Latin: Inside the Classroom

I think that how you learn a language is just as important as the learning itself. You can’t just start talking in full sentences. You have to learn the basics first, and then you have to build upon them. During my first class, we started to look at vocabulary, some verbs, nouns, adverbs, etc. Then we used those few words and started to stumble through some very simple sentences. We learned that most sentences will be in two basic formats. Something is something, or Something is doing something, what? For example: Scintilla in casā laborat; fessa est. This sentence showcases both types of basic sentence structures. The first part of the sentence, Scintilla in casā laborat, means Scintilla is working inside the house. Something is doing something, what? or in this case where? The second part of the sentence is fessa est, which means, she is tired. Something is something. If you switch the verb for another and the adjective for a different one, you can make so many sentences. That is why you have to know the basics.

After learning the first set of verbs, the first declension feminine verbs, we started to learn a different set of verbs, the second declension masculine verbs. With these, we also had to learn to make sure all parts of the sentence followed the verb in case, number and gender. What this means is that, for case, we have to know what the subject is, what the direct object is, and what the verb is. For number, we have to make sure that we use all singular or all plural words. As for gender, we have to check that each part is following whether the subject is feminine or masculine (not including neutered).

As you can see, the fundamentals are very important, for they are the stepping stones that get you to understanding the language. And remember, what I describe only scratches the surface of learning Latin.