Latin for Beginners · Lesson XLIX · Part 10: Pronouns

49. Personal and reflexive pronouns

Goal: Your child can decline ego, tū, nōs and vōs and the reflexive suī, and tell 'him' from 'himself' in Latin.

⏱ About 40 minutes · 7 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book: the lesson pages, plus the special vocabulary at the back of the book
  • A notebook and pencil
  • Index cards for new words

What's in the book

The classes of pronouns (§ 278), is, ea, id as the third-person pronoun (§ 279), the declension of the first- and second-person pronouns (§ 280), reflexive pronouns (§ 281), and mēcum, tēcum (§ 282). Then ten Latin and seven English sentences, and the reading Puer Īcarus (§ 284). Vocabulary on page 294.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Warm up

    Your child declines is, ea, id, which they already know. The book now uses it as 'he, she, it'.

  2. The new idea

    The words for I, you, we and you all are:

    nōs, nostrum or nostrī, nōbīs, nōs, nōbīs

    vōs, vestrum or vestrī, vōbīs, vōs, vōbīs

    In the singular: ego, meī, mihi, mē, mē and tū, tuī, tibi, tē, tē. The book adds:

    The personal pronouns are not used in the nominative excepting for emphasis or contrast.

  3. Reflexives

    A reflexive points back to the subject: 'myself', 'himself'. For I and you, Latin just uses mē, tē, nōs, vōs. For the third person it has a special word, suī, sibi, sē, sē (sometimes sēsē), the same in singular and plural.

    Puer sē videt

    The boy sees himself. With cum, Latin attaches it to the end:

    mēcum

    nōbīscum

  4. Vocabulary

    Page 294. Some of the words:

    amīcitia, -ae, f., friendship (amicable)

    itaque, conj., and so, therefore, accordingly

    nihil, indeclinable, n., nothing (nihilist)

    pāx, pācis, f., peace (pacify)

    rēgnum, -ī, n., reign, sovereignty, kingdom

  5. Latin to English

    Translate the ten sentences. Two of them:

    Mea māter est cāra mihi et tua māter est cāra tibi.

    Uter vestrum est cīvis Rōmānus? Neuter nostrum.

  6. English to Latin

    Write the seven sentences. The first is 'Whom do you teach? I teach myself.'

  7. Wrap-up

    Your child declines ego and tū from memory. Memorize the pronoun tables and the new words. Read Puer Īcarus, the end of the Daedalus story, the next day.

Afterwards

Day two: read Puer Īcarus, where Icarus flies too near the sun.

Tip

Ask 'who is it?' for each pronoun. If it is the same person as the subject, Latin uses the reflexive.

Answers to the book's problems

1. My mother is dear to me and your mother is dear to you. 2. Your letter was pleasing to us and our letter was pleasing to you. 3. The king's messenger who is with us will answer nothing. 4. The messengers demanded peace and friendship for themselves and their allies. 5. If you take up arms, I shall seize the kingdom. 6. Which of you is a Roman citizen? Neither of us. 7. At that time many suffered punishment because they had sought the kingship. 8. Inflict punishment, Caesar, on the fierce enemies of the fatherland. 9. At daybreak some, moved by fear, took to flight; but others with great courage withstood the attack of our army. 10. The king's sister, when she heard about the unsuccessful battle, killed herself at Pompeii.

Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.

@teddyrookbook GitHub