is the subject of the sentence.

Remember that the root of Latin regnare is rex (stem reg-), and you have seen the connection between lex and rex before, as in the saying Rex est lex vivens.

The idea is that the king must obey the law himself; being king means keeping the law. Alas, this is something that King Trump does not seem to understand, but it was central to medieval political theory, as in this bit of Latin verse: Decet Regem discere legem. / Audiat Rex quod praecipit lex. / Legem servare hoc est regnare, "It behooves the King to learn the law. / Let the King listen to what the law commands. / To observe the law: that is what it means to rule."

Here's a recap: