Latin/Spoken/Lesson 2

Lesson 2

Countries, inhabitants and the language

Nationality

If you're referring to an English man you say Anglicus and if you're referring to an English woman you say Anglica. The ending -us is used for men and the ending -a for women.

If you're going to say "I'm Japanese" you just need to say Sum Iaponicus. if you're male, and Sum Iaponica if you're a female. Examples:

• Sum Islandica = I'm Icelandic (female)
• Sum Romanus = I'm Roman (male)
• Sum Iaponica = I'm Japanese (female)
• Sum Anglicus = I'm English (male)

Language

To say that you "speak" a language you just need to say loquor. Loquor means "I speak", so if you're going to say "I speak Latin", you say: Latine loquor. Notice we use the adverb form of the language. It will be explained later. For now, just remember that you add an 'm' to a word when it's the object. Now, some examples:

• Anglice loquor. = I speak English.
• Latine loquor. = I speak Latin.

Now to make the sentence negative you simply add non which means "no" or "not":

• Latine non loquor = I don't speak Latin.
• Islandice non loquor = I don't speak Icelandic.
• Iaponice non loquor = I don't speak Japanese.

Referring to other people

If you're going to say "you are English" or "you are Roman" we need how to say "you are". You almost never have to use personal pronouns (I, we, they, you) in Latin because they are inferred from context or the verbs. So if you are going to say "you are" you simply say "es". Example:

• Es Islandicus = You are Icelandic (male)
• Non es Iaponica = You aren't Japanese (female)
• Es Romana = You are Roman (female)
• Es Anglicus = You are English (male)

Now you rarely need to tell people of what nationality they are (what did you say? "you rarely need to use Latin either"? Just shut up and pay attention!). If you want to ask people a question, you add -ne to the first word of the sentence. For example:

• Es Anglicus = You are English (male)

  Esne Anglicus? = Are you English? (male)

• Es Iaponica = You are Japanese (girl)

  Esne Iaponica? = Are you Japanese? (girl)

• Sum Islandicus = I'm Icelandic (male)

  Sumne Islandicus = Am I Icelandic? (male)

Dialogue

Latin Dialogue • Lesson 2 • audio Are you Japanese? Esne Iaponica?
Speakers	Latin	English
Maria	Salve Eva.	Hello Eva.
Eva	Salve Maria!	Hi Maria!
Maria	Eva, esne Iaponica?	Eva, are you Japanese?
Eva	Non. Non sum Iaponica.	No. I'm not Japanese.
Maria	Esne Romana?	Are you Roman?
Eva	Hehae, non. Non sum Romana. Sum Islandica.	Hehe, no. I'm not Roman, I'm Icelandic.

Asking what languages

Here we'll learn how to ask people what languages they speak. First let's overview a very limited conjugation of the verb "to speak".

• loquor = I speak
• loqueris = you speak
• loquitur = he/she/it speaks

Now it would be advisable for you to learn by heart, as it'll prove immensely useful. Let's now learn a few things.

Do you speak?

To learn how to ask what people know or speak you must first learn to "declare" that they know something. E.g.:

• Latine loquor. = I speak Latin.
• Anglice loquitur. = He/she speaks English.
• Islandice non loquor. = I don't speak Icelandic.
• Iaponice loqueris. = You speak Japanese.

Now you wonder; "how can I ask questions?". Did you just learn the enclitic (don't worry about knowing that word, you're never going to use it) -ne which makes sentences into questions? You just add it to the first word of the sentence!

• Loquerisne? = Do you speak?
• Loquerisne Latine? = Do you speak Latin?
• Loquiturne Latine? = Does he/she speak Latin?

How would we say "don't you speak Latin"? Did you maybe think since we know how to say "do you speak Latin" and we know how say "no" (non) that it's:

• Linguamne Latinam non loqueris? ... Nope sorry that's wrong.

The way to say "don't" or "aren't" is the word nonne! (you might also see that it's made from non and -ne)

• Nonne Linguam Latinam loqueris? = Don't you speak Latin?
• Nonne Anglicus es? = Aren't you English? (referring to a man)
• Nonne Lingua Latina est? = Isn't this Latin?

  Notice that the word Latin is written as "Lingua Latina" but not as "Linguam Latinam". This is because nothing "affects" it.

Dialogue

Now let's look at some dialogue (in a freak turn of events the speakers are Caesar and Brutus)..

Latin Dialogue • Lesson 2 • audio Are you Japanese? Esne Iaponica?
Speakers	Latin	English
Caesar	Ave[1] Brute.[2]	Hail Brutus!
Brutus	Ave Caesar. Quid agis hodie?	Hail Caesar. How are you today?
Caesar	Bene me habeo.[3]	I am well.
Brutus	Caesar, nonne Romanus es?	Caesar, aren't you Roman?
Caesar	Ita, sum. Cur?	I am. Why?
Brutus	Nihil est. Linguamne Latinam loqueris?	It's nothing. Do you speak Latin?
Caesar	Sic est, Linguam Latinam loquor! Cur?	Yes, I speak Latin! Why?
Brutus	Cur non? Ei.. Nihil est. Vale.	Why not? Oh.. It's nothing. Good bye.
Caesar	..Vale..	..bye..

1. ↑ Ave was a very formal expression of greetings. Were this an informal meeting of friends they would simply use salve.
2. ↑ The reason why Brutus' name is written as Brute is because he's addressing him. This will be explained later. (v. et tu, Brute)
3. ↑ Literally meaning "I have me well".