Latin for Beginners · Lesson II · Part 1: First principles
2. Singular and plural; verbs ending in -t and -nt
Goal: Your child can make a first-declension noun plural (-a to -ae) and match the verb ending (-t for one, -nt for more than one).
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- A notebook for Latin, and a pencil
- Index cards for the new words (optional)
What's in the book
Explains inflection (changing the ending of a word), singular and plural, the rule that nouns in -a make their plural in -ae, and the verb endings -t and -nt. Thirteen nouns and five verbs to learn, then short exercises both ways.
The lesson, step by step
Review
Read two sentences from Lesson I aloud. Ask your child to point to the subject and the verb.
The new idea: endings change
In English we add -s to make a plural (girl, girls). Latin changes the ending instead. Nouns ending in -a change to -ae for the plural.
puella, puellae
Verbs change too: -t means one person or thing is doing it; -nt means more than one.
amat, amant
Say the words
Say each word slowly after you. The book uses the Roman pronunciation: c is always hard like k, g is always hard as in get, v sounds like w, and a bar over a vowel (a long mark) means hold that vowel a little longer. Then read the noun list and the verb list in the lesson aloud together.
Learn the words
The book gives these nouns (with an English word that comes from each in parentheses):
agricola, farmer
aqua, water
nauta, sailor
puella, girl
silva, forest
terra, land
and these verbs:
amat, he (she, it) loves
labōrat, labors
nūntiat, announces
portat, carries
pugnat, fights
Make a card for each word: Latin on one side, English on the other. Learn the rest of the list the same way.
Latin to English
Do the Latin sentences in section 31. They go like this:
Nauta pugnat, nautae pugnant.
Fīlia labōrat, fīliae labōrant.
Your child reads each one aloud, then says it in English: "The sailor fights, the sailors fight."
English to Latin
Now the English sentences in section 31 ("The daughter loves, the daughters love" and so on). Your child writes the Latin. Check: did the noun get -ae for the plural, and did the verb get -nt?
Wrap up
Quick drill: you say a singular, your child says the plural. Puella? Puellae. Amat? Amant.
Afterwards
Five minutes a day with the word cards until all 18 words are easy.
Tip
Latin words in this book often have an English "cousin" in parentheses, like nauta (nautical). Point these out; they make the words stick.
Answers to the book's problems
Latin to English: 1. The sailor fights, the sailors fight. 2. The girl loves, the girls love. 3. The farmer carries, the farmers carry. 4. The daughter labors, the daughters labor. 5. The sailor announces, the sailors announce. 6. The ladies love, the lady loves.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.