Femina studet
August 10, 2023 9:33 PM Subscribe
I need a basic Latin language resource to support my Duolingo learning.
I've been enjoying starting to learn Latin on Duolingo, but it's just exercises with no explanations or lessons, and I'm bumping up against spots where it would be helpful to understand the rules. (Why is it sorores not sororae? Why does Marcus' name change to Marce when he's being addressed? What are the basic conjugation rules? Etc.)
Do you know of a very basic, clear, intro resource to recommend? One with a good index and intuitive organization of concepts? Online or physical textbook is fine.
I've been enjoying starting to learn Latin on Duolingo, but it's just exercises with no explanations or lessons, and I'm bumping up against spots where it would be helpful to understand the rules. (Why is it sorores not sororae? Why does Marcus' name change to Marce when he's being addressed? What are the basic conjugation rules? Etc.)
Do you know of a very basic, clear, intro resource to recommend? One with a good index and intuitive organization of concepts? Online or physical textbook is fine.
Best answer: I very much enjoyed this series. I have the actual books, but you should be able to get a good look at them here as a download and see if they work for you and decide if you want to try to track down actual books.
Latin is frequently taught by memorizing the declensions: "Amo, Amas, Amat..." I recommend you do it that way too. Chant them out loud. "Hic, haec, hoc..." It's actually quite fun, especially if you use expression when you chant them, as if you were doing some magic spell.
This site might also be useful.
posted by Jane the Brown at 10:34 PM on August 10, 2023
Latin is frequently taught by memorizing the declensions: "Amo, Amas, Amat..." I recommend you do it that way too. Chant them out loud. "Hic, haec, hoc..." It's actually quite fun, especially if you use expression when you chant them, as if you were doing some magic spell.
This site might also be useful.
posted by Jane the Brown at 10:34 PM on August 10, 2023
Best answer: IIRC Oxford Latin Course has a gentler 'on ramp' than Ecce Romani or Wheelock's Latin.
posted by oceano at 11:48 PM on August 10, 2023
posted by oceano at 11:48 PM on August 10, 2023
Best answer: The Cambridge Latin Course, though I can't remember if it had an index. Looks like it has been revised recently for diversity reasons. Learn Latin: The Book of the Daily Telegraph QED Series, by Peter Jones. Can't actually remember if that has one either, but I think the grammatical concepts are laid out clearly enough that you might not need one.
posted by paduasoy at 1:18 AM on August 11, 2023
posted by paduasoy at 1:18 AM on August 11, 2023
Best answer: Kennedy's Latin Primer (1866!) was still being used [by me] in 1966. So old style - but then so is Latin. It is available as a PDF.
"3rd declension: feminine are nouns which end in -x, -as, -ps, -do, -go, -io, and nouns in -us of more than one syllable." etc.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:21 AM on August 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
"3rd declension: feminine are nouns which end in -x, -as, -ps, -do, -go, -io, and nouns in -us of more than one syllable." etc.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:21 AM on August 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I'm another person who grew up on Cambridge Latin, and the great thing about textbooks is they're generally cheap used. I briefly worked as a tutor from them and it went pretty well, even though I had no training on how to teach at the time (I was 16-18.)
posted by cobaltnine at 4:38 AM on August 11, 2023
posted by cobaltnine at 4:38 AM on August 11, 2023
Best answer: My wife has taught herself latin to a high standard. She used the Cambridge Latin course and said it gets you using real Latin quickly. Vocab for it should be on memrise. She also mentioned Wheelock (which she didn't get on with) but said there a lot of online tutorials (Youtube, Udemy) that use it so it can be a good option.
posted by crocomancer at 5:08 AM on August 11, 2023
posted by crocomancer at 5:08 AM on August 11, 2023
Best answer: And to answer your specific grammar question. You are probably already familiar with the concept of verb conjugation, in which verb (endings*) change based on person, tense, number or mood (etc. depending on language). In Latin, a somewhat analogous grammatical construct affects (pro)nouns, and adjectives. This grammatical construct is called declension, and so noun (endings*) will change based on case, number, and gender.
What are cases? This concept is still kind of around in English. For instance, most native English speakers intuitively know how to use he vs him correctly in a sentence. (Rob hit him, not Rob hit he). It's not a coincidence that the m in him represents the accusative case. Who v. whom follows the same pattern as he vs. him.
*Naturally there are lots of exceptions to when the noun (or verb) can be broken down into two parts (the stem and the ending) with a regular pattern.
posted by oceano at 7:44 AM on August 11, 2023
What are cases? This concept is still kind of around in English. For instance, most native English speakers intuitively know how to use he vs him correctly in a sentence. (Rob hit him, not Rob hit he). It's not a coincidence that the m in him represents the accusative case. Who v. whom follows the same pattern as he vs. him.
*Naturally there are lots of exceptions to when the noun (or verb) can be broken down into two parts (the stem and the ending) with a regular pattern.
posted by oceano at 7:44 AM on August 11, 2023
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Marcus' name changes to Marce when he's being addressed because the speaker is using the vocative case. I remember that Ecce Romani had tables of the various cases (accusative, locative, dative, vocative, etc)
posted by Lycaste at 10:27 PM on August 10, 2023 [1 favorite]