Teacher of Latin

Textbooks Wheelock's Latin
1

In Wheelock ch. 6 LATINA EST GAUDIUM ET UTILIS, he says that “lingua latina” = latin langauge.

So, would a “teacher of latin (language)” be translated as: “Magister linguae Latinae”?

The reasoning being:

Magister in the nom. sg.
linguae in the gen. sg., since it is “of language Latin” I’m trying to say
Latinae, adj. which agrees with linguae

2

Seems OK to me.

3

Thanks for looking at the translation.

I’ve just started chapter 7 of Wheelock, so I haven’t had any experience in formulating questions yet, but how would I ask someone if he was a teacher of Latin?

4

Feles, you are indeed correct. I highly encourage experimenting with words in a context other than exercises - it will give you a better feel for the language and encourages your own creativity with it.

If you want to ask a question, you can just write it as a statement (but add a question mark):

es magister linguae Latinae. “you are a teacher of the Latin language.”
es magister linguae Latinae? “you are a teacher of the Latin language?”



The most common way to ask a question is to tack on the enclitic -ne onto the end of the first word in the sentence, unless you have a question word such as quando, cur, ubi, quid, etc. (in which case the interrogative alone is enough to show that you are asking a question):

es magister linguae Latinae. “you are a teacher of the Latin language.”
esne magister linguae Latinae? “are you a teacher of the Latin language?”



Emphatic language (word order and nominative pronouns) is especially common in questions, for example:

esne tu magister linguae Latinae?
magister es linguae Latinae?

5

To take this a little further, I was experimenting with a full sentence using “teacher of Latin”. I tried to say:

I do not have a teacher of Latin [language].

Magistrum linguae Latinae non habeo.

Reasoning is:
Magistrum = Acc. sg. since magister is the d.o. of habere
linguae Latinae = Gen. sg. as discussed above.

The subject is “I” and is implicit in the sentence. Is this correct?

6

To take this a little further, I was experimenting with a full sentence using “teacher of Latin”. I tried to say:

I do not have a teacher of Latin [language].

Magistrum linguae Latinae non habeo.

Reasoning is:
Magistrum = Acc. sg. since magister is the d.o. of habere
linguae Latinae = Gen. sg. as discussed above.

OK.

Habesne libros in lingua latina scriptos? Reor rationem optimam institutionis legere esse.

(That probably has a few mistakes. Still, I think reading is the best method of learning)

7

OK.

Habesne libros in lingua latina scriptos? Reor rationem optimam institutionis legere esse.

(That probably has a few mistakes. Still, I think reading > is > the best method of learning)

I should probably attempt to answer in Latin:

Magistri mei sunt multi libri.


Yes, I have several, notably Wheelock’s 6th ed and 38 Latin Stories. Also Learn to Read Latin (+ workbook).

I’m finding that at this point (ch.7 of Wheelock) my translations Latin → English are becoming more fluid but not so the other way. Most of the exercises in Wheelock’s are from Latin to English so my Latin composition isn’t quite up to as a high a level as it should be. So I am trying to write original sentences within the confines of my so far limited grammar knowledge.

Thanks for looking at the sentence.