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Latin Grammar Guide

Welcome to the Elon.io Latin Grammar Guide. 766 topics across every area of Latin grammar, tagged by CEFR level so you can find the right page for your level.

A1103 pagesA2236 pagesB1204 pagesB2114 pagesC185 pagesC224 pages

Start Here (A1)

New to Latin? These are the foundation topics every beginner needs.

Learner Paths

CEFR Paths

Adjectives

Agreement and Declension

Comparison

Position and Semantics

  • Attributive and Predicative AdjectivesB2 — Distinguish adjectives inside noun phrases from adjectives that assert a property of a subject or object.
  • Adjective Position and EmphasisB2 — Use agreement, discourse, and genre to interpret the flexible placement of Latin adjectives.
  • Relational AdjectivesB2 — Recognize Latin adjectives that classify a noun by origin, domain, material, or association, and distinguish them from descriptive qualities and genitives.
  • Adjectives Governing CasesB2 — Learn which Latin adjectives select genitive, dative, or ablative complements and how to distinguish that government from the adjective's own agreement.
  • Adjectives as AdverbsB2 — Distinguish true adverbs from Latin adjective forms used adverbially, including agreeing secondary predicates and neuter accusatives of extent or respect.
  • Participles versus Verbal AdjectivesC1 — Tell when an agreeing Latin form retains tense, voice, and verbal arguments, when it expresses obligation as a gerundive, and when it has become a lexical adjective.
  • Greek and Indeclinable AdjectivesC1 — Recognize Greek-derived, Greek-inflected, and genuinely indeclinable adjectives without losing sight of Latin agreement.
  • Numeral Adjectives and AgreementC1 — See which Latin numerals decline, how their forms agree, and how number expressions govern the case of their nouns.

Annotated Texts

Advanced and Later Texts

  • Tacitus: Compressed Historical ProseC1 — Unpack Tacitus's account of Augustus's rise through ellipsis, historical infinitives, participles, and political antithesis.
  • Seneca: Philosophical LetterC1 — Read the opening of Seneca's first Moral Letter as an urgent lesson in reclaiming time through imperative, metaphor, and climax.
  • Lucretius: Argument in HexameterC1 — Read Lucretius' first principle of atomism as an argument whose syntax, lineation, and repeated questions lead from fear to rational explanation.
  • An Inscription: The Laudatio TuriaeC1 — Read a fragmentary Roman funeral encomium by separating surviving letters from restoration and tracing how syntax turns private memory into public praise.
  • The Vulgate: A Gospel PassageC2 — Read John 1:1–5 in the Clementine Vulgate by tracing copular clauses, pronominal chains, biblical coordination, and a consequential punctuation dispute.
  • A Medieval CharterC2 — Read the opening and first grant of Magna Carta as documentary Latin built from address, notification, royal infinitives, and durable legal formulae.
  • A Renaissance Neo-Latin PrefaceC2 — Read Erasmus' preface to the Praise of Folly as humanist friendship prose shaped by travel, Greek code-switching, balanced syntax, and a pun on More's name.

Beginner Prose

  • A First Latin Dialogue: Greetings and NamesA1 — Read and parse a short adapted Classical Latin meeting, from salve through names, origins, well-being, and farewell.
  • A Family and Household DescriptionA1 — Read and parse a short adapted description of a Roman family, with kinship terms, possession, ages, agreement, and household context.
  • A Day in RomeA1 — Follow a Roman boy from dawn to evening while learning how case endings, time expressions, and verbs organize a simple Latin narrative.
  • Directions through the ForumA1 — Read a short directions dialogue and learn how Latin uses imperatives, place phrases, and landmarks to guide a traveler through the Forum.
  • A Short Fable: The Fox and the GrapesA1 — Read Phaedrus' fox-and-grapes fable with a line-by-line account of participles, case syntax, word order, and its pointed moral.
  • A Simple Letter between FriendsA2 — Read an adapted Roman letter and learn its greeting formula, time expressions, questions, requests, and shifts between first and second person.

Intermediate Prose

  • Caesar: The Opening of De Bello GallicoB1 — Read the opening of Caesar's Gallic War as an argument built from division, relative clauses, compressed coordination, and geographic boundaries.
  • Caesar: A Battle NarrativeB1 — Read Caesar's account of the Tenth Legion's eagle-bearer and see how participles, purpose clauses, and abrupt main verbs turn hesitation into an advance.
  • Nepos: A Biographical PortraitB1 — Read Nepos's opening portrait of Hannibal and trace how comparison, counterfactual history, and moral vocabulary construct a great enemy.
  • Cicero: A Short Letter to AtticusB1 — Read a private letter in which Cicero writes without news simply to feel that he is speaking with Atticus.
  • Cicero: A Courtroom ArgumentB1 — Read Cicero's defense of armed self-protection and see how questions, antithesis, and balanced clauses make a legal principle feel self-evident.
  • Livy: A Foundation LegendB1 — Read Livy's account of the rival auspices and Remus's death, tracing how reported tradition turns disputed signs into a foundation story.
  • Sallust: Character and Moral JudgmentB1 — Read Sallust's compressed portrait of Catiline by tracing its cases, omitted verbs, balanced clauses, and morally charged contrasts.

Poetry

  • Catullus 5: Vivamus, Mea LesbiaB2 — Read Catullus 5 through its hortatory subjunctives, images of light and night, accelerating numbers, and final fear of envy.
  • Catullus 101: Multas per GentesB2 — Read Catullus's farewell to his brother through its participles, ritual vocabulary, elegiac couplets, and tension between speech and silence.
  • Vergil, Aeneid 1.1–11B2 — Read the Aeneid's proem by tracing its long relative sentence, compressed epic syntax, invocation, and question about divine anger.
  • Vergil: Dido's Final SpeechC1 — Read Dido's last words in Aeneid 4 through their imperatives, completed perfects, counterfactual wish, royal plural, and final jussives.
  • Ovid: A Metamorphosis NarrativeC1 — Read Orpheus's fatal backward glance in Metamorphoses 10 through condition, viewpoint, compressed description, and sudden narrative tense.
  • Horace: A Carpe Diem OdeC1 — Read Horace Odes 1.11 as an argument from forbidden prediction to disciplined action in the present.
  • Propertius: Elegiac VoiceC1 — Read the opening of Propertius's first elegy as a grammar of capture, humiliation, and the lover's divided voice.

Cases

Ablative

  • Ablative of SeparationA2 — Learn how the ablative marks the person, thing, state, or place from which something is removed, freed, or absent.
  • Ablative of Source and OriginA2 — Express ancestry, point of origin, and material source with the ablative, with or without a preposition according to the construction.
  • Ablative of AgentA2 — Identify the deliberate personal agent of a passive action with ā or ab plus the ablative.
  • Ablative of Means and InstrumentA2 — Use the bare ablative for the tool, resource, method, or force by which an action is accomplished.
  • Ablative of MannerB1 — Describe the way an action is performed with cum plus the ablative or a qualified bare ablative.
  • Ablative of AccompanimentB1 — Express who or what accompanies an action with cum and the ablative, and distinguish companions from means, manner, and association.
  • Ablative of CauseB1 — Mark the reason, motive, or condition producing an event with the ablative, and distinguish cause from means, manner, and purpose.
  • Ablative of ComparisonB1 — Use a bare ablative as the standard after a comparative, and know when Classical prose instead requires quam with matching cases.
  • Ablative of Degree of DifferenceB1 — Express how much two points differ with an ablative beside comparatives, distances, and words such as ante and post.
  • Ablative of QualityB1 — Describe a person or thing with a modified ablative phrase, especially for physical features, condition, character, and endowment.
  • Ablative of PriceB1 — Express definite prices and things given in exchange with the ablative, while keeping the limited genitive value forms distinct.
  • Ablative of RespectB1 — Use the ablative to limit a statement to the respect in which it is true, from body parts and qualities to fixed supines in -ū.
  • Ablative of Place WhereB1 — Locate people and events with in plus the ablative, while distinguishing locatives, bare-place idioms, and motion constructions.
  • Ablative of Time When and Within WhichB1 — Use the ablative to locate an event at a time or inside a deadline, and distinguish both from accusative duration.
  • Ablative with Special Deponent VerbsB1 — Learn the ablative complements of ūtor, fruor, fungor, potior, and vēscor, including their compounds and genuine case exceptions.
  • Ablative AbsoluteB1 — Recognize and build detached ablative clauses with agreeing participles or nominal predicates, then infer their temporal, causal, concessive, or conditional force from context.

Accusative

  • Accusative as Direct ObjectA1 — Identify and form the Latin accusative that marks the person or thing selected as the direct object of a transitive verb.
  • Two Accusatives with Teaching and AskingA1 — Use and distinguish the person-accusative and thing-accusative licensed by a limited set of Latin verbs.
  • Accusative of Extent of TimeA2 — Express how long an action or state lasts with the Latin accusative and distinguish duration from time when.
  • Accusative of Extent of SpaceA2 — Measure distance, length, width, height, and depth with the Latin accusative of spatial extent.
  • Accusative of DirectionA2 — Express motion toward a goal with ad or in plus the accusative and with the bare accusative used for certain place names and fixed nouns.
  • Accusative with Compound VerbsA2 — Recognize the bare accusative licensed by lexicalized compounds such as adīre, trānsīre, praeterīre, and subīre.
  • Adverbial AccusativeA2 — Use and recognize the limited accusative expressions that modify a predicate by degree, amount, sequence, time, or respect.
  • Accusative of ExclamationA2 — Recognize and form independent accusative phrases used for pity, admiration, outrage, and other emotional reactions.
  • Greek Accusative of RespectA2 — Read the chiefly poetic accusative that limits an adjective or passive participle to a body part, feature, or thing worn.
  • Accusative Subject of the InfinitiveA2 — Recognize the accusative noun or pronoun that serves as the subject inside a Latin infinitival clause.

Case System

Dative

  • Dative as Indirect ObjectA2 — Use the Latin dative for recipients and addressees alongside an accusative thing transferred, told, shown, or promised.
  • Dative with Special Intransitive VerbsA2 — Learn the Classical verbs that govern a dative even when their natural English translations take a direct object.
  • Dative with Compound VerbsA2 — Learn why certain prefixed Latin verbs govern a dative and how to distinguish that complement from a direct object or literal destination.
  • Dative of PossessionA2 — Understand how sum plus a dative expresses having, availability, and personal association in Classical Latin.
  • Dative of AgentA2 — Learn how Latin identifies the person responsible for an obligation, especially with the gerundive passive periphrastic.
  • Dative of PurposeA2 — Recognize the predicative dative that states the function, intended role, or resulting effect of a person or thing.
  • Double DativeB1 — Parse the Classical Latin combination of a dative of purpose with a dative of reference or advantage.
  • Dative of ReferenceB1 — Use the dative to mark the person or sphere with reference to whom a statement holds, without turning that participant into an object.
  • Ethical DativeB1 — Recognize the optional personal-pronoun dative that draws a speaker or hearer emotionally into an utterance.
  • Dative of Advantage and DisadvantageB1 — Mark the person for whose benefit or detriment an event is performed, and distinguish that participant from a recipient or required complement.
  • Dative of SeparationB1 — Use the restricted personal dative with verbs of taking away, while keeping ordinary spatial and material separation in the ablative.
  • Dative with AdjectivesB1 — Learn which adjective classes direct a quality toward a dative complement, including alternatives with the genitive and prepositional phrases.

Genitive

Locative and Case Choice

  • The Locative CaseB1 — Understand the restricted Classical Latin case for location, form its surviving paradigms, and distinguish it from identical-looking genitives, datives, and ablatives.
  • Place Where, Place To, and Place FromB1 — Map the three basic spatial relations to Latin locatives, accusatives, ablatives, and prepositional phrases without translating English prepositions mechanically.
  • Names of Towns, Small Islands, and DomusB1 — Master the exceptional at-to-from system for place names and home, including plural and third-declension forms, lexical limits, and meaningful prepositional alternatives.
  • Case Choice with Motion and PositionB2 — Choose spatial cases from endpoint, setting, source, and route structure rather than from the simplistic equation ‘motion equals accusative, rest equals ablative.’
  • Case Attraction and Case AgreementB2 — Distinguish ordinary case agreement from the marked Latin patterns in which one expression takes over another expression’s case.
  • Case Functions without English PrepositionsB2 — Learn how bare Latin cases express relations that English usually marks with to, for, with, from, than, at, and other prepositions.

Nominative and Vocative

  • Nominative as SubjectA1 — Identify the nominative that supplies a finite verb's subject, even when Latin word order differs sharply from English.
  • Predicate NominativesA1 — Use and recognize nominative nouns that identify, classify, rename, or characterize a nominative subject.
  • Nominative in Naming and CitationA1 — Understand why names and noun entries appear in the nominative when cited, and when sentence syntax requires another case instead.
  • Vocative Forms and Direct AddressA1 — Recognize and form direct address, from ordinary names and kinship terms to emotional and formal public appeals.
  • Vocative of Second-Declension NounsA1 — Form the distinctive singular vocatives in -e and -ī while recognizing the nominative-shaped forms in -er, -ir, -um, and the plural.
  • Nominative and Vocative in ExclamationsA1 — Learn how Latin distinguishes presenting someone or something in an exclamation from addressing a listener directly.

Choosing

Forms and Cases

  • Genitive or Possessive Adjective?B1 — Choose between a dependent genitive and an agreeing possessive adjective by separating a specific possessor from a relationship or viewpoint.
  • Dative of Agent or A or Ab plus Ablative?B1 — Distinguish responsibility for a necessary action from the personal agent who performs an actual passive event.
  • Ablative of Means or Cum plus Ablative?B1 — Choose a bare instrumental ablative for what enables an action and cum plus ablative for what accompanies it.
  • Gerund or Gerundive?B1 — Distinguish the fixed-gender verbal noun from the agreeing verbal adjective and choose the Classical construction around an expressed object.
  • Hic, Iste, Ille, or Is?B1 — Choose among Latin’s proximal, addressee-oriented, distal, and anaphoric demonstratives by viewpoint and discourse function.
  • Suus or Eius?B1 — Choose the reflexive possessive suus or the non-reflexive genitive eius by identifying whose viewpoint controls the clause.

Verbs and Clauses

  • Indicative or Subjunctive after Cum?B2 — Choose the mood after conjunction cum by separating plain temporal location from circumstance, cause, and concession.
  • Ut, Ne, Quin, or Quod?B2 — Choose among four clause markers by testing polarity, governing expression, and whether the clause gives a goal, outcome, prevented action, or fact.
  • Indirect Statement or Quod Clause?B2 — Choose between accusative-plus-infinitive reporting and a finite quod clause by separating reported content from an evaluated fact.
  • Participle or Subordinate Clause?B2 — Choose compact participial modification or an explicit finite clause by testing subject, time relation, and logical connection.
  • Future Participle or Gerundive?B2 — Distinguish an agent’s coming or intended action from a patient’s required, appropriate, or purpose-oriented action.
  • Noli plus Infinitive or Ne plus Subjunctive?B2 — Choose between nōlī or nōlīte plus an infinitive and nē plus a subjunctive by testing addressee, clause status, and viewpoint.
  • Relative Clause or Indirect Question?B2 — Distinguish a clause that identifies a noun from one that reports an open question by testing its antecedent, governing predicate, and discourse function.

Clause Types

Conditions

  • Conditional Sentences: OverviewB1 — Map Latin si-clauses by time and speaker framing, from open conditions to future and contrary-to-fact patterns.
  • Simple Present ConditionsB1 — Use si or nisi with the present indicative for open present facts, repeated situations, and general relationships.
  • Simple Past ConditionsB1 — Use the indicative in both clauses to present a past condition as open, factual, or repeatedly fulfilled.
  • Future More Vivid ConditionsB1 — Use future indicatives to present a future condition as a live prediction, with the future perfect for prior completion.
  • Future Less Vivid ConditionsB1 — Use present subjunctives to imagine a future case and its possible result from a deliberately detached viewpoint.
  • Present Contrary-to-Fact ConditionsB1 — Use imperfect subjunctives in both clauses to present a current condition and its result as unreal.
  • Past Contrary-to-Fact ConditionsB1 — Use pluperfect subjunctives in both clauses for an unreal past condition and the result that would have followed.
  • Mixed ConditionsB1 — Combine imperfect and pluperfect subjunctives when an unreal condition and its consequence belong to different times.
  • Conditions with Nisi, Sin, Dum, and ModoB1 — Choose nisi and sin for negative or alternative conditions, and dum or modo with the subjunctive for limiting provisos.
  • Conditional Clauses in Indirect SpeechB1 — Reconstruct reported conditional periods when subordination puts the protasis in the subjunctive and reshapes the result.

Fear, Prevention, and Characteristic

  • Fear Clauses with Ne and UtB2 — Build and recognize Latin fear clauses, where nē introduces the feared outcome and ut introduces the feared failure of an outcome.
  • Verbs of Hindering and PreventingB2 — Express obstacles and prevention with nē, quōminus, quīn, or an accusative and infinitive according to the governing verb and its polarity.
  • Quin ClausesB2 — Recognize quīn after negative and virtually negative expressions of doubt, inability, hindrance, and near occurrence.
  • Clauses of DoubtingB2 — Distinguish affirmative doubt with an indirect question from denied doubt with quīn and hesitation with an infinitive.
  • Relative Clauses of CharacteristicB2 — Recognize relative clauses that define a class or describe the kind of person, thing, place, or time under discussion.
  • Relative Clauses of Cause and ConcessionB2 — Distinguish relative clauses that explain a cause or grant a fact from ordinary identifying relatives.
  • Substantive Ut ClausesB2 — Use ut clauses as subjects or complements after expressions of happening, effecting, requesting, and evaluating.
  • Substantive Quod ClausesB2 — Use quod clauses to package a fact as a subject, complement, topic, or object of emotional evaluation.

Independent Subjunctives

  • Hortatory SubjunctiveB1 — Use the first-person plural subjunctive to propose shared action: let us, and let us not.
  • Jussive SubjunctiveB1 — Give third-person commands and permissions with an independent subjunctive, and negate them correctly with nē.
  • Deliberative SubjunctiveB1 — Ask what should be done with present or imperfect subjunctive questions, including their distinctive negation with nōn.
  • Potential SubjunctiveB1 — Present an action as conceivable or cautiously asserted with the independent potential subjunctive.
  • Optative SubjunctiveB1 — Express attainable, unrealized, and counterfactual wishes through the independent subjunctive.
  • Concessive SubjunctiveB1 — Grant a point provisionally with an independent subjunctive before stating the argument that still prevails.
  • Repudiating Questions with the SubjunctiveB1 — Use rhetorical subjunctive questions to reject a suggestion as unthinkable, absurd, or impossible.

Indirect Discourse and Questions

Purpose and Result

Temporal, Causal, and Concessive

  • Cum Temporal ClausesB1 — Use temporal cum with the indicative to date facts, repeated situations, and future completion without adding causal or narrative framing.
  • Cum Circumstantial ClausesB1 — Use circumstantial cum with sequence-of-tenses subjunctives to frame the background or attendant situation of a narrative event.
  • Cum Causal and Concessive ClausesB1 — Use cum with the subjunctive to frame a circumstance as the reason for, or an obstacle insufficient to prevent, the main event.
  • Postquam, Ubi, Ut, and Simul AtqueB1 — Narrate a completed temporal sequence with postquam, ubi, temporal ut, and simul atque, normally followed by the indicative.
  • Dum, Donec, and QuoadB1 — Distinguish factual duration from an awaited or intended endpoint with dum, donec, and quoad.
  • Antequam and PriusquamB1 — Express 'before' with antequam and priusquam, distinguishing a later event recorded as fact from one anticipated or prevented.
  • Quod, Quia, and Quoniam Causal ClausesB1 — Give direct, established, or reported reasons with quod, quia, and quoniam, using mood to distinguish the speaker's cause from another person's framing.
  • Quamquam, Quamvis, Licet, and EtsiB1 — Choose among Latin concessive markers by separating factual concession with quamquam and etsī from speaker-framed concession with quamvīs and licet.

Common Mistakes

Advanced Errors

English-Speaker Errors

  • Reading Latin by English Word OrderA2 — Replace first-word subject guessing with a form-first reading method that uses endings, agreement, government, and then discourse order.
  • Guessing Case from PositionA2 — Determine Latin case from morphology, agreement, government, and function instead of assigning nominative or accusative by sentence position.
  • Ignoring Vowel QuantityA2 — Treat vowel length as lexical and grammatical information, distinguish it from stress and syllable weight, and build reliable quantity habits.
  • Confusing Second-Declension -us and -umA2 — Learn to distinguish masculine nominative -us, masculine accusative -um, and neuter -um by parsing the whole clause rather than copying English word order.
  • Treating Neuter Plurals as SingularA2 — Recognize Latin neuter plurals in -a and -ia, keep their modifiers and verbs plural, and distinguish them from feminine singular forms.
  • Forgetting Adjective AgreementA2 — Build and check Latin adjective agreement in gender, number, and case without relying on English position or identical-looking endings.
  • Using Explicit Pronouns Too OftenA2 — Use Latin verb endings to omit predictable subject pronouns, while retaining pronouns that mark contrast, focus, or a change of topic.
  • Translating English Articles into LatinA2 — Translate English a, an, and the by context rather than inventing Latin articles, and use numerals, indefinites, or demonstratives only for their real meanings.

Intermediate Errors

Culture and Context

Names and Identity

Social Worlds

Texts and Material Culture

Time and Institutions

Diachrony and Varieties

Historical Development

  • Old Latin Forms in Early InscriptionsC1 — How to read archaic spellings, endings, and formulae in early Latin inscriptions without normalizing away the evidence.
  • Plautine and Terentian LatinC1 — How Roman comedy uses early morphology, conversational syntax, and metrical speech without becoming a transcript of everyday Latin.
  • Classical Prose NormsC1 — How first-century BCE prose organizes clauses, reference, and rhythm—and why its prestige norm is not the whole Latin language.
  • Augustan Poetic LanguageC1 — How Vergil, Horace, elegists, and Ovid reshape inherited Latin through meter, poetic diction, and syntax.
  • Silver Latin Syntax and StyleC2 — How early imperial authors intensify brevity, asymmetry, and poetic color while retaining the Classical grammatical system.
  • Late Latin Structural ChangeC2 — How case marking, complementation, word order, and verbal periphrases change across the diverse Latin of Late Antiquity.
  • From Latin Cases to Romance PrepositionsC2 — How a richly inflected Latin case system gradually yielded functions to prepositions without disappearing in a single step.
  • From Synthetic Passive to Romance PeriphrasesC2 — How Latin's synthetic present-system passive and participial perfect system were reorganized into the analytic passives of Romance.

Post-Classical Traditions

  • Christian Latin Vocabulary and SyntaxC2 — How Christian communities adapted Latin words, Greek loans, and existing syntactic resources for new institutions and theological meanings.
  • Vulgate Latin and Semitic InfluenceC2 — How Hebrew and Aramaic patterns, often mediated through Greek, shape biblical Latin without suspending Latin grammar.
  • Medieval Latin VariationC2 — How region, date, education, genre, and vernacular contact produced many medieval Latins within a durable learned tradition.
  • Humanist Neo-LatinC2 — How Renaissance humanists rebuilt Latin prose from ancient models while adapting it to new readers, genres, and institutions.
  • Scientific and Ecclesiastical Neo-LatinC2 — How Latin served early modern science and the continuing Church through inherited syntax, technical coinage, and distinct institutional registers.
  • Classical Norm versus Attested VariationC2 — How to use the Classical prose norm without erasing the chronological, regional, social, generic, and textual variation preserved in Latin evidence.

Expressions and Phraseology

Collocations and Formulae

  • Facere CollocationsB2 — Use the conventional Classical Latin frames built with facere, from making a journey to granting an opportunity and bringing something to an end.
  • Agere CollocationsB2 — Recognize and produce the Classical Latin frames with agere for dealings, advocacy, gratitude, conduct, and ways of life.
  • Habere CollocationsB2 — Use habere beyond literal possession in Classical expressions for speeches, regard, intention, gratitude, condition, and institutional acts.
  • Res and Causa in Set PhrasesB2 — Interpret the flexible nouns res and causa inside Classical set phrases for affairs, circumstances, purpose, reason, and advocacy.
  • Legal FormulaeB2 — Parse the fixed Classical Latin frames used to summon, accuse, defend, judge, condemn, and acquit in Roman legal settings.
  • Epistolary FormulaeB2 — How Roman letter writers opened, organized, and closed correspondence with conventional case frames and time-shifting formulas.
  • Military and Political FormulaeB2 — The conventional verb–noun pairings Romans used for campaigns, assemblies, laws, votes, and public office.
  • Proverbs and Gnomic ExpressionsB2 — How Latin packages general truths in proverbs, maxims, generic persons, ellipsis, and timeless verb forms.

Core Phraseology

  • Greetings, Farewells, and ThanksA2 — Use Classical Latin greeting, leave-taking, letter-opening, and gratitude formulas with the right number, case frame, and register.
  • Oaths, Wishes, and CursesA2 — Recognize and form Classical Latin oaths, optative wishes, blessings, and curses with their conventional particles, cases, moods, and registers.
  • Time ExpressionsA2 — Ask and say when something happens in Classical Latin using temporal adverbs, the ablative of time when, Roman hours, and conventional time phrases.
  • Age and Duration ExpressionsA2 — Express completed age, a current year of life, elapsed duration, and time ago with the Classical Latin frames each meaning requires.
  • Routes, Distance, and TravelA2 — Describe destinations, departure points, routes, distance, and journeys with the cases, prepositions, and travel collocations of Classical Latin.
  • Giving Opinions and ReasonsA2 — State a viewpoint, report what you think, and justify it with the Classical Latin frames for opinion, cause, and explanation.
  • Agreement and DisagreementB1 — Agree, disagree, confirm, deny, concede, and correct a claim in Classical Latin with the appropriate particles, cases, and level of force.

Morphology Foundations

Core Concepts

Sound and Form

  • Vowel Gradation and AblautB2 — Recognize inherited vowel alternations, lengthened-grade forms, and later Latin vowel changes without treating them as one productive rule.
  • Rhotacism and Historical SB2 — Understand why an older s appears as r between vowels and use that history to recognize Latin stems and infinitives.
  • Assimilation in PrefixesB2 — Recognize how Latin prefixes change shape before following consonants and recover the compound's stem without overgeneralizing the pattern.
  • Syncope, Contraction, and ApocopeB2 — Distinguish medial loss, vowel contraction, and final loss in Classical Latin, and recognize the standard and stylistically marked forms they produced.
  • Stem Alternations before EndingsB2 — Learn why a Latin stem can change shape when an ending is attached, and how to recover the right dictionary form while parsing.
  • Analogical Leveling in ParadigmsB2 — See how Latin speakers remodeled uneven paradigms after familiar forms, and learn which leveled and inherited alternatives Classical Latin actually permits.
  • Connecting Vowels and Thematic VowelsB2 — Distinguish conjugation-defining thematic vowels from phonological linking vowels and use them to parse Latin forms accurately.
  • Defective, Impersonal, and Indeclinable WordsB2 — Distinguish missing paradigm cells, verbs without a personal subject, and words whose form does not change with syntactic function.
  • How Morphological Ambiguity WorksB2 — Learn why one Latin surface form can represent several grammatical analyses and how agreement, government, quantity, and context resolve them.
  • Using Quantity to Distinguish FormsB2 — Use Classical Latin vowel length to distinguish otherwise identical-looking case forms, tenses, and lexical forms without confusing length with syllable weight.

Non-Finite Forms

Gerunds, Gerundives, and Supines

  • The Gerund ParadigmB1 — How Latin turns a verbal action into a neuter singular noun in the genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative.
  • Uses of the Genitive GerundB1 — How the genitive gerund names an activity after nouns, adjectives, and causā or grātiā.
  • Uses of the Dative and Ablative GerundB1 — How identical forms in -ndō express limited dative suitability or productive ablative means, manner, and prepositional relations.
  • The Accusative Gerund with AdB1 — How ad plus the accusative gerund expresses purpose without turning the gerund into an infinitive or an obligation.
  • Gerundive AttractionB1 — How Classical Latin replaces a gerund plus noun object with an agreeing gerundive phrase while preserving an active practical meaning.
  • The Supine in -umB2 — How the accusative supine follows verbs of motion to express the mover's purpose.
  • The Supine in -uB2 — How the rare ablative supine identifies an action with respect to which something is easy, remarkable, or otherwise evaluated.
  • Gerund, Gerundive, or Supine?B2 — A structural decision guide for distinguishing Latin verbal nouns in -nd- and -t- from agreeing verbal adjectives.

Infinitives

  • Present Active InfinitiveA2 — How Latin forms and uses the present active infinitive for simultaneous active events, verbal complements, subjects, and indirect statement.
  • Present Passive InfinitiveA2 — How Latin forms and uses the present passive infinitive for simultaneous events whose subject undergoes the action.
  • Perfect Active InfinitiveA2 — How the Latin perfect active infinitive marks an active event anterior to its governing verb, especially in indirect statement.
  • Perfect Passive InfinitiveA2 — How participial agreement and esse express an event already undergone by the infinitive's subject.
  • Future Active InfinitiveA2 — How Latin combines a future active participle with esse to mark an active event later than its governing verb.
  • Future Passive InfinitiveA2 — How the rare Latin construction in supine -um plus īrī marks an event to be undergone later.
  • Complementary InfinitivesA2 — How an infinitive completes the meaning of a modal, volitional, habitual, or phase verb while normally sharing its subject.
  • Infinitive as SubjectA2 — How a Latin infinitive or infinitive clause fills the subject slot of judgments such as facile est and necesse est.

Participles

  • Present Active ParticipleA2 — How Latin forms, declines, and interprets the present active participle as simultaneous with its clause.
  • Perfect Passive ParticipleA2 — How the perfect passive participle marks an affected participant and an event anterior to its clause.
  • Future Active ParticipleA2 — How the future active participle expresses intended, imminent, or subsequent action and builds the active periphrastic.
  • Agreement and Tense of ParticiplesA2 — A practical system for connecting Latin participles to their nouns and reading their time relative to the main clause.
  • Attributive ParticiplesA2 — How an agreeing participle identifies or describes a noun while preserving Latin voice, relative time, and verbal dependents.
  • Circumstantial ParticiplesA2 — How an agreeing participle compresses a circumstance of time, cause, concession, manner, or condition around a main event.
  • Participles as Predicate ComplementsA2 — How an agreeing participle completes verbs of perception, discovery, keeping, and remaining by predicating an event or state of a participant.
  • Participles versus Relative ClausesB1 — How to choose between a compact agreeing participle and a finite relative clause, including the gaps in Latin's participial system.

Nouns

First and Second Declensions

  • First-Declension Feminine NounsA1 — Form and parse the full first-declension feminine paradigm, including ambiguous endings, vowel quantity, and the special plural in -ābus.
  • First-Declension Masculine NounsA1 — Decline masculine first-declension nouns such as agricola and nauta, and keep their case endings separate from the masculine agreement they control.
  • First-Declension Greek FormsA1 — Recognize and decline Greek first-declension loans in -ē, -ās, and -ēs, including their Greek-looking singular endings and Latin plurals.
  • Second-Declension Masculine Nouns in -usA1 — Build and parse the regular second-declension masculine paradigm in -us, including the vocative and nouns in -ius.
  • Second-Declension Masculine Nouns in -er and -irA1 — Decline second-declension nouns such as puer, ager, and vir by using the genitive to determine whether the nominative vowel belongs to the stem.
  • Second-Declension Neuter NounsA1 — Decline neuter nouns in -um and apply the two neuter laws: nominative, accusative, and vocative match, and their plural ends in -a.
  • Second-Declension Greek FormsA1 — Recognize Greek loans in -os, -on, and -eus, and distinguish retained Greek case forms from fully Latinized second-declension forms.
  • The Noun Deus and Its Special FormsA2 — Learn the full paradigm of deus, including its contracted plural forms and its unusual history in direct address.

Foundations

  • Gender, Number, and Case in the Noun PhraseA1 — Understand how adjectives, pronouns, and participles track a Latin noun's gender, number, and case while contributing different information.
  • The Five Declensions at a GlanceA1 — Compare the five Classical Latin noun declensions by genitive, stem type, gender tendencies, and complete singular and plural paradigms.
  • Learning Nouns by Genitive and GenderA1 — Turn Latin dictionary entries into declension, stem, gender, agreement, and a complete working paradigm instead of memorizing the nominative alone.
  • Nominative Singular Stem ChangesA1 — Recognize why a Latin noun's nominative singular can conceal the stem usually revealed by its genitive and oblique forms.
  • Common, Epicene, and Variable GenderA1 — Learn how Latin distinguishes nouns whose gender follows the referent, nouns with one fixed gender for both sexes, and nouns whose gender varies by sense or usage.
  • Singularia Tantum and Pluralia TantumA1 — Recognize Latin nouns restricted to the singular or plural, decline their available forms, and make verbs and adjectives agree with grammatical number.
  • Collective and Abstract NounsA1 — Understand how Latin packages groups and qualities as nouns, how those nouns decline, and when agreement or plural meaning follows grammatical form rather than English sense.

Fourth and Fifth Declensions

  • Fourth-Declension Masculine and Feminine NounsB1 — Decline fourth-declension u-stem nouns in -us, distinguish their many syncretic forms, and learn the principal feminine exceptions.
  • Fourth-Declension Neuter NounsB1 — Decline the small fourth-declension neuter class in -ū and use its shared nominative, accusative, and vocative forms accurately.
  • Special Forms of DomusB1 — Master the mixed fourth- and second-declension forms of domus and its prepositionless expressions for being, going, and coming home.
  • Special Forms of IesusB2 — How the Biblical and Christian name Iēsūs changes between Iēsūs, Iēsum, and Iēsū, and why it is not an ordinary fourth-declension noun.
  • Fifth-Declension NounsB2 — The ē-stem paradigm, gender, limited plurals, and reliable parsing of Latin fifth-declension nouns.
  • Dies and GenderB2 — Why diēs is normally masculine but sometimes feminine, with its full paradigm and the constructions that reveal each reading.
  • Res and Its Semantic RangeB2 — How rēs ranges from a concrete thing to a matter, situation, property, cause, or state, and how context selects the right English translation.

Irregularity and Usage

  • Heteroclite and Mixed-Declension NounsC1 — How Latin nouns such as vās, iūgerum, requiēs, and penus combine forms from more than one declensional pattern.
  • Defective Case ParadigmsC1 — Read Latin nouns whose attested paradigms have missing cases, and distinguish absent forms from rare forms and ordinary case syncretism.
  • Poetic and Archaic Noun EndingsC1 — Recognize old and metrically useful Latin noun endings without treating restricted historical forms as productive alternatives.
  • Proper Names and Foreign NamesC1 — Decline Latin personal names and recognize the different degrees to which Greek and other foreign names were adapted to Latin morphology.
  • Plural Place NamesC1 — Decline grammatically plural city names and choose their locative, directional accusative, and separative ablative forms.
  • Meaning Changes between Singular and PluralC1 — Recognize Latin nouns whose plural has developed a conventional meaning beyond simply ‘more than one’ of the singular.

Third Declension

  • Third-Declension Consonant StemsB1 — Build and parse masculine, feminine, and neuter consonant-stem nouns from the genitive rather than the nominative.
  • Third-Declension I-StemsB1 — Recognize true i-stem nouns and choose their characteristic singular and plural endings without overgeneralizing them.
  • Mixed I-StemsB1 — Identify third-declension nouns that use consonant-stem singular endings but retain i-stem forms in the plural.
  • Third-Declension NeutersB1 — How to identify, decline, parse, and use Latin third-declension neuter nouns from their dictionary entries.
  • Pure I-Stem Neuters in -e, -al, and -arB1 — The distinctive -ī, -ia, and -ium pattern of Latin third-declension neuter i-stems.
  • Mute Stems and Nominative ChangesB1 — How Latin stop-final stems produce nominatives such as rēx, mīles, and prīnceps—and how the genitive recovers the stem.
  • Liquid and Nasal StemsB1 — How third-declension stems in r, l, and n behave in nouns such as pater, cōnsul, homō, and orātiō.
  • S-Stems and RhotacismB1 — Why Latin s-stem nouns alternate between nominative s and oblique r in forms such as corpus–corporis and flōs–flōris.
  • Greek Third-Declension NounsB1 — Recognize Greek third-declension stems and interpret their retained Greek case endings alongside regular Latin alternatives.
  • Variable I-Stem ClassificationB1 — Classify uncertain third-declension i-stems by stem shape, attested endings, and lexical variation rather than by nominative appearance alone.

Numbers and Quantification

Cardinals and Ordinals

  • Cardinal Numbers One to TenA1 — Count from ūnus to decem, distinguish declinable from indeclinable cardinals, and connect number words with Roman notation.
  • Cardinal Numbers Eleven to One HundredA1 — Build the Latin teens, tens, and compound cardinals through centum, including subtractive forms and Roman notation.
  • Hundreds and ThousandsA1 — Form and parse Latin hundreds and thousands, including the declension of the hundreds and the partitive syntax of mīlia.
  • Declension of Unus, Duo, and TresA2 — Master the case and gender forms of ūnus, duo, and trēs and use syntax to resolve their overlapping endings.
  • Ordinal NumbersA2 — Form, decline, and interpret Latin ordinals from prīmus onward, including their use in sequences, titles, recurring intervals, and Roman dates.
  • Distributive NumeralsA2 — Use singulī, bīnī, ternī, and related plural adjectives to express one apiece, groups of two, and other member-by-member distributions.
  • Multiplicative NumeralsA2 — Distinguish Latin numeral adverbs such as semel and bis from -plex adjectives and proportional forms such as duplus.

Usage

  • Roman Numerals and Scribal ConventionsA2 — Read Roman numeral symbols as context-dependent Latin words and recognize the additive, subtractive, large-number, and abbreviated practices found in texts and inscriptions.
  • Dates in the Roman CalendarA2 — Construct and decode Roman dates by counting inclusively backward from the Kalends, Nones, and Ides.
  • Telling Time and HoursB1 — Tell and interpret Roman time with seasonal hours, time-when constructions, durations, and numbered watches.
  • Ages, Measurements, and MoneyB1 — Express age, dimensions, distance, weight, capacity, and price with the cases and counting idioms used in Classical Latin.
  • Fractions and ProportionsB1 — Express halves, ordinal fractions, ratios, multiples, and Roman twelfths without imposing modern fraction notation on Classical Latin.
  • Quam Multi, Quot, and QuantifiersB1 — Choose quot, quam multī, quantum, and related quantifiers by distinguishing count, amount, degree, and distributive reference.

Particles, Adverbs, and Conjunctions

Adverbs

Coordinators and Enclitics

  • Et, -que, Atque, and AcA2 — Coordinate words and clauses with et, enclitic -que, atque, and ac while preserving their placement, scope, and pragmatic nuance.
  • Aut, Vel, and -veA2 — Choose among aut, vel, and enclitic -ve by reading their scope, placement, and presentation of alternatives.
  • Sed, At, Autem, and VeroA2 — Read Latin adversative particles by their clause position, scope, and degree of correction or topic contrast.
  • Nam, Enim, Etenim, and NamqueA2 — Distinguish four explanatory particles by position, argumentative force, and the kind of support they introduce.
  • Igitur, Itaque, Ergo, and IdeoA2 — Separate resumptive inference, narrative consequence, logical conclusion, and an explicitly stated reason.
  • Quoque, Etiam, Ne…QuidemA2 — Place additive and scalar focus particles so Latin clearly marks who or what is added, intensified, or excluded.
  • Enclitic -que and Phrase ScopeA2 — Parse enclitic -que by identifying its host, the full second coordinate in its scope, and the matching first coordinate.

Discourse Particles

  • Equidem, Quidem, and SaneB2 — Distinguish equidem, postpositive quidem, and sānē as markers of personal commitment, focused concession, and explicit assent.
  • Tamen, Nihilominus, and CerteB2 — Separate concessive tamen and nihilō minus from epistemic certē, using position and discourse expectations to recover their force.
  • Immo, Quin, and PotiusB2 — Use immō for corrective reversal, quīn for challenge or reinforced advance, and potius for an explicitly preferred alternative.
  • Ecce, En, and EmB2 — Interpret ecce, ēn, and em as presentational particles that direct attention, identify what is displayed, and signal register.
  • Modo, Dum, and Tantum as Limiting ParticlesB2 — Use modo, dum, and tantum to restrict a claim, set a proviso, or focus one constituent without confusing their other common meanings.
  • Fere, Paene, Prope, and VixB2 — Distinguish general approximation with fere, narrowly missed outcomes with paene and prope, and barely achieved outcomes with vix.
  • Particles in Dialogue and ComedyB2 — Read the prompts, reactions, politeness markers, and stance particles that make Roman dramatic dialogue sound interactive rather than mechanically connected.
  • Particle Clusters in Ciceronian ProseB2 — Unpack layered connectives and stance markers in Ciceronian periods by assigning each particle its own scope and discourse function.

Pragmatics and Discourse

Advanced Viewpoint

Discourse Cohesion

Information and Stance

Interaction

Speech Acts

Prepositions

Advanced Usage

  • Prepositional AdverbsB2 — Tell when a relational word governs an accusative and when the same form stands independently as an adverb.
  • Anastrophe and Postposed PrepositionsB2 — Recognize the regular postposition of cum and tenus, conventional split phrases, and marked poetic reversal without losing case government.
  • Case Meaning versus Prepositional MeaningB2 — Separate the contribution of a Latin case from the spatial and abstract viewpoint supplied by a preposition.
  • Prepositions in CompoundsC1 — Recognize Latin prepositional prefixes, their sound changes, and the difference between a transparent spatial compound and a lexicalized verb.
  • Late Latin Expansion of PrepositionsC1 — Trace how Late Latin increasingly used prepositional phrases where earlier prose often preferred inherited case constructions.

Core System

Individual Prepositions

  • Ad, Apud, and AnteA2 — Distinguish ad, apud, and ante by their boundary, personal-domain, and front-of viewpoints while keeping their shared accusative government visible.
  • Per, Propter, and ObA2 — Separate the route and intermediary meanings of per from the causal viewpoints of propter and ob, all with the accusative.
  • Post, Praeter, and TransA2 — Distinguish post, praeter, and trans by their accusative government and their viewpoints of following, passing by, and crossing beyond.
  • Inter, Circum, and CircaA2 — Use inter, circum, and circa with the accusative to distinguish relations among items, encirclement, and looser location or approximation around a landmark.
  • A or Ab, E or Ex, and DeA2 — Choose ā or ab, ē or ex, and dē with the ablative by distinguishing departure from a point, emergence from an interior, and movement down or away from a surface.
  • Cum and SineA2 — Use cum and sine with the ablative to express association and absence, while distinguishing accompaniment from instrument and bare ablatives of manner.
  • Pro and PraeB1 — Distinguish prō from prae through their shared ablative government and their different viewpoints of representation, protection, comparison, and overwhelming cause.
  • Contra, Erga, and AdversusB1 — Distinguish contrā, ergā, and adversus by the viewpoints of opposition, conduct toward someone, and facing or directed hostility.

Pronouns

Demonstratives and Identifiers

Indefinite and Correlative

  • Aliquis and AliquiB2 — Distinguish substantive aliquis and aliquid from adjectival aliquī and aliquod, and use them for unspecified but possible people and things.
  • Quis after Si, Nisi, Num, and NeB2 — Use weak indefinite quis and quid after sī, nisi, num, and nē, and distinguish substantive forms from adjectival quī, qua, quod.
  • Quidam and Indefinite SpecificityB2 — Use quīdam, quaedam, quiddam, and quoddam for a particular but unidentified referent, and track that referent across discourse.
  • Quisque and UnusquisqueB2 — Decline and use quisque and ūnusquisque to distribute a statement over each member of a set.
  • Quivis and QuilibetB2 — Decline quīvīs and quīlibet and use them for unrestricted choice: any person or thing you please.
  • Nemo and NihilB2 — Use nēmō and nihil for ‘nobody’ and ‘nothing,’ including their defective case systems and negative syntax.
  • Nullus and Totus-Type PronounsB2 — Decline nūllus, tōtus, and the related pronominal adjectives whose singular genitive ends in -īus and dative in -ī.
  • Correlatives: Talis, Qualis, Tantus, QuantusB2 — Use tālis/quālis for kind and tantus/quantus for size or degree in questions, comparisons, and correlative pairs.
  • Correlatives: Tot, Quot, Tam, QuamB2 — Use indeclinable tot/quot for number and adverbial tam/quam for degree, comparison, questions, and correlative pairs.
  • Pronominal Adjectives with -ius and -iB2 — Recognize and use the special genitive singular in -īus and dative singular in -ī shared by Latin's core pronominal adjectives.

Personal and Reflexive

Relative and Interrogative

Pronunciation and Orthography

Consonants and Accent

  • Stops C, G, P, B, T, DA2 — How the six core Classical Latin stops are articulated, kept hard before every vowel, and interpreted in syllables without importing English softening or aspiration.
  • Latin R, L, M, and NA2 — A practical Classical pronunciation of Latin liquids and nasals, including taps, trills, geminates, nasal assimilation, and the special status of final m.
  • F, S, and H in Classical PronunciationA2 — How Classical Latin pronounced f, kept s voiceless, and maintained a socially variable h without importing English or ecclesiastical sound rules.
  • Q, X, and ZA2 — How Classical Latin qu represents a labiovelar, x represents /ks/, and Greek-derived z has position-sensitive double-consonant behavior with a debated exact value.
  • Consonantal I and UA2 — How Latin i and u can function as the nonsyllabic consonants /j/ and /w/, and how this changes syllable count and pronunciation.
  • Double Consonants and MeaningA2 — Why Classical Latin double consonants must be held longer, how they make syllables heavy, and how they distinguish words and morphemes.
  • Nasals before Fricatives and Word-Final MA2 — How Classical Latin weakened nasal consonants before s and f and at word end, often leaving nasalized or lengthened vowels.
  • Stress: The Penult RuleA2 — How to place Latin word stress by counting syllables and testing whether the penult is heavy.
  • Enclitics and Accent PlacementB1 — How the enclitics -que, -ve, and -ne attach to a host and create a special Latin stress pattern.
  • Elision and Prodelision in Speech and VerseB1 — How adjacent vowels merge or disappear across Latin word boundaries, what verse proves, and what it does not prove about ordinary speech.

Orientation

Orthographic History

Pronunciation Traditions

Vowels and Quantity

  • The Five Vowel Qualities and Ten QuantitiesA1 — The Classical Latin system of five basic vowel qualities, each contrasting short and long, with practical diagnostics for reading quantity.
  • Long and Short A, E, I, O, UA2 — How to recognize and pronounce each Classical Latin short–long vowel pair without importing English diphthongs or confusing length with stress.
  • The Diphthongs AE, AU, and OEA2 — How Classical Latin ae, au, and oe form single heavy syllables, how reconstructed pronunciation differs from later traditions, and how to recognize genuine diphthongs.
  • Rare Diphthongs EI, EU, and UIA2 — A practical guide to the exceptional one-syllable sequences ei, eu, and ui and to the more common look-alike sequences that remain separate.
  • Vowel Quantity before Consonant ClustersA2 — Why a consonant cluster can make a Latin syllable heavy without making its vowel long, with practical rules for syllabification, stress, and dictionary use.
  • Hidden Quantity and Dictionary PracticeA2 — How to recover vowel length that meter and ordinary spelling conceal before consonant clusters, and how to record it reliably from dictionaries.
  • Vowel Hiatus, Synizesis, and ContractionA2 — How Latin treats adjacent vowels as separate syllables, compresses them in poetry, or fuses them historically into contracted forms.
  • Syllabification and Syllable WeightA2 — How to divide Classical Latin words into syllables and determine whether each syllable is light or heavy without confusing weight with vowel length.

Prose Composition

Period and Style

  • Building a Balanced PeriodC1 — Shape a Latin period whose clauses, parallels, and delayed main predicate guide the reader through one complete arc of thought.
  • Primary and Historic Sequence in CompositionC1 — Choose dependent subjunctive tenses from a leading verb's sequence and the subordinate action's relative time.
  • Managing Topic and FocusC1 — Arrange Latin constituents so familiar topics anchor the clause and new or contrastive focus receives the right prominence.
  • Latin Connectives between SentencesC1 — Choose Latin connectives by the logical relation between sentences and place initial or postpositive particles idiomatically.
  • Avoiding English CalquesC1 — Rebuild an English prompt around Latin predicate structure, case relations, and information flow instead of replacing its words one by one.
  • Conciseness and OmissionC1 — Make Latin prose concise by omitting recoverable material and subordinating background information without sacrificing reference or logical structure.
  • Ciceronian Clausulae in ProseC1 — Recognize and shape quantitative cadences at major prose boundaries without turning Classical Latin prose into verse or sacrificing syntax to rhythm.
  • Revision Checklist for Latin CompositionC1 — Revise a Latin composition in ordered passes for predicate structure, case, agreement, mood, reference, idiom, word order, and sound.

Sentence Building

  • From English Clause to Latin PredicateA2 — Turn an English clause into an idiomatic Latin predicate by identifying roles, choosing a Latin construction, and adding morphology before word order.
  • Choose the Main Verb FirstA2 — Anchor a Latin sentence in its main finite verb, then build the required participants and subordinate ideas around it.
  • Assigning Cases before Translating WordsA2 — Turn an English idea into Latin by identifying the predicate and its relationships before choosing case forms or word order.
  • Building Noun Phrases with AgreementA2 — Build clear Latin noun phrases by choosing a head noun's features first and making each true modifier agree in gender, number, and case.
  • Placing Modifiers without AmbiguityA2 — Place adjectives, genitives, adverbs, and relative clauses so that their grammatical scope remains clear in flexible Latin word order.
  • Joining Clauses with CoordinationA2 — Coordinate Latin clauses by choosing a conjunction that expresses addition, contrast, or alternatives and by omitting safely recoverable repetition.
  • Pronoun Economy in Latin ProseA2 — Decide when Latin verbal endings and discourse make pronouns unnecessary and when an explicit pronoun is needed for contrast, reference, or reflexivity.

Transformations

  • Active to Passive TransformationB1 — Transform an active Latin clause into a passive one by promoting the object, rebuilding the verb, and expressing agents and instruments idiomatically.
  • Direct to Indirect StatementB1 — Turn a direct assertion into Classical Latin accusative-and-infinitive while preserving reference and relative time.
  • Direct to Indirect QuestionB1 — Transform a direct Latin question into an embedded question by preserving its interrogative force, applying the subjunctive, and choosing tense by relative time.
  • Purpose Expression TransformationsB1 — Transform English purpose expressions into purpose clauses, relative clauses, gerundive phrases, supines, or future participles according to Latin syntax.
  • Relative Clause to ParticipleB1 — Compress a suitable Latin relative clause into an agreeing participle without losing voice, relative time, or a clear attachment.
  • Clause to Ablative AbsoluteB1 — Compress a suitable subordinate clause into an ablative absolute while preserving participant independence, voice, and relative time.
  • Gerund to Gerundive AttractionB2 — Transform a gerund with a direct object into Classical Latin's preferred agreeing gerundive construction while preserving the phrase's external case.
  • Personal to Impersonal ConstructionB2 — Recast English personal clauses as idiomatic Latin impersonals by choosing the predicate frame before supplying cases, infinitives, or passive forms.

Prosody and Scansion

Foundations

  • Quantity, Syllables, and MoraeB1 — Distinguish vowel length, syllable weight, moraic structure, word stress, and metrical position in Classical Latin verse.
  • Long by Nature and Long by PositionB1 — Determine whether a heavy Latin syllable owes its weight to a long nucleus or to consonants, including cross-word and cluster exceptions.
  • Syllabification for ScansionB1 — Divide continuous Latin speech into syllables for scansion, accounting for diphthongs, consonantal glides, clusters, word boundaries, and elision.
  • Elision, Prodelision, and HiatusB1 — Recognize when adjacent vowels disappear from the metrical count, when forms of esse lose initial e, and when poets deliberately preserve hiatus.
  • Common Quantity and Muta Cum LiquidaB1 — Scan a short vowel before stop-plus-liquid clusters by testing whether the consonants share an onset or divide between syllables.
  • Iambic Shortening and CorreptionB1 — Distinguish early Latin iambic shortening from other kinds of vowel shortening and recognize its lexicalized traces in Classical verse.

Hexameter and Elegy

Other Meters and Poetic License

  • Iambic SenariusC1 — Scan Latin dramatic dialogue as six flexible iambic feet, distinguishing comic resolution from the tighter practice of later tragedy.
  • Hendecasyllabic MeterC1 — Recognize and scan the Phalaecian hendecasyllable used by Catullus and Martial, including its variable opening and fixed choriambic core.
  • Sapphic StanzaC1 — Scan the Latin Sapphic stanza as three hendecasyllables and a syntactically integrated Adonic, with Horace's characteristic quantities and word breaks.
  • Alcaic StanzaC1 — Scan Horace's four-line Alcaic stanza by recognizing its two hendecasyllables, enneasyllable, and accelerating decasyllabic close.
  • Asclepiadean MetersC1 — Distinguish lesser and greater Asclepiads and the Glyconic and Pherecratean lines that Horace combines with them.
  • Synizesis, Diaeresis, and Consonantal IC1 — Recognize when adjacent vowels merge, remain separate, or turn i into a glide, and use that phonology to scan Latin verse accurately.
  • Poetic Plurals and Greek InflectionsC1 — Interpret expressive number and Greek-shaped case forms in Latin poetry without mistaking metrical convenience for grammatical freedom.
  • Scanning a Complete PassageC2 — Scan a connected Latin passage from phonological preparation through feet, caesurae, syntax, and rhythmic interpretation.

Questions and Negation

Negation

  • Non and Basic NegationA1 — Use nōn to negate Latin statements and individual constituents while controlling scope, word order, and mood.
  • Ne and Negative CommandsA2 — Use nē with the appropriate subjunctive to prohibit actions, and distinguish it from statement negation and interrogative -ne.
  • Haud and Constituent NegationA2 — Use haud with adjectives, adverbs, and selected expressions, and distinguish local constituent negation from clause-wide nōn.
  • Neque and NecA2 — Coordinate negative words, phrases, and clauses with neque or nec, including neither...nor pairings and discourse-level nor.
  • Double Negatives and Negative ConcordA2 — Interpret combinations of Latin negative words by scope, position, and construction instead of counting negatives mechanically.
  • Nemo, Nihil, Nullus, and NusquamA2 — Choose the Latin negative for no person, no thing, no member of a named class, or no place, and control its scope.

Questions

  • Yes–No Questions with -neA1 — Form neutral yes–no questions by attaching enclitic -ne to the first focused word, and distinguish them from questions that expect a particular answer.
  • Expected-Yes Questions with NonneA1 — Use nōnne to ask a yes–no question that presents its proposition as likely or already shared and therefore expects agreement.
  • Expected-No Questions with NumA1 — Use num in a direct yes–no question when the speaker expects the proposition to be rejected.
  • Content QuestionsA1 — Ask who, what, where, when, why, and how by choosing an interrogative whose case or adverbial meaning matches the missing information.
  • Alternative Questions with Utrum…AnA2 — Present two or more alternatives with utrum…an, -ne…an, or an unmarked first member followed by an.
  • Rhetorical QuestionsA2 — Recognize questions that assert, challenge, rebuke, or persuade instead of neutrally requesting information.
  • Question Particles in Indirect QuestionsA2 — Choose num, enclitic -ne, or utrum...an in embedded yes–no questions and interpret their mood, scope, and answer bias.

Register and Style

Literary Style

  • Epic DictionC1 — How Latin epic combines hexameter, elevated vocabulary, inherited formulas, hyperbaton, and selective archaic or Greek forms.
  • Elegiac DictionC1 — How the elegiac couplet shapes Latin love poetry, lament, epigram, first-person role play, and the language of desire and refusal.
  • Lyric CompressionC1 — How Latin lyric concentrates thought through stanzaic meter, ellipsis, hyperbaton, apostrophe, and sudden shifts of image or address.
  • Satire and Colloquial VoiceC1 — How Roman verse satire constructs a conversational voice through questions, interruptions, quotation, low-high contrast, and moral exposure.
  • Rhetorical Figures of ArrangementC1 — How Latin creates emphasis through repetition, balance, omission, crossing, and deliberate constituent order.
  • Figures of Thought and MeaningC1 — How Latin speakers frame a thought as a question, address, hesitation, correction, omission, impersonation, or irony.
  • Plain, Middle, and Grand StylesC1 — How Roman rhetorical theory relates plain, middle, and grand expression to purpose, audience, rhythm, and decorum.
  • Imitating Style without CaricatureC1 — A practical method for adapting Latin authors' syntax, diction, rhythm, and discourse habits without copying their surface tics.

Prose Registers

  • Conversational Latin in Comedy and LettersB2 — How comedy and private correspondence represent interaction through particles, ellipsis, direct address, contraction, and rapid turn-taking.
  • Ciceronian Oratorical ProseB2 — How Cicero's public prose builds persuasion through periods, balanced clauses, connective logic, rhetorical figures, and prose rhythm.
  • Caesarian Narrative ProseB2 — How Caesar makes campaigns legible through geographic framing, controlled chronology, indirect discourse, and an apparently impersonal narrative voice.
  • Sallustian Brevity and ArchaismB2 — How Sallust creates morally charged historical prose through compression, asymmetry, historical infinitives, antithesis, and selective archaism.
  • Livian Periodic NarrativeB2 — How Livy combines periodic framing, temporal sequencing, shifting viewpoint, and dramatic variation in Roman historical narrative.
  • Technical and Administrative LatinC1 — How Roman manuals and public administration organize procedures, classifications, measurements, obligations, and records in specialized prose.
  • Legal LatinC1 — How Roman statutes, procedural formulae, juristic definitions, and private instruments encode conditions, status, obligation, and legal effect.
  • Epistolary StyleC1 — How Roman letters use formulas, recipient-oriented tenses, requests, ellipsis, and shifts of intimacy to make absent correspondents feel present.

Syntax

Advanced Patterns

  • Attraction of MoodC1 — Why an embedded Latin clause may adopt the subjunctive of the larger thought that contains it.
  • Relative AttractionC1 — How a relative pronoun or its antecedent can exceptionally adopt the other's case in compact Latin syntax.
  • Prolepsis and AnticipationC1 — How Latin places an argument or description earlier than its strict semantic position for topic, focus, and dramatic effect.
  • AnacoluthonC1 — How Latin abandons an expected construction mid-sentence and resumes with a new grammatical plan.
  • Brachiology and EllipsisC1 — How Latin omits recoverable material and compresses parallel thoughts without losing their grammatical relations.
  • Zeugma and Constructio ad SensumC1 — Distinguish shared government from agreement by sense, and parse both without forcing Latin into English word order.
  • Case ContaminationC1 — Recognize case forms produced by competing constructions, and distinguish genuine attraction from ordinary government and textual error.

Agreement and Predication

  • Subject–Verb AgreementA1 — How Latin finite verbs mark the person and number of their subjects even when the subject is omitted or separated from the verb.
  • Agreement with Compound SubjectsA1 — How Latin chooses number and person when two or more coordinated expressions share one finite verb.
  • Agreement by SenseA1 — How Latin sometimes follows the participants understood in context rather than the grammatical number of a collective or distributive expression.
  • AppositionA2 — How a second noun phrase renames the same referent and normally matches the first phrase's case.
  • Adjective Agreement with Multiple NounsA2 — How Latin chooses number and gender when one adjective relates to coordinated nouns.

Argument Structure

  • Transitive and Intransitive VerbsA2 — How a Latin verb's lexical argument pattern determines whether it can govern a direct accusative object.
  • Direct and Indirect ObjectsA2 — How accusative and dative marking distinguish the affected thing from the recipient, beneficiary, or addressee.
  • Verbs Taking Two AccusativesB1 — How Latin uses two accusatives for person plus content or for an object plus its secondary predicate.
  • Verbs Governing the DativeB1 — How Latin verbs select dative complements for people affected, trusted, obeyed, helped, opposed, or otherwise related to an action.
  • Verbs Governing the AblativeB1 — How lexical verbs select ablative complements of use, enjoyment, duty, possession, deprivation, reliance, and need.
  • Verbs Governing the GenitiveB1 — How a restricted set of Latin verbs licenses genitives of memory, feeling, charge, concern, need, and value.
  • Compound Verbs and Case GovernmentB1 — How Latin prefixes reshape a verb's argument structure without providing an automatic rule for dative, accusative, or ablative case.

Comparison and Correlation

  • Quo…eo and Quanto…tantoB1 — How Latin correlates two changing degrees to express ‘the more…, the more…’ with comparative forms.
  • Tam…quam and Sic…utB1 — How Latin correlates equal degree with tam…quam and matching manner with sic…ut, and how to distinguish comparative ut from result ut.
  • Superlatives with QuamB2 — How quam plus a superlative expresses the highest degree possible in Classical Latin.
  • Unus ex and Partitive ExpressionsB2 — How Latin selects one or more members from a larger group with ex, the partitive genitive, and related structures.

Infinitival Syntax

  • Tense Relations in InfinitivesB1 — How present, perfect, and future infinitives locate an event relative to a governing verb rather than by absolute clock time.
  • Passive Indirect StatementB1 — How Latin reports that something is being done, has been done, or will be done with an accusative subject and a passive infinitive.
  • Future Infinitives in Indirect StatementB1 — How future active and passive infinitives express posteriority to a verb of saying, thinking, knowing, or expecting.
  • Fore and Futurum Esse UtB1 — How fore ut and futurum esse ut provide a finite-clause alternative for future propositions, especially future passive ones.
  • Infinitive with Iubeo, Veto, and SinoB1 — How iubeo, veto, and sino combine with an accusative subject and infinitive to express ordering, prohibition, and permission.

Participial and Absolute Syntax

  • Dominant ParticiplesB2 — How a Latin participle can make an entire agreeing noun phrase denote an event rather than merely describe a participant.
  • Participles in Compressed NarrativeB2 — How Latin ranks events by combining a finite narrative backbone with agreeing participles and absolute phrases.

Reflexivity and Reference

  • Indirect ReflexivesB2 — How Latin reflexives can refer across a clause boundary to the subject whose speech, thought, or purpose is being represented.
  • Logophoric Reflexives in Reported ThoughtB2 — How reflexives track the person whose consciousness, words, or evaluation organize an embedded passage.
  • Pronoun Reference across ClausesB2 — How omission, demonstratives, relatives, and reflexives maintain or switch reference as Latin discourse moves between clauses.

Verb Reference

High-Frequency Verbs

  • Sum: To BeA2 — A complete reference for sum, including every Classical finite form, non-finite forms, core syntax, and major compounds.
  • Possum: To Be AbleA2 — A complete reference for possum, its assimilated present forms, perfect stem, infinitive complements, and defective paradigm.
  • Eo: To GoA2 — A complete reference for eō, including its alternating stems, contracted perfects, impersonal passive, and major compounds.
  • Fero: To CarryA2 — A complete reference for ferō, its three stems, active and passive paradigms, idioms, and irregular compounds.
  • Volo: To WantA2 — A complete reference for volō, including its irregular present, polite subjunctives, infinitive complements, and idioms.
  • Nolo: Not to WantA2 — A complete reference for nōlō, including its split present paradigm, refusal meanings, complements, and negative commands.
  • Malo: To PreferA2 — A complete reference for mālō, including its irregular present, comparison patterns, softened subjunctives, and defective forms.
  • Fio: To Become or Be MadeA2 — A complete reference for fīō as ‘become,’ ‘happen,’ and the suppletive passive of faciō.
  • Facio: To Do or MakeA2 — A complete reference for faciō, its active stems, suppletive passive fīō, result predicates, causation, and compounds.
  • Do: To GiveA2 — A complete reference for dō, including its short-vowel forms, two-object syntax, passive, idioms, and compounds.
  • Dico: To SayA2 — A complete reference for dīcō, including its active and passive paradigms, short imperative, reported speech, and compounds.
  • Duco: To LeadA2 — A complete reference for dūcō, including its active and passive paradigms, short imperative, idioms, and compounds.
  • Ago: To Do or DriveA2 — A complete reference for agō, including its active and passive paradigms, broad idiomatic range, and stem-changing compounds.
  • Habeo: To HaveA2 — A complete reference for habeō, including possession, state and judgment constructions, passive uses, and compounds.
  • Video: To SeeA2 — A complete reference for videō, including perception complements, the passive meaning ‘seem,’ non-finite forms, and compounds.
  • Venio: To ComeA2 — A complete reference for veniō, including its fourth-conjugation forms, impersonal passive, motion syntax, and compounds.
  • Capio: To TakeA2 — A complete reference for capiō, including its third-iō paradigm, broad object meanings, passive, idioms, and compounds.
  • Accipio: To ReceiveA2 — A complete reference for accipiō, including its third-iō forms, passive, information complements, idioms, and capiō-family relatives.
  • Mitto: To SendA2 — A complete reference for mittō, including sending syntax, release and throwing meanings, passive, non-finites, and compounds.
  • Pono: To PutA2 — A complete reference for pōnō, including placement syntax, abstract idioms, passive, non-finites, and its productive compound family.
  • Peto: To SeekA2 — A complete reference for petō, including seeking, requesting, attacking, directional syntax, passive forms, and compounds.
  • Quaero: To Seek or AskA2 — A complete reference for quaerō, including seeking, asking and indirect questions, passive, contracted perfects, and compounds.
  • Scio: To KnowA2 — A complete reference for sciō, including its full paradigm, ways of expressing known facts, passive forms, and contrast with cognōscō.
  • Cognosco: To Learn or RecognizeA2 — A complete reference for cognōscō, including its inceptive present, resultative perfect, passive forms, government, and compounds.
  • Nescio: Not to KnowA2 — A complete reference for nesciō, including its paradigm, indirect questions, indefinite nescio quis phrases, passive forms, and usage contrasts.
  • Credo: To BelieveA2 — A complete reference for crēdō, including belief and trust, dative government, reported statements, entrusting, and passive syntax.
  • Puto: To ThinkA2 — A complete reference for putō, including its regular paradigm, accusative-and-infinitive, predicate complements, passive constructions, and compounds.
  • Existimo: To JudgeA2 — A complete reference for exīstimō, including judgment, estimation, reported thought, predicate complements, passive syntax, and its contrast with putō.
  • Intellego: To UnderstandA2 — A complete reference for intellegō, including its stem changes, complements, passive forms, spelling, and contrasts with knowing and perceiving.
  • Sentio: To Feel or ThinkA2 — A complete reference for sentiō, including perception, feeling, opinion, its irregular perfect and supine stems, passive forms, and compounds.
  • Loquor: To SpeakA2 — A complete reference for the deponent loquor, including its active meaning, full paradigm, conversation and topic phrases, non-finite forms, and compounds.
  • Sequor: To FollowA2 — A complete reference for the deponent sequor, including its full paradigm, direct-object government, temporal and logical meanings, participles, and compounds.
  • Utor: To UseA2 — A complete reference for the deponent ūtor, including its ablative government, full paradigm, active-meaning participles, gerundive, and compounds.
  • Patior: To Suffer or AllowA2 — A complete reference for the deponent patior, including its mixed third-conjugation paradigm, suffering and permission, participles, gerundive, and compounds.
  • Proficiscor: To Set OutA2 — A complete reference for the deponent proficīscor, including departure, source and destination phrases, its full paradigm, participles, and contrast with arrival verbs.
  • Morior: To DieA2 — A complete reference for the deponent morior, including its mixed present system, mortuus perfect, moritūrus future participle, causes of death, and compounds.
  • Orior: To AriseA2 — A complete reference for the mixed-conjugation deponent orior, including arising, origin, full paradigms, active-meaning participles, and compounds such as adorior.
  • Conor: To TryA2 — A complete reference for the deponent cōnor, including its full paradigm, complementary infinitives, attempt versus success, participles, gerundive, and usage contrasts.
  • Hortor: To UrgeA2 — A complete reference for the deponent hortor, including its full paradigm, accusative addressee, ut and nē clauses, ad phrases, participles, and compound cohortor.
  • Vereor: To FearA2 — A complete reference for the deponent vereor, including its second-conjugation paradigm, fear-clause polarity, direct objects, reluctance, participles, and reverence.
  • Amo: To LoveA2 — A complete reference for amō, including its regular active and passive paradigms, affection and preference, infinitive complements, participles, and lexical contrasts.
  • Laudo: To PraiseA2 — A complete reference for laudō, including its regular active and passive paradigms, grounds for praise, reported praise, participles, gerundive, and compounds.
  • Voco: To CallA2 — A complete reference for vocō, including calling, summoning, naming, active and passive paradigms, predicate complements, and compounds.
  • Rogo: To AskA2 — A complete reference for rogō, including questions, requests, two accusatives, indirect commands and questions, passive forms, and compounds.
  • Iubeo: To OrderA2 — A complete reference for iubeō, including its irregular stems, accusative-and-infinitive commands, personal passive, non-finite forms, and contrast with indirect commands.
  • Moneo: To WarnA2 — A complete reference for moneō, including warning, reminding and advising, its stem changes, complement patterns, passive forms, and compounds.
  • Teneo: To HoldA2 — A complete reference for teneō, including its irregular perfect and supine stems, literal and abstract meanings, passive forms, idioms, and compounds.
  • Moveo: To MoveA2 — A complete reference for moveō, including physical and emotional movement, irregular stems, active and passive paradigms, causation, and compounds.
  • Scribo: To WriteA2 — A complete reference for scrībō, including irregular stems, active and passive paradigms, addressees and topics, reported content, writing materials, and compounds.
  • Lego: To Read or ChooseA2 — A complete reference for legō, including reading, gathering and choosing, its irregular stems, passive forms, non-finites, and compound family.
  • Relinquo: To LeaveA2 — A complete reference for relinquō, including leaving behind, abandoning and leaving in a state, irregular stems, passive forms, non-finites, and compounds.
  • Vinco: To ConquerA2 — A complete reference for vincō, including defeating opponents, overcoming obstacles, irregular stems, passive forms, non-finites, and compounds.
  • Vivo: To LiveA2 — A complete reference for vīvō, including its irregular perfect, active paradigm, impersonal passive, non-finite forms, idiomatic complements, and compounds.
  • Curro: To RunA2 — A complete reference for currō, including its reduplicated perfect, active paradigm, impersonal passive, motion syntax, figurative uses, and compounds.
  • Cado: To FallA2 — A complete reference for cadō, including its reduplicated perfect, active paradigm, restricted passive, motion syntax, figurative meanings, and easily confused compounds.
  • Caedo: To Cut or KillA2 — A complete reference for caedō, including its reduplicated perfect, full active and passive system, cutting and killing senses, instruments, and compounds.
  • Gero: To Bear or ConductA2 — A complete reference for gerō, including its irregular stems, full active and passive system, carrying and conducting senses, reflexive behavior, and compounds.
  • Traho: To DragA2 — A complete reference for trahō, including its three stems, active and passive paradigms, non-finite forms, idioms, and compounds.
  • Aperio: To OpenA2 — A complete reference for aperiō, covering its irregular perfect and participial stems, full paradigm, meanings, complements, and lexical relatives.
  • Invenio: To FindA2 — A complete reference for inveniō, including its stem changes, active and passive paradigms, non-finite forms, senses, and the veniō compound family.
  • Audio: To HearA2 — A complete reference for audiō, with its full active and passive system, non-finite forms, perception clauses, reputation idioms, and compounds.
  • Cupio: To DesireA2 — A complete reference for cupiō, covering its mixed third-conjugation present system, perfect forms, complements, passive limits, and expressions of desire.
  • Servio: To ServeA2 — A complete reference for serviō, including its regular fourth-conjugation forms, dative government, impersonal passive, non-finite forms, and compounds.
  • Debeo: To Owe or OughtA2 — A complete reference for dēbeō as a verb of debt and obligation, with active and passive paradigms, infinitive constructions, and usage diagnostics.
  • Soleo: To Be AccustomedA2 — A complete reference for semideponent soleō, its active present system, participial perfect system, infinitive complement, and idiomatic uses.
  • Memini: To RememberA2 — A complete reference for defective meminī, whose perfect-looking forms express present memory, with its case government, infinitives, and imperatives.
  • Odi: To HateA2 — A complete reference for defective ōdī, whose perfect-system forms express present, past, and future states of hatred.
  • Novi: To KnowA2 — A complete reference for defective nōvī, whose perfect-system forms normally express present, past, and future knowledge.
  • Coepi: To BeginA2 — A complete reference for defective coepī, including its perfect-system paradigm and its special agreement with passive infinitives.
  • Inquam: To SayA2 — A complete reference for defective inquam, the parenthetical reporting verb used inside or after direct quotation.

Verbs

Advanced and Archaic Forms

Aspect, Aktionsart, and Usage

Deponents and Semi-Deponents

  • What Deponent Verbs AreB1 — Understand why deponent verbs have passive morphology but normally active meaning, and parse their present and perfect systems reliably.
  • First-Conjugation DeponentsB1 — Conjugate first-conjugation deponents such as hortor and cōnor across the present and perfect systems.
  • Second-Conjugation DeponentsB1 — Conjugate second-conjugation deponents such as vereor and polliceor, preserving their long ē and lexical complements.
  • Third-Conjugation DeponentsB1 — Form and parse third-conjugation deponents from their principal parts without mistaking passive-looking endings for passive meaning.
  • Fourth-Conjugation DeponentsB1 — Recognize and form fourth-conjugation deponents through their -īrī infinitives, stable ī-stems, and active-meaning perfects.
  • Semi-Deponent VerbsB1 — Master verbs that are active in the present system but use agreeing deponent-style forms throughout the perfect system.
  • Deponent Participles with Active MeaningB1 — Interpret present, perfect, and future participles of deponent verbs by combining their relative time with the verb’s lexical voice.
  • Deponents with Special Case GovernmentB1 — Learn which frequent deponents select ablative, genitive, or dative complements instead of the accusatives suggested by English.
  • Deponents Used PassivelyB1 — Recognize the restricted contexts in which a deponent can express genuine passive meaning despite its normally active lexical sense.

Imperatives and Commands

  • Present Active ImperativeA2 — Form and use second-person present active commands across the four conjugations and the most frequent irregular verbs.
  • Present Passive ImperativeA2 — Recognize passive-form commands, resolve singular infinitive ambiguity, and use the same forms naturally with deponent verbs.
  • Negative Commands with Noli and NoliteA2 — Form ordinary Classical Latin prohibitions with nōlī or nōlīte plus an infinitive, and choose the correct number and verbal complement.
  • Prohibitions with Ne and the Perfect SubjunctiveA2 — Recognize and form compact second-person prohibitions with nē and the perfect subjunctive without misreading their tense.
  • Future ImperativeA2 — Form and interpret Latin future imperatives in standing rules, laws, rituals, wills, and commands tied to a later occasion.
  • Third-Person CommandsA2 — Express commands about he, she, it, or they with the jussive subjunctive and the formal future imperative.
  • Irregular Imperatives Dic, Duc, Fac, and FerA2 — Master the four short singular imperatives dīc, dūc, fac, and fer, their regular plurals, and their behavior in compounds.

Irregular and Special Verbs

  • Sum and Its CompoundsA2 — Read the complete system of sum and form its common prefixed compounds from a small set of irregular but reusable stems.
  • PossumA2 — Master the complete system of possum, its infinitive complements, and the difference between ability and possibility.
  • Eo and Its CompoundsA2 — Trace eō and its common compounds through the present and perfect systems, including participles and impersonal passive forms.
  • Fero and Its CompoundsB1 — Master ferō through its three stems and recognize the assimilated principal parts of its most important compounds.
  • Volo, Nolo, and MaloB1 — Compare Latin's three irregular verbs of desire, refusal, and preference across their full systems and complement patterns.
  • FioB1 — Conjugate fīō across its suppletive system and distinguish ‘be made,’ ‘become,’ and ‘happen’ from the active meanings of faciō.
  • Edo: To EatB1 — Conjugate edō ‘eat,’ including its contracted forms, and distinguish it from sum by vowel quantity, syntax, and context.
  • Queo and NequeoB1 — Recognize the defective eō-pattern verbs queō and nequeō, use them with infinitives, and distinguish their attested forms from possum.
  • Memini, Odi, and NoviB1 — Use meminī, ōdī, and nōvī as perfect-shaped presents, then shift their pluperfect and future-perfect forms into past and future time.
  • Coepi and InquamB1 — Handle the complementary defects of coepī ‘began’ and inquam ‘I say,’ including passive infinitives and parenthetical direct quotation.
  • Aio and Other Defective Speech VerbsB1 — Recognize aiō and the restricted inventories of Classical speech verbs without inventing forms to fill their gaps.
  • Impersonal VerbsB1 — Parse Latin verbs used only or chiefly in the third-person singular, including obligation, emotion, weather, and impersonal passives.

Passive Voice

  • Present Passive IndicativeA2 — Form the synthetic present passive across all conjugations and interpret its subjects, agents, and contextual values.
  • Imperfect Passive IndicativeA2 — Form and interpret the Latin imperfect passive as an ongoing, habitual, or attempted past event viewed from the receiver's perspective.
  • Future Passive IndicativeA2 — Build the two Latin future-passive patterns and use context to distinguish prediction, instruction, and overlapping forms.
  • Perfect-System Passive FormsA2 — See the perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect passive as one system built from an agreeing participle and forms of sum.
  • Personal Passive ConstructionsA2 — Turn an active object into a nominative passive subject while preserving agreement, agent, instrument, and other complements.
  • Impersonal Passive ConstructionsA2 — Recognize subjectless third-person singular passives and translate the activity naturally instead of inventing a nominative subject.
  • Passive of Verbs Governing the DativeB1 — Keep a verb’s governed person in the dative and use an impersonal singular passive where English prefers a personal passive.
  • The Passive of Facio: FioB1 — Use fīō for the present-system passive of faciō, distinguish ‘be made,’ ‘become,’ and ‘happen,’ and return to factus sum in the perfect system.

Perfect System Indicative

  • The Perfect Active IndicativeA2 — Form the perfect active indicative from the third principal part and interpret its completed-past and present-result values.
  • Perfect Stems in -v- and -u-A2 — Recognize productive v-perfects and u-perfects, derive their perfect-system forms, and handle Classical contraction accurately.
  • Perfect Stems in -s-A2 — Recognize s-perfects behind spellings such as scrīpsī, dūxī, clausī, and mīsī and use their stems across the perfect system.
  • Reduplicated PerfectsA2 — Recognize Latin perfect stems that repeat part of the verbal root and use them throughout the active perfect system.
  • Lengthened-Grade and Root PerfectsA2 — Recognize perfects built from a bare or vowel-altered root and carry their attested stems through the active perfect system.
  • Pluperfect Active IndicativeA2 — Form the pluperfect active indicative from the perfect stem and use it for an event completed before a past reference point.
  • Future Perfect Active IndicativeA2 — Form the future perfect active indicative and use it for an action completed before another future event or deadline.
  • Perfect Passive IndicativeA2 — Form the perfect passive indicative with an agreeing perfect passive participle and present-tense forms of sum.
  • Pluperfect Passive IndicativeA2 — Form and interpret the pluperfect passive with an agreeing perfect passive participle and the imperfect of sum.
  • Future Perfect Passive IndicativeA2 — Express an action that will already have been completed upon its subject by a future reference point.
  • Perfect versus Imperfect Narrative ViewpointA2 — Choose between completed foreground events and ongoing, habitual, attempted, or descriptive past situations.
  • Perfect with Present ResultA2 — Recognize when a completed Latin perfect is presented through a result or relevance that holds now.

Periphrases and Special Constructions

  • Compound Tenses with Participles and SumC1 — Parse participle-plus-sum constructions by separating participial stem and agreement from the auxiliary's person, tense, and mood.
  • Future Active PeriphrasticC1 — Form and interpret the future active participle with sum for intention, imminence, and action prospective to a reference point.
  • Passive Periphrastic and ObligationC1 — Form and interpret the gerundive with sum as Latin's central construction for necessity, duty, and actions that remain to be done.
  • Facio plus Infinitive and CausationC1 — Recognize the marked Classical faciō-plus-infinitive causative and choose accurately among infinitive, ut-clause, predicate, and more specific causative verbs.
  • Coepi, Incipio, and Desino with InfinitivesC1 — Choose among coepī, incipiō, and dēsinō, and handle their complementary infinitives, defective forms, and passive attraction accurately.
  • Possum, Debeo, and OportetC1 — Distinguish personal ability with possum, subject-centered duty with dēbeō, and impersonal necessity with oportet.

Present System Indicative

Subjunctive Forms

System and Principal Parts

  • The Latin Verb System at a GlanceA1 — See how principal parts, stems, endings, tense, mood, and voice combine to build and parse Classical Latin verbs.
  • Person and Number EndingsA1 — Read Latin verb endings as compact signals of who acts, how many participants act, and whether the subject acts or is acted upon.
  • The Four ConjugationsA1 — Identify a Latin verb’s conjugation from its principal parts and use that classification to predict present-system forms.
  • Present, Perfect, and Supine StemsA1 — Map Latin’s three principal stem families to the tense, voice, and non-finite forms each family builds.
  • Finite and Non-Finite FormsA1 — Distinguish person-marked Latin verbs that head clauses from infinitives, participles, gerunds, gerundives, and supines.
  • Active and Passive VoiceA1 — Understand how Latin changes verb endings and clause structure to present a participant as actor or receiver of an action.
  • Indicative, Subjunctive, and Imperative MoodsA1 — Distinguish Latin’s three finite moods by their morphology and by the speaker’s way of presenting an action.
  • Deponent, Semi-Deponent, and Defective VerbsA1 — Recognize verbs whose principal parts reveal a mismatch of form and meaning or a deliberately incomplete paradigm.
  • How to Parse a Latin VerbA1 — Use a repeatable form-first procedure to identify a Latin verb’s person, number, tense, voice, mood, and lexical source.

Word Formation

Derivation and Compounding

  • Noun-Forming SuffixesB1 — Recognize major Latin noun-forming suffixes, recover their bases, and separate derivational clues from lexical meaning and declension.
  • Adjective-Forming SuffixesB1 — Recognize Latin adjective-forming suffixes while keeping derivational meaning separate from agreement, comparison, and lexicalization.
  • Verb-Forming SuffixesB1 — Recognize how Latin derives verbs from nouns, adjectives, and other verbs without confusing lexical derivation with tense and conjugation.
  • DiminutivesB1 — Recognize Latin diminutive suffixes and distinguish literal smallness from affection, contempt, attenuation, and lexicalized meaning.
  • Agent Nouns and Action NounsB1 — Build and parse Latin nouns for performers, actions, processes, and results while accounting for stem alternation and lexicalized meaning.
  • Abstract NounsB1 — Recognize Latin nouns for qualities, states, relations, and collectives without confusing a productive suffix with a fixed dictionary meaning.
  • Compound Nouns and AdjectivesB1 — Analyze Latin compounds through their stems, linking vowels, headedness, inflection, and lexicalized Classical meanings.
  • Frequentatives, Inceptives, and DesiderativesB1 — Compare Latin verb formations for repeated action, developing states, and desire while separating derivation from tense and aspect.
  • Greek Loanword FormationB1 — Recognize how Classical Latin adapts Greek stems, suffixes, sounds, and declensions without mistaking an English cognate for a definition.
  • Productivity and LexicalizationB1 — Judge when a Latin word-building pattern can form new words and when history has turned a transparent formation into an independent lexeme.

Word Order and Information Structure

Advanced Discourse

  • Sentence Periods and ClimaxC1 — Follow Latin periods through suspension, balanced cola, resolution, and the controlled rise of a climax.
  • Chiasmus and ParallelismC1 — Recognize aligned and crossed Latin structures without mistaking every inversion or repeated word for a rhetorical figure.
  • Ring CompositionC1 — Trace how Latin passages return to their opening words, themes, or structures to create closure and reinterpretation.
  • Left and Right DislocationC1 — Recognize detached topics before or after a Latin clause and use case, resumption, and discourse context to recover their role.
  • Parenthesis and InterruptionC1 — Parse comments inserted into a Latin clause and distinguish planned parenthesis from correction, emotional interruption, and ordinary embedding.
  • Word Order in VerseC1 — Read poetic Latin by combining morphology, discourse structure, meter, and line design instead of treating verse order as free.

Foundations

Phrase and Clause Order

  • Genitive PlacementB1 — Interpret dependent genitives before, after, and apart from their heads without mistaking order for syntax.
  • Prepositions and Their ComplementsB1 — Parse Latin prepositional phrases through government, phrase boundaries, and the limited patterns that interrupt ordinary preposition-first order.
  • Pronoun PlacementB1 — Place and interpret Latin pronouns according to grammatical role, discourse prominence, and their tendency toward early clause positions.
  • Verb Placement in Main ClausesB1 — Interpret clause-final, initial, and medial verbs as competing Classical patterns shaped by focus, event type, weight, and genre.
  • Verb Placement in Subordinate ClausesB1 — Interpret final, early, and interrupted finite verbs in Latin subordinate clauses through syntax and information structure.
  • Object Placement and FocusB1 — Read preverbal, initial, and postverbal Latin objects as structured choices of topic, contrast, and focus.