Cassel's Latin Dictionary

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Eurysilas
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Cassel's Latin Dictionary

Post by Eurysilas »

Well, I was going along fine, doing my first lesson of Latin from Wheelock's, when I decided to look up festino to find its principle parts. You can imagine my displeasure when I looked it up only to find "festino, -are" and that's it! I thought that one needed all the principle parts of a verb in order to fully conjugate it. Is this true, and I've bought a cheap, crappy dictionary, or could I conjugate all forms through just the first person singular present indicative and the infinitive? I have the feeling that I've been ripped off, but I thought it best not to be hasty and jump to any conclusions.

tienyew
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Post by tienyew »

Hey Eurysilas, the reason why Cassell's doesn't include the 3rd and 4th principal parts is because, I assume, of space and that the 3rd and 4th parts for 1st conjugation verbs (ending in -?re like festīn?, -?re) are mostly predictable, which you will learn later along Wheelock. Thus it goes:

festīn?, festīn?re, festīn?vī, festīn?tum

This is similar to other 1st conjugation verbs and the exceptions to the rule in this dictionary do include the 3rd and 4th principal parts, such as d?, dare, dedī, datum. Also, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th conjugations include those parts. And to answer your question, yes, you can derive the 3rd and 4th principal parts with the infinitive for the 1st conjugation, a good number of the 2nd and 4th and some of the 3rd. But then, you mightn't want to bother yourself with these yet...

No, therefore, you have not been ripped off; I think Cassell's is a brilliant dictionary for the beginning student, and congratulations for reading so deeply into Wheelock! I know I certainly would never have caught that doing my first Latin lesson...

Twpsyn
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Post by Twpsyn »

There are some verbs, however, whose third or fourth principal parts do not exist, either because the verb is not used in the passive or because they are simply unattested. If you're only on the first lesson of Wheelock's, you probably don't need to worry about that, but it is good to keep it in mind. But with run-of-the-mill 1st-conjugation verbs, it is generally safe to fill in the regular endings yourself, as tienyew has laid out.

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Eurysilas
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Post by Eurysilas »

Oh, OK. Whew! *wipes forehead* I was afraid that $18 had gone down the drain!
tienyew wrote:...and congratulations for reading so deeply into Wheelock! I know I certainly would never have caught that doing my first Latin lesson...
Why, thank you. It's actually a result of a bad habit I have; trying to comprehend everything at once. Actually, I probably wouldn't know what was going on half as well (and considering how little I know, that's saying something) if not for Grote's Comprehensive Guide to Wheelock. Thank you for the tip on principal parts of verbs, though!
Twpsyn wrote:There are some verbs, however, whose third or fourth principal parts do not exist...
*nods* Like salveo. Yeah, that really threw me for a loop, as well as the fact that nihil was "undeclinable".

Twpsyn
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Post by Twpsyn »

It's sometimes too tempting to think of a language as a collection of grids and rules. Languages are steaming morasses of inconsistency, which is what (to my eyes) makes them so beautiful! Whatever 'throws you for a loop', take that and run with it and revel in it!

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