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Forum » Learning Latin

Learning Latin

Grim Reaper 19 years ago
Here be a place to learn latin from, if you're not taught that at school.

If you are, then you can teach other people in this thread.

So, I ask you people to post some links to latin teaching websites, and perhaps post some basic vocabulary.
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AsdMaster 19 years ago
Whats el-cucoy mean

Whats fat in latin

Whats ugly in latin

whats dumb in latin

Guess who voted whatever
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Casanova 19 years ago
Why would you wish to learn a dead language ?
Anyways, a 1 min search in google yielded this page:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.translation-guide.com/free_online_translators.php?from=English&to=Latin">http://www.translation-guide.com/free_o ... h&to=Latin</a><!-- m -->

I cannot attest to the accuracy of the translations thought.
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HarmlessHermit 19 years ago
No translator out there can be perfect correct on its grammar and vocabulary because Latin has many many conjugations for its verbs, and declensions for its nouns. Add in the 6 tenses (imperfect, present, future, perfect, pluperfect and Futurum Exactum"
and the passive and active voices. You can have dozens of variations on one word.

Again I say, Es Idiota!

edited by mod to make it better
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Vacuus 19 years ago
Why would you wish to learn a dead language ?

Why wouldnt you, besides, Latin is the base of many languages.
I.E the word "Nocturnall" is derived from the latin word "Noctis" which means nigh, or dark.

Any ways heres a translation site:
http://www.sunsite.ubc.ca/LatinDictionary/

Does latin to english and english to latin
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Idiota 19 years ago
like Harmless Hermit sais, latin is very tense-based, with the nominativus, the acusativus, the genitivus, the dativus and the ablativus for only substantivos and even the word substantivos is written in latin, with katin grammar rules.

The verbs are even more difficult to identify, with 6 tenses it can be in and 6 forms it can be in AND the passive and active voice, the total number of translation one verb can have reaches 72. Verbs are, unlike English and many other languages, not identified with the words you, I, we, etc. Latin doesn't know these words and all the info should be gained from the letters behind the stem.

ex.

amare = to love

amavi = I have loved
amabo = I will love
amabam = I loved
amo = I love


I left the last two tenses because they're a bit more difficult to explain.

More will come at a later time.
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HarmlessHermit 19 years ago
Well explained Idiota. As far as I know, French, Italian, English, Spanish, and Portrugese all stem from Latin in some way. It's a major help to know exactly why an English word came to be because it gives the word that much more depth.

Did you know that the "Exit" sign in all public buildings in USA literally means "he/she/it leaves" in Latin?

Of course studying Latin means you will most likely study Rome. There are tons modern-day things we have that were first created by the Romans.

Because I am not a mod I cannot edit Idiota's post, but I would like to point out some things:

amabam, the imperfect tense, is translated as either "I was loving" or "I used to love"
"I loved" belongs in the perfect tense because it is not a repeated past action.

Latin does have words for "I, we, he, she, etc." but they are often used only as direct objects or if the speaker wishes to place emphasis on the subject. Like:

"I'm not going to school. You are."
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Idiota 19 years ago
aah, the wrong translation was because I am Dutch. It's hard to translate to dutch and then translate to English, it scrambles things up a bit. And I recall my teacher saying something about 'you' and 'I' and such. Anyway, latin requires you to learn from a book alot and look up things in your book alot. I cant copy and paste my book, so I can only teach basic things, when I have time.
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Zombie 19 years ago
Well... How do you form a basic sentence?

I like Latin in general because it is quite easy on the ears and it is very useful in naming things... You can actually give your names meanings if you use Latin or a language like Japanese...

Start with the basics and work your way up from there.
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Idiota 19 years ago
ok, it's time for me to five you some grammar. Here I go:

Latin knows 5 different tpyes of substantiva. The nominativus, the accusativus, the genitivus, the dativus and the ablativus. Then there are 2 different subtypes, plural and singular. Then we have 3 different subsubtypes: neuter, masculine and feminine.

Here, we have a list of the things I just explained.

-----------|        S       |          P           |
-----------| M  |  F  |  N  |  M   |   F   |   N   |                
Nominativus|avUS|rosA |donUM|avI   |rosAE  |donA   |
Accusativus|avUM|rosAM|donUM|avOS  |rosAS  |donA   |
Genitivus--|avI |rosAE|donI |avORUM|rosARUM|donORUM|
Dativus----|avO |rosAE|donO |avIS  |rosIS  |donIS  |
Ablativus--|avO |rosA |donO |avIS  |rosIS  |donIS  |


What can clearly be seen is that substantivos are devided into three catogories: M, F and N. These cannot be changed.
What can be changed are the number and the <things, dont know the word :S>. Substantivi are always shown in the nominativus, unless placed in a sentance.

The next part of a basic sentance (and I mean very basic).

The verbs, present simple I believe (you're gonna have to correct me at those times, HH.)

[list]laborare is the verb, it means: to work
laboram = I work
laboras = you work
laborat = he/she/it works
laboramus=we work
laboratis = you work
laborant = they work[/list:u]

Now translate this sentance:

avus laborat. (avus means grandfather)
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Grim Reaper 19 years ago
Now I get where the germans have gotten their MNF system...
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HarmlessHermit 19 years ago
Well the basic sentence has everything an English sentence has, with one exception: Since a pronoun can be expressed by changing a verbs ending, necat means "he/she/it kills" while necant means "they kill" a subject doesn't always need to be included.

Therefore, a Latin sentence can contain just one word.

Ex:

curro, currare to run

1st person: curro= He runs.
2nd person: curras= You run.
3rd person: currat= He/she/it runs.

1st person: curramus= We run.
2nd person: curratis= You(plural) run.
3rd person: currant= They run.


Then you can spice things up by adding a specific subject. Note that the verb must then match up with the subject.

If it's "Idiota runs." then since you are referring to Idiota in third person and there's only one Idiota, you use "currat", the third person singular form of curro, currare

Ex:

Idiota currat.
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Grim Reaper 19 years ago
So...

Anything else you would like to teach us, Idiota (and HH)?
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Idiota 19 years ago
Not right now, in holidays. It's time to rest and forget everything about school.
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E_net4 19 years ago
I'm portuguese... and portuguese is... from the latin
So, i'm not very interested about learning it.
Anyway, if you're interested about portuguese,...just tell me
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Vacuus 19 years ago
Forgive me for reviving a 'dead' topic, but I've found this site, which has several downloadable LatinBooks to help with learning Latin, which looks very interesting...
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Forum » Learning Latin

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