Marcus walks you through declensions, conjugations and drills.
Puella — Girl (Feminine)
Most 1st declension nouns are feminine and end in -a.
Amīcus — Friend (Masculine)
Masculine 2nd declension nouns typically end in -us; the vocative singular changes to -e.
Amāre — To Love
Latin verbs encode person and number in the ending — no pronoun needed.
Ego, Tū, Nōs, Vōs
Latin usually omits subject pronouns; they appear only for emphasis or contrast.
Commands — Do this!
Four irregular imperatives (dīc, dūc, fac, fer) drop the -e ending in the singular.
Monēre, Regere, Audīre
Watch the theme vowel: 2nd stays ē, 3rd swaps to short i/u, 4th keeps ī. The -iō 3rd conjugation (capiō) blends 3rd and 4th patterns.
Rēx — King (Masculine)
3rd declension nouns come in many nominative forms but share consistent oblique endings.
Portāre — To Carry (was/were carrying)
The tense marker -bā- is inserted before personal endings.
Vincere — To Conquer
Perfect tense marks a completed action. Veni, vidi, vici — Caesar's classic.
Corpus — Body (Neuter)
Neuter rule: nominative = accusative in every number, and plural nom./acc. always ends in -a.
Amāre — To Love (I will love…)
1st and 2nd conjugation future is built with the marker -bi- (or -bō/-bunt at the extremes).
Manus — Hand (Feminine)
4th declension nouns end in -us and are usually masculine (a few, like manus and domus, are feminine). Neuter 4th (cornū) plurals in -ua.
Diēs — Day (Masculine)
5th declension nouns end in -ēs and are mostly feminine — but 'diēs' is masculine (except when it means 'appointed day'). 'rēs, reī' also follows this pattern.
Positive → Comparative → Superlative
Comparative endings decline like 3rd declension consonant stems (altior, altius, gen. altiōris). 'quam' introduces the second element: 'altior quam frāter meus'.
Who, which, that
The relative agrees with its antecedent in gender and number, but takes its case from its role in the relative clause.
ūnus, duo, trēs … prīmus, secundus, tertius
Only ūnus, duo, trēs and hundreds (ducentī…) decline. 'mīlle' is indeclinable in the singular; 'mīlia' (n.pl.) declines and takes the genitive: 'mīlia mīlitum' — 'thousands of soldiers'.
-ne, nōnne, num — expecting different answers
In indirect questions 'num' loses its negative flavor and just means 'whether'.
Amāre — Various nuances (may, might, let…)
1st conjugation switches vowel from ā to ē in the subjunctive.
A noun + participle in ablative expressing time/cause/condition
The ablative absolute has no grammatical connection to the main clause and is often set off by commas.
Accusative + Infinitive
Latin has NO 'that' word here — the subject of the reported clause is in the accusative, and its verb is an infinitive.
Perfect stem + endings
Pluperfect uses the imperfect of 'esse' (eram, erās…) fused to the perfect stem. Future perfect uses the future of 'esse' (except 3pl -int).
Personal endings for the passive
The agent of a passive verb is expressed with 'ā/ab + ablative' (persons) or bare ablative (things). Perfect passive uses PPP + 'esse'.
Present, Perfect, Future
Latin has no perfect active participle for regular verbs — but deponents fill that gap (locūtus = 'having spoken').
Verbal noun vs. verbal adjective
The gerund is a neuter verbal noun (no nominative). The gerundive is a passive future participle that agrees with a noun; Latin usually prefers the gerundive when there's a direct object.
Passive form, active meaning
Common deponents: loquor (speak), sequor (follow), patior (suffer), morior (die), ūtor (use — takes ablative!). Semi-deponents (audeō, gaudeō, soleō) are active in the present system, deponent in the perfect.
ut / nē + subjunctive
Purpose looks forward (why?); result looks back (with what effect?). Result clauses use 'ut nōn'; purpose clauses use 'nē'.
Sī / nisi + mood
'Nisi' = 'if … not / unless'. Contrary-to-fact conditions always use the subjunctive.
'When', 'since', 'although'
Only past-tense circumstantial clauses take the subjunctive; a present/future 'when' takes the indicative. 'tamen' ('nevertheless') in the main clause signals a concessive cum.
sum, possum, eō, ferō, volō
'Nōlō' (not to want) = nōn + volō; 'mālō' (to prefer) = magis + volō. All share volō's stems.
Question word + subjunctive
The difference from direct questions: the verb switches to the subjunctive. Sequence of tenses controls which subjunctive tense.
Reversed conjunctions after verbs of fearing
Counter-intuitive: 'nē' looks negative but here means 'that'. Tense follows sequence of tenses (present/imperfect subj. after primary/secondary).
-um (accusative) and -ū (ablative)
The supine is a defective verbal noun of the 4th declension. Only two forms survive in classical use.
Place where — cities, towns, small islands, domus, rūs
For 1st/2nd declension singulars the locative looks like the genitive. Plurals and 3rd declension look like the ablative. NO preposition — never 'in Rōmā'.
Only 3rd singular — 'it' constructions
Weather verbs (pluit — 'it rains', ningit — 'it snows') and 'accidit / ēvenit ut …' ('it happens that …') are also impersonal.
Reference, purpose, agent, double dative
Dative of possession pairs with 'esse': 'Mihi est liber' = 'I have a book' (literally 'there is a book for me').
Comparison, means, manner, respect, separation
Ablative absolute (see earlier card) is the syntactic showpiece. Ablative of accompaniment always uses 'cum'; ablative of means never does.
