Today is a catch-up day to review any lesson(s) you missed this past week and/or to work on whatever kind of practice is most useful to you, reviewing the imperatives from all four conjugations. (Next week, we'll shift back to working on nouns and learn about a new case: the ablative.)
Meanwhile, here are the lessons from this week, plus previous weeks, and you'll find the review slideshow before:
And here's a slideshow with all the sayings from the week... and their cats! Read them out loud while you watch. You can read them once with the English to remind you of the meaning, and then once more with a cat!
I also made a printable crossword PDF with this week's sayings as the prompts; screenshots below.
The focus for today's lesson is something new: the imperative form for verbs from the 4th conjugation. This is the least common conjugation, which is why I have only a few examples to share with you. The imperative ending for the 4th conjugation is -i. So, you already know the verb, audit, "hears, listens." Now you can form the imperative: audi! "Listen!"
And here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
You already know all the words in this piece of advice.
This is another one of those sayings about being cautious: you should definitely keep your ears open (audi!), keep your eyes open (vide!), but keep your mouth shut (sile!). For a variation, see the saying about mouth and eyes below.
2. Audi et alteram partem.
Hear (the) other side too.
audi et AL-teram partem.
The word partem is the accusative form of the 3rd-declension noun, pars, which gives us English "part" and "party." The noun is feminine, so it takes a feminine accusative adjective, alteram.
The imperative audi is the imperative form of a verb you know already, audit.
The word et is usually a conjunction, "and," but here it is not being used to connect two things; instead, it is being used as an adverb, "also, too, in addition." This little adverb is the key to the whole saying: in addition to listening to one side of a disagreement, you must also listen to the other side.
3. Lumen accipe et imperti.
Take (the light) and pass-it-on.
lumen AC-cipe et im-PER-ti.
The word lumen is the accusative form of the 3rd-declension noun, lumen. It's a neuter noun, so the nominative and accusative forms are identical. You know it has to be the accusative object of the verb here because the subject of an imperative verb is always "you."
The imperative accipe is the imperative form of a verb you know already, accipit.
The imperative imperti means "share!" This is the origin of English "impart," and it has as its root the noun pars that you saw above.
The word et is being used as a conjunction here, connecting the two imperatives: accipe et imperti.
This saying goes back to a time when the fire in your home (in your lamps, in your fireplace, etc.) depending on getting the fire from someone else. Remember: modern matches date back to the 19th century; before that, sharing fire was an important social obligation among neighbors.
While the saying is about the light of the fire, it also applies to the "enlightenment" of learning. When you learn something from someone, you should pass that learning along to others. So, if you have learned one of these Latin sayings by heart, pass it on to someone else! Lumen imperti!
4. Rem tuam custodi.
Guard your thing.
rem tuam cus-TO-di.
The word tuam is the accusative form of the feminine adjective tua, "yours." The feminine adjective agrees with the feminine noun, rem, which is the accusative form of res.
The imperative custodi is the imperative form of a verb you know already, custodit.
The Latin word rem can mean a "thing" but also more generally can mean a "business" or "event". To get a sense of the many meaning of Latin res, take a look at the Latin dictionary entry. The idea here is that you have to guard what you've got, what you're doing; no one else is going to guard it for you. They might even try to take it away from you!
5. Claude os, aperi oculos.
Close (your) mouth, open (your) eyes.
claude os, A-peri O-culos.
The imperative claude, "close," and also gives us the English verb "close" and related nouns like "closet."
The word os is the accusative form of the 3rd-declension noun, os. This is another neuter noun, so the nominative and accusative forms are identical.
The imperative aperi, "open," is the root of the English word "aperture."
The word oculos is a form you have not seen before: this is a plural noun; specifically, it is a masculine accusative plural. You've seen the nominative form of this noun before: oculus. You'll be learning about plural nouns later on. (I included this saying because there were so few 4th-conjugation imperative sayings, so I really need this one, even though the plural noun is one you don't know yet.)
Compare this saying to the one above: Audi, vide, sile.
The focus for today's lesson is some sayings that have multiple imperative verbs: five sayings as usual, but there are thirteen verbs. All verbs, no nouns!
You're familiar with most of the verbs too; here's a little slideshow (with cats) with the verbs you know already:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Vide et crede.
See and believe.
Vide et crede.
The imperative vide, "see!" is from the verb videt, which you know already.
The imperative crede, "believe! trust!" is the root of English "credit" and "incredible" (not-believable).
Compare the English saying, "Seeing is believing." The idea is that you might not believe something that somebody tells you, but if you see it yourself, you're going to believe it. The saying is especially associated with the Christian story of "Doubting Thomas," which you can read about at Wikipedia.
2. Sape et tace.
Be-wise and keep-quiet.
Sape et tace.
The imperative sape, "be wise!" is from the verb sapit, which you know already. The imperative tace, "keep quiet! be silent!" gives us English "tacit" and "taciturn."
There are many sayings that praise silence. Compare the English saying, "Silence is golden."
You know all the imperatives in this saying: fuge, "flee!" is from the verb fugit, late, "hide! stay concealed!" is from the verb latet, and you just saw tace in the previous saying. The saying refers to monks who retreated from the world to live a life of solitude and silence, and it got a new lease on life in the modern era by its use by Balzac in The Country Doctor: "An inscription, which in accordance with the custom of the monastery he had written above his door, impressed and touched me; all the precepts of the life that I had meant to lead were there, summed up in three Latin words--Fuge, late, tace."
The imperative rape, "grab! snatch!" gives us English "rape" (another one of those pairs where the Latin and English are spelled the same but pronounced differently) and also "rapture."
The imperative trahe, "drag! pull!" is from the verb trahit, which you know already.
You've seen the imperatives fuge and late in the sayings above.
This saying is entirely different from the pious monastic saying above; this saying describes thieves and it comes from the Roman playwright Plautus in his play Trinummus.
5. Vive recte, et gaude.
Live rightly, and rejoice.
Vive recte, et gaude.
You know both of the imperatives in this saying: vive, "live! live your life!" is from the verb vivit and gaude, "rejoice! enjoy!" is from the verb gaudet.
The adverb recte, "rightly, correctly," as in English "rectify." This is a good reminder that the word ending -e can play different roles in Latin, based on the stem. For this word, you have an adjectival stem, rect-, and when you put the -e ending on it, the result is an adverb.
That's different from the -e ending on a verbal stem, which gives you an imperative verb, as you can see in all of today's sayings.
The idea is that if you live rightly, abiding by the rules, then you can rejoice, without fear of judgment or punishment.
As I mentioned in yesterday's post, vocabulary is the single biggest challenge in learning any new language, and there are about 40 or so new words each week in the proverbs, so doing this review every week of 30 words is a way to more-or-less keep up!
So, below is this week's vocabulary review: the slides have the English translations, plus links back to the original posts if you want to review the notes... along with the cats. These are the instructions for how to use the slideshow as a quiz, and here's a link to the full-size show.
Remember: the goal is just to repeat, repeat, repeat. So, if you want to use this as a quiz, filling in the blank, that's great! Alternatively, you can just rely on the other slides to prompt you to read out loud, with and without the English prompt. Repeating out loud is the way to learn these words, and hopefully the cats will help you remember them too!
If you want to do even more reviewing, here's are the review slideshows from Week 22, Week 21, and Week 20. The more you review, the better!
The focus for today's lesson features some more imperative sayings. There are a few words that you have seen before which you can see in this slideshow (with cats), but a lot of the vocabulary today will be new words.
Vocabulary really the biggest challenge in learning a new language: there are so many words to learn! The grammar is not so hard by comparison: there is just not that much variety in the grammar, but there is so much variety in the vocabulary.
If you are curious, you've seen 800 different Latin words in the past 23 weeks. That's a lot of words, and it's hard to keep up with all of them, I know — but luckily with Latin, a lot of the words have connections to the English words you already know.
The imperative expande gives us English "expand!" or "spread!"
The word rete is the accusative form of the 3rd-declension noun rete, which means "net." It's a neuter noun; that's why the nominative and accusative forms are the same. You can see this Latin root in the English word "retina."
The metaphor is from fishing: if you want to catch some fish, you have to spread your net. There is a somewhat sinister connotation as well; this is bad news for the fish! So the idea also applies to when you are plotting against someone: spread your net, i.e. lay your trap.
The imperative linque means "leave behind! abandon!" and you can see this root in English "relinquish."
The word metum is the accusative form of metus, which means "fear." There are not English words derived from this root, but it is the origin of Spanish miedo.
The word leti is the genitive form of the noun letum, which means "death." Unlike mors, which means death in general, this word has the connotation of a violent death; letum can also mean ruin or destruction in general.
This is another one of the so-called distichs (two-liners) of Cato; you can find out more here.
The imperative vade means "go! come!" as in the famous Latin phrase vade mecum, "come with-me!" which is used in English to mean a textbook or guidebook; it is sometimes spelled as one word in English "vademecum."
You haven't seen this verb before, but you have seen the compound form: evadit.
The adverb retro means "back, backwards," just like we use it in English, "retro."
You've seen the word Satan before, and this is what is called the vocative form, which is used when you are speaking to someone. You'll learn more about the vocative form later on.
The words are from the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus rebukes Peter, a scene that is repeated in the Gospel of Matthew. The phrase later became part of the Catholic ritual of exorcism; see Wikipedia: Get Behind Me, Satan and also Wikipedia; Vade Retro, Satana.
5. Recede longius, et ride. Withdraw farther-off and laugh.
re-CE-de LON-gius, et ride.
The imperative recede means "recede! back away!" Like the example we saw before, English "recede" is spelled the same way but it is pronounced differently.
You haven't seen this verb before, but you have seen another verb formed from the same root: discede.
The adverb longius means "farther, farther away." It is the comparative form of the adverb longe, "far off," so longius is "farther off." You haven't seen the adverb before, but you have seen the adjective: longum (neuter) and longa (feminine).
This advice comes from the Roman philosopher in his treatise on anger, De Ira. The idea is to, metaphorically, "get some distance," as we would say in English, so that you can find the humor in a situation that is making you upset or angry.
The focus for today's lesson is some more imperatives, mostly from the 3rd conjugation, but you'll see a couple of those 1st-conjugation imperatives which end in -a.
So far, you've had imperatives from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd conjugations, and then later this week there will be imperatives from the 4th conjugation, and you'll be all done with the imperative forms.
To begin, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Carpe noctem.
Pluck the night.
carpe noctem.
You know all the words in this saying, which is a kind of "antiproverb" (a term coined by the proverb scholar Wolfgang Mieder), playing on the saying, Carpe diem.
The word noctem is the accusative form of the noun nox.
2. Perge, sed caute.
Proceed, but cautiously.
perge, sed caute.
The imperative perge means "go forward! go! proceed!"
The adverb caute means "cautiously," and it is related to a noun you have seen already: cautela.
As you can see, the -e ending shows up in a variety of different kinds of words: there are imperatives that end in -e, and there are adverbs that end in -e, and you've also seen some nouns and adjectives that end in -e like mare and omne.
3. Divide et impera.
Divide and rule.
DI-vide et IM-pera.
The imperative divide is the same root as in English "divide!" The Latin and English words are spelled the same, but they are pronounced differently.
The imperative impera is from the verb you already know, imperat.
Compare the English saying "divide and conquer."
4. Surge et ambula.
Get-up and walk.
surge et AM-bula.
The imperative surge means "get up! arise!" and you can see the same root in English "surge." As with divide, the Latin and English words are spelled the same but pronounced differently.
The imperative ambula is from the verb ambulat which you have seen already.
These famous words come from the Latin Bible, where Jesus uses the words in a miracule cure, and the words are then used by Jesus's disciples in Acts to cure a sick man: in nomine Jesu Christi Nazareni surge, et ambula, "in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!"
5. Tolle lege, tolle lege.
Pick-up (and) read, pick-up (and) read.
tolle lege, tolle lege.
The imperative lege means "read!" You can see this Latin root in English "legible."
The imperative tolle is from the verb tollit which you have seen before.
These words come from a famous passage in Augustine's Confessions; it is a crucial moment in his conversion to Christianity. Augustine had met Bishop Ambrose of Milan and was drawn to the church, but he was tormented by doubts and uncertainty. Then one day while sitting in a garden, Augustine heard a child's voice speaking out of nowhere, saying Tolle lege, tolle lege. Augustine then picked up a copy of the Bible, opened it at random, and read a verse from Letter to the Romans. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Augustine - Conversion, and you can read this passage in his Confessions.
