Lesson I. The Basics

CASES: THE NOMINATIVE AND ACCUSATIVE

A case is a form that a word takes based on how it relates to verbs and other nouns in a sentence. For example, take the sentence "She likes me." Since "I" am the one being liked, the word used is "me" instead of "I." If "she" were liked, we would say "her."

In English, only pronouns are affected by cases; in Latin, nouns and adjectives are as well. Let's look at two basic cases.

• NOMINATIVE: the agent behind the verb. The one doing something.
• The river crosses the valley.
• We will resurrect the Empire.
• ACCUATIVE: the one affected by the verb.
• The river crosses the valley.
• We will resurrect the Empire.

Declension One

Nouns are sorted into declensions based on what letter they end in. Different endings lead to different case endings. Declension I nouns end with -a in the nominative; -am in the accusative.

• stella: star
• Roma: Rome
• puella: girl
• vīta: life
• via: way, road
• patria: country, fatherland
• terra: land

Other Vocabulary

• non: not
• videt: sees
• amat: likes, loves
• saepe: often
• bibit: drinks
• vult: wants
• habet: has

Note that in Latin, words go in this order: nominative, accusative, verb. There are also no words for 'the' and 'a.'

Let's look at some basic sentences.

• Puella stellas videt. The girl sees the stars. [Lit.: The girl the stars sees.]
• Puella patriam non amat. The girl does not like the country.

Pronunciation

Latin has a long history, and pronunciation varies across its classical, medieval, and ecclesiastical forms. The classical form, used in Ancient Rome, is the focus of this site. Its vowels are pronounced as follows:

In English, double consonants, as in 'apple', are pronounced as if there's only one consonant. In Latin, the two consonants are pronounced, each adhering to a different syllable. (E.g. stella)

A 'ch' sound is always pronounced like 'k.'