Latin for Beginners · Lesson L · Part 10: Pronouns
50. ipse (self) and īdem (the same)
Goal: Your child can use ipse to mean '-self, even, very' and īdem to mean 'the same', and tell ipse apart from the reflexive.
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 intensive ipse and how it differs from the reflexive suī (§§ 285 and 286), the declension of īdem (§ 287), twelve Latin and six English sentences, and the start of the reading How Horatius held the Bridge (§ 289). Vocabulary on page 295.
The lesson, step by step
Warm up
Your child declines suī and says 'The boy sees himself' in Latin.
ipse
ipse means '-self' too, but it only adds emphasis: 'the general himself', 'the very danger'. It is an adjective that agrees with its noun, while suī is a pronoun pointing back to the subject. ipse declines like the nine irregular adjectives such as ūnus and tōtus (genitive -īus, dative -ī); learn it from § 481.
ipse, ipsa, ipsum, intensive pronoun, self; even, very
īdem
īdem, 'the same', is is, ea, id with -dem added. Where an m meets the d, it becomes n: eum plus dem gives eundem.
īdem, eadem, idem, demonstrative pronoun, the same (identity)
Read the full table in § 287 aloud.
Vocabulary
Page 295. Some of the words:
corpus, corporis, n., body (corporal)
ōlim, adv., formerly, once upon a time
quoque, adv., also. Stands after the word which it emphasizes
vērus, -a, -um, true, real (verity)
Latin to English
Translate the twelve sentences. Two of them:
Ōlim nōs ipsī idem iter fēcimus.
Eō tempore multās ferās vīdimus.
English to Latin
Write the six sentences about Pompeii and its mountain. Decide each time: ipse, or the reflexive?
Read Horatius
On a second day, begin How Horatius held the Bridge. Tarquin the Proud, driven from Rome, brings King Porsena against the city. A footnote suggests reading Macaulay's poem Horatius alongside it.
Wrap-up
Your child declines īdem in the singular. Memorize ipse, īdem and the new words.
Afterwards
Two days: pronouns and sentences, then the Horatius reading.
Tip
A footnote points out that Latin says 'I and you' (ego et tū), not 'you and I'.
Answers to the book's problems
1. You and I live in the same city. 2. We do not fear the journey itself but the wild beasts which are said to be in the dense forest. 3. Once we ourselves made the same journey. 4. At that time we saw many wild beasts. 5. But they did not harm us. 6. Caesar himself snatched a shield from the hands of a soldier and hurried into the very line of battle. 7. And so the soldiers with the greatest courage hurled their weapons at the bodies of the enemy. 8. The Romans also received severe wounds. 9. Finally the enemy turned their backs and fled in all directions. 10. In the same hour a letter was sent to Rome by the general himself. 11. In the same month the captives also were sent into Italy. 12. But many, because of their wounds, refused to make the difficult journey across the mountains, and were said to be at Geneva.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.