Per usual on Wednesday, there's a vocabulary slideshow quiz, with cats too! Here's a link to the full-size show. There's an English prompt and also some Latin sayings to help jiggle your memory: can you supply the Latin word? The next slide will tell you if you identified the word correctly.
And remember: always read out loud. You learn languages with your EARS, not your eyes. Reading out loud will also help you hear the pattern of the verb endings! Ideally, you will read all the Latin sayings, but for sure you should read the saying on each cat slide. As always, if you want to review the notes and translation for a saying, you can use the Sayings list or Dictionary, which both have links to the original posts.
And here are just a few of the cats from the slides:
The focus for today's lesson is the 4th conjugation, although you may be surprised by this: for the she/he/it verb form (3rd person singular), the 3rd and 4th conjugations look exactly the same: the ending is -it.
So, for example, here are the 4th-conjugation verbs you will see today:
audit: she/he/it hears, listens
dormit: she/he/it sleeps
venit: she/he/it comes, arrives
invenit: she/he/it finds, discovers
And you will also see some 3rd-conjugation verbs today:
ruit: rushes, moves fast
quaerit: seeks, looks for
In other verb forms, however, the 3rd and 4th conjugations have different endings. In the infinitive, the 3rd-conjugation verbs have -ere as the ending (ruere, quaerere), but the 4th-conjugation verbs have -ire as the ending (audire, dormire, venire, invenire). You'll learn about that later; for now, just focus on the fact that the 3rd and 4th conjugations BOTH have -it as the ending for she/he/it verbs, as you will see in today's lesson.
And here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
So, here are today's proverbs:
1. Canities festina venit. Old-age comes quick(ly).
Ca-NI-ties fes-TI-na venit.
The feminine noun canities literally means "white hair," and thus comes to mean "old age."
The feminine adjective festina, "fast, quick," agrees with the feminine noun canities. In Latin, the adjective that modifies the subject is often equivalent to an English adverb, so that's why I translated this as "quick(ly)." Grammatically speaking, festina is an adjective in Latin, "quick," but it functions like an adverb in English, "quickly."
The 4th-conjugation verb venit means "comes, arrives." You can see this Latin root in many English words like "convention" (coming together), "circumvention" (going around), etc.
2. Hora ruit; venit mors.
Time moves-fast; death is-coming.
Hora ruit; venit mors.
The 3rd conjugation verb ruit means "rushes, moves fast, falls down." You can see this root in English "ruin," in the sense of something collapsing, falling down, etc.
And remember that hora literally means "hour," but also can mean "time" in general.
The idea is that time is flying by really quickly, and that in turn means that death is on its way (along with old age, as the previous saying explains).
3. Qui quaerit, invenit.
(He) who seeks finds.
Qui quaerit, IN-ve-nit.
The 3rd-conjugation verb quaerit means "seeks, looks for," and gives us English "query" and "require."
The 4th-conjugation verb invenit, means "find, discover," as you can see in English "invention." It is a compound: in-venit, "on come, come upon," i.e. "find."
The 4th-conjugation verb audit, "hears, listens," gives us all the audi- words in English like "audit," "audio," etc.
The name of the god Apollo is a 3rd-declension noun in Latin, and it is the subject of the verb here. (Remember, subjects can easily come after verbs in Latin because of the very free word order.)
I've added "when" to the translation here because vocatus is a participle, i.e. a verbal adjective, and participles often function in Latin as something equivalent to a dependent clause: when he is invoked, if he is invoked, because he is invoked, etc. Just which dependent clause you use depends on the context; where "when" makes the most sense.
The focus for today's lesson is one more set of 3rd-conjugation verbs ending in -it. Then, tomorrow, you will see how the verbs of the 4th conjugation work.
To get ready for today, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Spes alit et fallit.
Hope encourages and discourages.
spes alit et fallit.
The verb alit, "nourishes," is the root of English "alimentary" and it is also the root of "alumnus" (which is itself a Latin word).
The verb fallit, "deceives," gives us English "fallacy."
I was a bit looser with the English translate because I wanted to somehow convey the sound-play of alit and fallit in the English. Literally, it would be "Hope nourishes and deceives." The idea is that you get your hopes up, which is the alit, but things might not turn out how you want; that's the fallit.
2. Herba mala cito crescit.
Bad grass grows quickly.
herba mala cito crescit.
The noun herba, "herb, grass," gives us English "herb."
There is an Aesop's fable about why weeds grow more quickly than the crops we plant because the weeds are the natural children of the earth herself, while what we plant are just her stepchildren on whom she does not lavish the same affection.
Compare the English saying "Ill weeds grow apace."
The noun equus, "horse," gives us English "equine."
The adjective alienus means "belonging to another, someone else's," and you can see the Latin word in English "alien." Because the noun equus is masculine, this adjective is also masculine in form.
You can see the root of the adverb velociter, "fast, quickly," in English "velocity."
The verb currit, "runs," is related to the noun you saw earlier: cursus. There are many English nouns from this Latin root, including "current," "undercurrent," "recurring," etc.
The idea is that we tend to envy things that others possess, while disparaging our own possessions. The other person's horse doesn't really run all that quickly; you just think that it does. Compare the English saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence."
4. Semper inops quicumque cupit.
Whoever craves (is) always bereft.
semper inops qui-CUM-que cupit.
The adjective inops, "bereft, lacking, poor," is a compound: in-ops, "without-resources." You can see the op- root in English "opulent." In other words, Latin inops is the opposite of "opulent."
The pronoun quicumque, "whoever," is built on the pronoun qui, "who," that you saw earlier in this saying: Felix qui pacificus.
The verb cupit, "desires, craves," is related to the noun you have seen earlier, cupido, and of course you can see this root in the name of the god of desire, Cupid. (More about Cupid at Wikipedia.)
This saying restates an idea you saw in a previous proverb: Avarus semper eget.
5. Ignis numquam dicit: sufficit.
Fire never says: (it is) enough.
ignis numquam dicit: SUF-ficit.
The verb dicit, "says," is related to a the participle (verbal adjective) that you saw earlier: dictum, "said, something that is said." In our hot new climate with ever more wildfires, this saying has even more metaphorical power. The fire devours whatever is in its path, never saying "enough." It is a powerful image of insatiable greed. The saying comes from the Biblical Book of Proverbs.
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. There's also a slideshow below to help you review all the verbs so far: at, et, and it.
And here's a slideshow you can use to review all the sayings with verbs... with cats! You'll see a cat: do you understand the saying? You can check your understanding with the next slide, and then you can review the verb: the blue slides are -at verbs, the purple slides are -et verbs, and the yellow slides are -it verbs.
I also made a printable crossword PDF with this week's sayings as the prompts. Screenshots below. I hope you will like the way the crossword puzzle gives you some hints as you try to supply the missing word.
The focus for today's lesson is more -it verbs. Take a minute to review the ones that you saw yesterday:
Tempus fugit.
Parum sufficit.
Nemo solus satis sapit.
Cito arescit lacrima.
Mendacium non senescit.
And here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before, including the verb sufficit that will appear again today. :-)
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Species decipit.
Appearance deceives.
SPE-cies DE-cipit.
The noun species has a wide range of meanings. Literally, it means "appearance, looks," but then by extension it came to mean "quality, type," which is how we get English "species."
The verb decipit means "deceives, fools," and gives us English "deception." Via French, this Latin verb is also the origin of English "deceive."
Compare the English saying, "Appearances can be deceiving."
2. Unus non sufficit orbis.
One world isn't enough.
Unus non SUF-ficit orbis.
The noun orbis literally means "circle, sphere," and it also means the "world," which is the meaning here. The Latin noun gives us English "orb" and "orbit."
This saying appears in one of the satires of the poet Juvenal, writing about Alexander the Great: Unus Pellaeo iuveni non sufficit orbis, "One world is not enough for the young man of Pella," i.e. for Alexander, who was born in Pella. It was a popular motto throughout the centuries, and also provided the title for a James Bond film: The World Is Not Enough; supposedly Orbis non sufficit was the Bond family motto!
Notice how the subject comes after the verb (sufficit orbis), with the noun phrase unus orbis wrapping around the verb.
3. Avaritia semper crescit.
Greed always grows.
Ava-RI-tia semper crescit.
You've seen the adjective avarus, "greedy," before, and from that same root comes the noun avaritia, "greediness." This is also the origin of English "avarice."
The verb crescit, "grows, increases," gives us English "crescent" and "increase."
You've seen too other sayings about what "always" happens to the greedy person: Avarus semper est pauper and Avarus semper eget.
4. Quasi nix tabescit dies.
Like snow, (the) day melts.
Quasi nix ta-BES-cit dies.
The word quasi is a compound, qua-si, "as if." We use this Latin word in English too: "quasi."
The noun nix means "snow," and like English "snow" it comes from the Indo-European root sneygʷʰ. Together, the words quasi nix make a metaphorical expression: "as if snow, like snow."
The verb tabescit means "melts, dissolves." Like the other -sc- verbs, this is about a process, a verb describing how something changes from one state to another. You've seen two other -sc- verbs so far: crescit and senescit.
You learned yesterday how quickly time goes by: Tempus fugit, which uses the metaphor of motion, as if time were running away. Now you have a different metaphor for how the present passes away into the past: it melts like snow. The words come from the Roman comic playwright Plautus.
Notice that the subject comes after the verb again here: tabescit dies.
5. Nemo me impune lacessit.
No-one attacks me with-impunity.
Nemo me im-PU-ne la-CES-sit.
You've seen the adjective impunitum, "unpunished," before, and now you have the adverbial form: impune, "with impunity, not being punished." You've seen that -e adverbial ending before: male, "badly," and bene, "well."
Latin me is just like "me" in English! This is the accusative case used for the object of a verb, just like "me" is the object of the verb in Latin. The form "I" is the nominative case in English, used for the subject of a verb; in Latin, as you will learn later, ego is the nominative form. The verb lacessit means "attacks, provokes, arouses."
This famous motto has its own Wikipedia article: Nemo me impune lacessit. In particular, it is the national motto of Scotland. The me in the saying was originally the prickly Scottish thistle which supposedly spoke these words, threatening Viking invaders.
The focus for today's lesson is verbs of the 3rd conjugation, which have -it as their ending. The 3rd conjugation is the most common of the conjugations; you will be seeing lots of -it verbs as you read more Latin!
So, now you will be familiar with 3 of the 4 conjugations; you'll have the 4th conjugation next week! Here are conjugations 1-2-3:
-at. example: Nihil obstat.
-et. example: Cicatrix manet.
-it. example: Tempus fugit. (You'll have that one today: Time flies.)
To get ready, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before. And remember to read some of the Latin out loud; that's how you will really learn Latin. Maybe you can read the saying that you see on each of the cat slides. :-)
Okay, now you are ready for today's proverbs:
1. Tempus fugit.
Time runs-away.
tempus fugit.
The verb fugit, "flees, runs away, flies," is not one you have seen before, but you've seen this related adjective fugax in this saying: Res est forma fugax. You could now rephrase that saying as follows: Forma fugit, "Beauty is fleeting." From this Latin root we get English "fugitive."
Of course we say "Time flies" in English also! The idea is that time goes by quickly, so quickly that the present instantly turns into the past. There is a Wikipedia article: Tempus fugit where you can see examples of this saying inscribed on sundials.
2. Parum sufficit.
(A) little is-enough.
parum SUF-ficit.
The verb sufficit, "is enough, suffices," gives us English "suffices" and "sufficient."
3. Nemo solus satis sapit.
No-one is-wise enough alone.
nemo solus satis sapit.
The verb sapit, "is wise," is not one you have seen before, but you've seen the participle sapiens, "being wise, wise," in this saying: Sapiens non eget. You've also seen the noun: sapientia, "wisdom."
This saying explains why I love the Internet: when I have a question, I can usually find an answer, and it is often at someone else's blog or website — and of course I also hope that others can sometimes find answers to their questions at one of my blogs or websites.
The verb arescit means "dries, dries up." This verb is related to the adjective aridus, "dry," which you can see in English "arid."
The noun lacrima, "tear, tear drop," gives us English "lachrymose."
This saying is quoted by Cicero, and in a very cynical context: Cito arescit lacrima, praesertim in alienis malis, "A tear dries quickly, especially in other people's troubles" (alienis malis). Literally it's true: tears do dry quickly, and metaphorically, the idea is that while you might cry over something, you'll get over it quickly enough.
5. Mendacium non senescit.
(A) lie doesn't grow-old.
men-DA-cium non se-NE-scit.
The verb senescit, "grows old," is related to the adjective you've seen before, senex, "old," and also the noun senectus, "old age."
Notice the -sc- in the verbs arescit and senescit. This -sc- indicates a process of growth, as in senescit, "grows old, becomes old" and arescit, "grows dries, becomes dry." You'll see more of these -sc- verbs as you learn more of these 3rd conjugation verbs.
This saying has the same sense as a saying you saw earlier: Nullum mendacium semper occultum. A lie cannot grow old because it cannot stay hidden for long, and that puts an end to it. As we say in English: "The truth will out."
