Latin Basics

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Alphabet

Letter	Eccles. Pron.	Classical Pron.	English Pron.
a	a as in father	same
b	b as in bob	same
c	k before a, o, u ch before e, i	always k
13	14	15
16	17	18
19	20	21
22	23	24
25	26	27
28	29	30

Sources of Roots

The Latin word is always listed first in its lemma form, that is, the form in which you would find it in a dictionary. For nouns, this is the nominative singular, and for verbs it is the first-person present singular. However, roots of English often come from another stem of the word.

For nouns, the stem is revealed by listing the genitive singular. For example, the Latin word for time is listed under tempus, which looks like a second-declension noun. However, the genitive is temporis, and the -is ending in the genitive singular always indicates a third-declension noun, and the remaining portion (tempor-) is the stem. That is why English derivatives are spelled temporal and temporary. As another example, the word caro has no n in its dictionary form (lemma), but the genitive singular is carnis, and it is from this form that we get words like carnivore and incarnation.

For verbs, the stem may be revealed by the infinitive or the past participle.

Nouns

A Latin noun has one of five declensions describing several cases. The case of a noun tells you how a noun is being used in a sentence; a declension tells you how a noun forms each of the cases.

Nominative Case

Used primarily for the subject of the sentence.

Genitive Case

Used to show a relationship between nouns. This is often possession, but not always. The English word of is used similarly. "The book of the girl," or, "the girl's book." "The door of the church."

The genitive singular of a noun is listed in dictionaries because it reveals both the stem and the declension of the noun. To this stem, then, all other endings of the third declension are added.

Accusative Case

Used for the direct object of the sentence as well as objects of some prepositions.

Ablative Case

Used for motion away from the subject as well as objects of some prepositions. It can be used temporally to mean "in" a year or "on" a day, such as anno Domini, meaning "in the year of the Lord." (In this case, since Domini is genitive case and Latin has no word for "the," Latin uses only two words where English uses six.)

Classical Roots of English Home Page

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