A little confusion concerning ego, tu, sum, es etc

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lozzic
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A little confusion concerning ego, tu, sum, es etc

Post by lozzic »

Salvete

I am using the Cambridge Latin Course and have been taking my time over it trying to assimilate it rather than simply cram it in to my head. However I have come upon something rather vague in the book. There is a page explaining grammar and on it there are various phrases I will show you:

ego ambulo; I walk ego sedeo; I sit ego curro; I run
tu ambulas; you walk tu sedes; you sit tu curris; you run

That is how it is in the book with the translations it gives. Now below that there are 2 more phrases:

ego sum iratus; I am angry tu es iratus; you are angry

What I don't understand is take for example the phrases 'ego sum dormit' and 'ego dormio'. Can they both mean the same thing 'I am asleep/sleeping' and have separate meanings of I am asleep/sleeping' and 'I sleep'?

I hope you understand my little dilemma regarding this. Thank you for reading this. :D

timeodanaos
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Re: A little confusion concerning ego, tu, sum, es etc

Post by timeodanaos »

lozzic wrote:What I don't understand is take for example the phrases 'ego sum dormit' and 'ego dormio'. Can they both mean the same thing 'I am asleep/sleeping' and have separate meanings of I am asleep/sleeping' and 'I sleep'?
The example you mention, 'ego sum iratus', is a simple sentence with a predicate adjective 'I am angry'.
'ego sum dormit' is not a sentence - if it were, it would mean something along the lines of 'I am, he sleeps', since 'dormit' is 3rd person singular of the verb and not an adjective like 'iratus'


You are asking for the difference between the progressive aspect in English, I assume, the difference between I sleep and I am sleeping. I'm afraid you can't make that destinction in Latin, it must suffice to figure out which is the more correct translation by looking at the context.

lozzic
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Re: A little confusion concerning ego, tu, sum, es etc

Post by lozzic »

timeodanaos wrote:
lozzic wrote:What I don't understand is take for example the phrases 'ego sum dormit' and 'ego dormio'. Can they both mean the same thing 'I am asleep/sleeping' and have separate meanings of I am asleep/sleeping' and 'I sleep'?
The example you mention, 'ego sum iratus', is a simple sentence with a predicate adjective 'I am angry'.
'ego sum dormit' is not a sentence - if it were, it would mean something along the lines of 'I am, he sleeps', since 'dormit' is 3rd person singular of the verb and not an adjective like 'iratus'


You are asking for the difference between the progressive aspect in English, I assume, the difference between I sleep and I am sleeping. I'm afraid you can't make that destinction in Latin, it must suffice to figure out which is the more correct translation by looking at the context.

My bad I did not realise dormit was 3rd person (My knowledge it not that vast :) ).
You are asking for the difference between the progressive aspect in English, I assume, the difference between I sleep and I am sleeping. I'm afraid you can't make that destinction in Latin, it must suffice to figure out which is the more correct translation by looking at the context.
I think I understand what you mean. I think I shall have to simply go on further in to the book to get a grip on this :?

So out of curiosity what would 'I am sleeping' and 'I sleep' be in Latin? I gather from what you said that it would could be either 'ego' or 'ego sum' but what instead of dormit/dormio?

Thank you very much for the help btw.

Alatius
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Post by Alatius »

Both "I sleep" and "I am sleeping" translates into "(ego) dormio".

The literal translation of "sleeping", and what I believe you were aiming for when you wrote *"ego sum dormit", is "dormiens". HOWEVER, you can not say *"ego sum dormiens" in Latin, to mean "I am sleeping". Instead, it is used in cases like this: "dormiens non audio": "sleeping, I don't hear". (Convuluted example, but I wanted to keep the vocabulary simple.)

lozzic
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Post by lozzic »

Alatius wrote:Both "I sleep" and "I am sleeping" translates into "(ego) dormio".

The literal translation of "sleeping", and what I believe you were aiming for when you wrote *"ego sum dormit", is "dormiens". HOWEVER, you can not say *"ego sum dormiens" in Latin, to mean "I am sleeping". Instead, it is used in cases like this: "dormiens non audio": "sleeping, I don't hear". (Convuluted example, but I wanted to keep the vocabulary simple.)
Ah I see, that is very helpful! I think I get this now. I think what initially confused me is how Latin can be translated in more than one way and so I was trying to write and comprehend the Latin as it is in English, solid, rather than fluid.

Thanks.

nov ialiste
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Post by nov ialiste »

English has 3 different present tense (indicative) forms:
I sleep
I am sleeping
I do sleep

Latin, like many other languages, has only one form:
(ego) dormio

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