Latin for Beginners · Lesson LVIII · Part 12: Numbers and deponent verbs
58. Numbers; the partitive genitive
Goal: Your child counts to twenty in Latin, declines ūnus, duo, trēs and mīlle, and uses the genitive for 'part of'.
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
Kinds of numerals (§ 327), the cardinal numbers 1 to 20 plus 100, 200 and 1000 (§ 328), which ones decline (§ 329), and the partitive genitive (§§ 330 and 331). Then Latin and English sentences. Vocabulary on page 297.
The lesson, step by step
Warm up
Count to ten in English and ask which English words come from Latin numbers: unit, duet, trio, decimal, century.
Count aloud
Read the cardinal numbers together:
ūnus, duo, trēs, quattuor, quīnque, sex, septem, octō, novem, decem
Then 11 to 20 from the book. Note that 18 and 19 are '2 from 20' and '1 from 20': duodēvīgintī, ūndēvīgintī. Also centum (100), ducentī (200), mīlle (1000).
Which numbers decline
Only ūnus, duo, trēs, the hundreds from 200 on, and mīlle in the plural (as a noun, mīlia) change their endings. Learn duo, trēs and mīlle from § 479, as the book asks.
Part of a whole
'Most of the buildings', 'five thousand of the men': Latin puts the whole in the genitive.
Words denoting a part are often used with the genitive of the whole, known as the partitive genitive.
Omnium avium aquila est vēlōcissima
With numbers (except mīlle), Latin uses ex with the ablative instead:
Ūna ex captīvīs erat soror rēgis
Vocabulary
Page 297. Some of the words:
magnitūdō, -inis, f., size, magnitude
mercātor, mercātōris, m., trader, merchant
cōgō, cōgere, coēgī, coāctus, collect; compel (cogent)
perveniō, pervenīre, pervēnī, perventus, come through, arrive
Latin to English
Translate the sentences. Two of them:
Caesar maximam partem aedificiōrum incendit.
Duo ex meīs frātribus eundem rūmōrem audīvērunt.
English to Latin and wrap-up
Write the five English sentences. Then count to twenty in Latin together. Memorize the numbers and the new words.
Afterwards
Count to twenty in Latin every day this week, for example while setting the table.
Answers to the book's problems
The book's numbering for these sentences was not clear in our copy, so they are listed in order. Caesar burned the greatest part of the buildings. A great part of the fortification was destroyed by the water of the river. The Gauls of this region had collected five thousand men. Two of my brothers heard the same rumor. Who of the Romans was more famous than Caesar? Five cohorts from that legion were defending the camp as bravely as possible. This place was the same distance from Caesar's camp and from the camp of the Germans. As soon as Caesar arrived, he demanded more provisions from the allies. Had not the traders learned the size of the island? They had learned its length but not its width. A few of the enemy were holding the hill which our scouts saw.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.