Greek and Latin with Jerome

The goal. The New Testament uses about 5,500 different Greek words, but a few hundred of them do most of the work. The 345 most common Greek words (names aside) make up about 80% of all the words in the Greek New Testament. The 345 most common Latin words make up about 77% of the Latin New Testament; Latin spreads its vocabulary a little more widely. Learn these words with their forms and you will recognize about four of every five Greek words and more than three of every four Latin words; a dictionary covers the rest.

Reading a passage. Each passage gives the reference and, where it helps, a line of context, then the Greek with its pronunciation under every word, the Latin with its pronunciation, and an English translation kept close to the Greek. A table then takes the passage apart group by group: the Greek words, the Latin words Jerome used for them, and a note on each. Below it are the core words met for the first time, and two counters show how many of the 345 Greek and 345 Latin core words you have met so far.

Pronunciation. The respelling under each word uses English letters; the syllable in capitals carries the stress. Greek follows the Erasmian pronunciation that most teachers use. Latin follows the classical pronunciation (c always as in cat, g as in go, v like English w). Long Latin vowels are marked with a macron (ā ē ī ō ū), except in the sight-reading verses of the practice sets, which are printed as in the Vulgate.

The forms tables. On each word’s page, a form in bold actually occurs in the New Testament; the others complete the pattern so you can recognize any form you meet. Greek verbs show every tense they use in the New Testament, in every mood and voice, with infinitives and participles. Latin verbs show all six tenses of the indicative and the four of the subjunctive, active and (where the verb has one) passive, with imperatives, infinitives and participles.

A way to study. Read Part One first, slowly, and do its practice set. Then take one or two passages a day: read the Greek and Latin aloud with the respellings, hide the English and try to translate, then check the notes. Learn the new core words of each passage before moving on. After each part of the readings, do its practice set without looking back, then open the answers.

Online or on paper. Everything in the PDF is on these pages, and the PDF is free to download, print and share. Each page here gives its page number in the PDF, so you can print just the part you need.