Struggling with English to Latin Translation Homework

Here you can discuss all things Latin. Use this board to ask questions about grammar, discuss learning strategies, get help with a difficult passage of Latin, and more.
Post Reply
cody
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2004 3:45 am

Struggling with English to Latin Translation Homework

Post by cody »

I have to translate these from English to Latin. I'm struggling.

1. By whom was a ship seen on a mountain?
Mine: Quo erat navem viditus est in montis?

2. We have made a long journey but can now see the end.
Mine: Fecimus longum iteram sed nunc potuimus finem visimus.

3. A large number of citizens was called together by the leader.
Mine: Magnum numerum civium convocavit duce.

4. If the sea is closed, the enemy's ships will not be able to transport soliders.
Mine: Claudi mari, hostis navem non poterunt transportare militem.

User avatar
benissimus
Global Moderator
Posts: 2733
Joined: Mon May 12, 2003 4:32 am
Location: Berkeley, California
Contact:

Post by benissimus »

1. By whom was a ship seen on a mountain?
Mine: Quo erat navem viditus est in montis?
With a thing, the agent ("whom", in your sentence) may be in the ablative, but if it is a person you need to put ab/a before the agent.
There is only one verb in this sentence, so your erat is not necessary, visus est does the job all on its own.
The perfect passive participle of video is visus, -a, -um, not viditus, it should also be feminine to match the gender of navis.
After in, the noun should be in the ablative (monte), not the genitive (montis).
Navem should be in the nominative, not the accusative: In a passive sentence, the object becomes the subject.

All together you would probably translate this as "A quo navis visa est in monte?"


2. We have made a long journey but can now see the end.
Mine: Fecimus longum iteram sed nunc potuimus finem visimus.
Instead of iteram, you should use the third declension neuter word iter (iteram is not a word).
Potuimus is the perfect tense, this sentence is in the present (possumus).
Visimus should be in the infinitive (videre) to follow possumus. "We are able to see" shows clearly that an infinitive is required.


"Fecimus longum iter sed nunc possumus finem videre"

3. A large number of citizens was called together by the leader.
Mine: Magnum numerum civium convocavit duce.
Numerum should be in the nominative as the subject of a passive verb, magnum should match (magnus numerus).
Convocavit is active, but they were called together, so it should be passive (convocatus est).
Agents of a passive verb who are people need ab/a (a duce).

"Magnus numerus civium convocatus est a duce"


4. If the sea is closed, the enemy's ships will not be able to transport soliders.
Mine: Claudi mari, hostis navem non poterunt transportare militem.
Using an ablative absolute, eh? Claudi should instead be the perfect passive participle which is clausus, -a, -um (clauso in the neuter ablative to match mari)
"Ships" is plural so you should put naves
"Soldiers" is plural so you should put milites
"The enemy's" is probably referring to the enemy as a group, so you would put it in the plural (hostium). Sometimes it is referring to an individual and is in the singular, but not in this case.

"Clauso mari, hostium naves non poterunt transportare milites."


Try not to be discouraged by errors. You may want to go back in your book and review the concepts you feel weak on, or maybe get a new book if you aren't working well with your current one. English-Latin can be very difficult for most people since there is so much more involved in composing something than simply reading it. You supplied every necessary word but your inflections were erroneous in the first two, though your second two were not bad at all.

Feel free to ask for help whenever you need it, as long as you try it first on your own. Next time try the Latin forum ;)
Last edited by benissimus on Wed Jan 28, 2004 7:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
flebile nescio quid queritur lyra, flebile lingua murmurat exanimis, respondent flebile ripae

cody
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2004 3:45 am

Post by cody »

Thank you so much for your help. I'm going to go back through the book and check out some of these. I get the general idea, but sometimes I struggle with the tense or verb usage and so forth. I appreciate your help again. You made things more clear for me.

User avatar
benissimus
Global Moderator
Posts: 2733
Joined: Mon May 12, 2003 4:32 am
Location: Berkeley, California
Contact:

Post by benissimus »

No problem. When I look at all my homework from awhile ago, my translations would be flawless and then when it got to composing in Latin there would be at least one mark on every sentence which got really annoying. It's still really hard not to let something slip when you're writing in Latin, but you will probably get better at it with practice. Argh, even at an advanced level when you know the grammar by heart, then you have to worry about what sounds awkward or what fits that style :roll:
flebile nescio quid queritur lyra, flebile lingua murmurat exanimis, respondent flebile ripae

Moerus
Textkit Fan
Posts: 281
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2003 2:00 am
Location: Lovanium - Leuven (Belgium)

Post by Moerus »

"Fecimus longum itus sed nunc possumus finem videre"
I would use 'iter' here. 'Iter' neutrum, so it would be 'iter'.
Itus -us, m. So if you use this word, I would say 'itum'. But itus is more 'the act of going', iter is more 'the result of going, the trip'. I would use 'iter'.

So it would be: Longum iter fecimus, sed nunc finem fidere possumus.
It takes a long way to have the ability. So I think the contrast is between the 'longum' and the 'possumus' so I put these to at the beginning and the end to emphasize them.
"Clauso mari, hostium naves non poterunt transportare milites."
I would work with a adverbial clause and with a futurum exactum / perfect:

'Si mare clausum erit, hostium naves non poterunt transportare milites'

Greetz,
Moerus

User avatar
benissimus
Global Moderator
Posts: 2733
Joined: Mon May 12, 2003 4:32 am
Location: Berkeley, California
Contact:

Post by benissimus »

Ah you are absolutely right. I was obviously thinking of iter (I don't think I have ever used the word itus in a sentence yet) but I have been reading too much Allen & Greenough about how R and S are the same thing... :roll:
flebile nescio quid queritur lyra, flebile lingua murmurat exanimis, respondent flebile ripae

Post Reply