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Ch #3 question

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:33 am
by dlb
In the exercises for Ch. 3, #9 we have,
"O vir magne, populum Romanum serva." of which the meaning is clear. My question deals w/ the word, "serva, which I [assume] to be a verb."
Cassells says, "serva -ae, -f. see servus"
Under servus I find, "servus, adj ..."
I am expecting to find a verb. Can someone tell me what I am missing?

Thanks,
dlb
.

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:58 am
by Kasper
You are right, it is a verb. What you must look up is the first person active singular of the verb. Can you figure out what this would be?

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:20 pm
by dlb
Kasper wrote:You are right, it is a verb. What you must look up is the first person active singular of the verb. Can you figure out what this would be?
Well, I hate to be pedantic but I would expect the ending of a singular verb to vary depending upon whether it is of the first or second conjugation; hence, o,as,at, or o,es,et.
dlb
.

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 7:19 pm
by spiphany
dlb wrote:Well, I hate to be pedantic but I would expect the ending of a singular verb to vary depending upon whether it is of the first or second conjugation; hence, o,as,at, or o,es,et.
dlb
You are correct. But the first person singular (-o, -eo, or -io) is the form under which it occurs in the dictionary.

In this case, you have a clue about the conjugation. Consider: under what circumstances would a verb have endings other than the personal endings o s t mus tis nt? The ending you have is -a. Which conjugation is that vowel characteristic of?

Have you learned the imperative yet?

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 11:39 pm
by dlb
"Have you learned the imperative yet?
The imperative was introduced in Ch 1, the second person singular form. Thus far that has been my only exposure to it & Wheelocks only mention of it.
I will follow your trail, see what I can find and see if I can resolve this issue.
Thanks,
dlb
.

Re: Ch #3 question

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 11:59 am
by Scribo
dlb wrote:In the exercises for Ch. 3, #9 we have,
"O vir magne, populum Romanum serva." of which the meaning is clear. My question deals w/ the word, "serva, which I [assume] to be a verb."
Cassells says, "serva -ae, -f. see servus"
Under servus I find, "servus, adj ..."
I am expecting to find a verb. Can someone tell me what I am missing?

Thanks,
dlb
.

Damn it, I haven't picked up my latin book in three weeks, a cursorary glance read:

O great man!, serve the Roman people. OR the Roman people serve.

Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 11:56 pm
by calvinist
serva is 2nd person, singular, imperative from servo, servare... yes it is a verb it's just that it's an imperative and you're used to seeing verbs in the indicative mood. :wink:

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 12:48 pm
by Arkan
Damn it, I haven't picked up my latin book in three weeks, a cursorary glance read:

O great man!, serve the Roman people. OR the Roman people serve.
I'm a begginer, working in this same ch. 3 at the moment, but as far as I know "servo, servare" means to protect, preserve or save, not to serve. Please correct me if im wrong.

Re:

Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:36 pm
by Benedarius
Arkan wrote:I'm a begginer, working in this same ch. 3 at the moment, but as far as I know "servo, servare" means to protect, preserve or save, not to serve. Please correct me if im wrong.
No, spot on. Could also be "to watch over" or something along those lines too.