On chapter 7 now.
I feel a bit nervous about asking, after yesterday’s stupid question.
But straight away today I get stuck here:
Secundas litteras discipulae heri videbas et de verbis tum cogitabas.
You saw (were looking at) the student’s second letter yesterday and were then thinking about her words.
I cannot see how the letter can be singular. Surely 1st declension -as is accusative plural?
Not a stupid question at all. You’re right that litteras is plural, but it’s a quirk of Latin that plural litterae usually means a “letter” (one that you send to someone, not a letter of the alphabet) or sometimes “literature.”
Ok. And the adjective has to agree because it does?
To be honest, I’m a little surprised that this little quirk isn’t mentioned in the book (to date).
Paul.
The adjective is following the normal rules for agreement with nouns: it’s a plural noun, so the adjective is also plural. The fact that the plural noun happens to refer to one real-world object does not change the requirement that plural nouns take plural modifiers. It’s completely normal for Latin, though it is a bit odd for English speakers trying to translate.
In my copy of Wheelock’s, at least, the vocabulary entry for littera includes the following: “litterae, -ārum, f. pl., a letter (epistle); literature.” But perhaps it wasn’t pointed out in the chapter itself.
Yes, I must pay more attention to the vocabulary lists. I just fell foul of “plot” also being plural.