Hi Ni,
I have some questions wanna ask friends here:
I hope that I can answer them for you!
- The declension of adjectives is conformity with the gender of nouns, maybe I termed as shadow of nouns, is that right? Thanks
Yes, adjectives “agree with” nouns, as it is usually called. This is how Latin indicates which adjective goes with which noun. But you should note that they agree in three ways: gender, yes, but also number and case.
Thus: “regina bona” is “the good queen.” If we put “regina” in accusative case, the phrase would become, “reginam bonam.” If we then made it plural, it would become “reginas bonas.” See how the adjective changes to match the noun that it is attached to?
- The nouns are divided into masculine, feminine and neuter and henceforce the 1st declension and 2nd one are followed, but I am unknown that under what condition the 1st declension is used and so is the 2nd declension. And -ae(endings) are found following many stems, is that perchance be confused with each other? And how I can tell them? Thanks.
The division of nouns into declensions is, for the most part, completely arbitrary. So you can’t usually predict what gender or declension a noun will be! This is one of the tricky parts about Latin. However, once you learn a noun, you know which declension and gender it has–these are stable properties. “Officium” will always be 2nd declension neuter; “Poeta” will always be 1st declension masculine, etc.
Also, as you notice, many of the case endings are the same, so it can be tricky to know what case a noun is in.
Example: “Nautae reginae rosas dant.” Because the -ae ending can be either dative singular, genitive singular, or nominative plural in the first declension, there are a lot of options here! It could be: “The sailors give rosas to the queen” or “The queens give rosas to the sailor” or, possibly, “The sailors of the queen give roses.” Let context be your guide.
And the sentences as follows is my translation, please check them, thanks a lot.
1.Otium est bonum, sed otium multorum est parvum.
Peace is good, but peace in number is small( although I translated, I do not know the meaning of it , please explain simply to me, thanks)
“Otium” can mean “peace” or “leisure.” Also, “multorum” is genitive plural, so you should translate it as “of many.” “Otium multorum,” then, is “the leisure of many (people),” or “many people’s leisure.” Remember that Latin often uses adjectives by themselves with nouns implied. So “Multus” means “much, many,” but it can imply people or things. “Multa” - neuter nominative/accusative plural often means "many things; “Multi” - masculine nominative plural often means many people.
2.Bella sunt mala et multa pericula habent.
Handsome who are bad, and have many risks.
The adjective “bellus, -a, -um” can mean handsome, but there is another choice here. What about “bellum,” the neuter noun meaning war? You did the second part of the sentence correctly.
- Offcium nautam de otio hodie vocat.
The duty of sailors are about relax and play(N.B. otio is a verb, and vocat is also, verb plus noun plus verb? what is the order of syntax is this? Puzzled,
“Otio” is not a verb; instead, it is the ablative case of “otium,” leisure or peace, which you saw in sentence 1. Notice that it follows the preposition “de” - usually, in Latin, prepositions come before the noun they control. For the syntax, then, the verb is “vocat” - from voco, a 1st conjugation verb meaning to call. “Nautam” is object; “hodie” is adverb. I think that will help you figure it out.
4.Fortuna est caeca
Fortune is blind.
Well done.
- Si pericula sunt vera, infortunatus es.
If money are true, you are unfortunate.
You probably expected “pecunia,” meaning “money,” here. However, consider that “sunt” is plural, but pecunia is singular. “Periculum,” however, means danger. Thus, “If [the] dangers. . .”
- Salve, O amice: vir bonnus es.
O, Friends! You are good man.
You put an extra “n” in bonus. Also, what about “Salve”? Literally, it is the singular imperative of Salveo, a 2nd conj. verb meaning “to be in good health.” In the imperative, though, it was a common greeting - kind of like “Hello!”
- Non bella est fama filii tui.
The fame of your son is not good.
Good, except that “Bella” means “handsome, pretty.” So: “…is not pretty.”
8.Errare est humanum.
This is one is hard to translate, can you kindly enough explain it to me? Thanks.
Sure. This is probably easier for native English speakers since it is a common expression. Now, “errare” is the infinitive of the verb “erro,” which means to make a mistake or to wander. The infintive is a verbal noun, and it can be the subject of a sentence. The “est” here is connecting “errare” and “humanum.” So we might say, “To make mistakes is human,” in other words, humans often mess up. (The expression, by the way, is “To err is human,” which comes from a poem by Alexander Pope, I think.)
- Nihil est omnino beatum.
Nothing is wholly happy.
Exactly
10 Remedium irae est mora.
Remedy of ire delays
“Mora” here is a noun, not a verb, though it does mean “a delay.”
So, “The remedy of anger is…”
- Salve, mea bella puella-da mihi multa basia amabo te.
Greetings, my beauty! (“da mihi” , what is that means?) kiss much, please.
“Da” is the imperative singular from the verb “do,” I give. Mihi is the dative of the first person pronoun (in English, "I, me). So you give something to someone, right? “multa basia” is neuter plural, accusative, here: many kisses. That should make it clear. By the way, “mea bella puella” is literally “my pretty girl,” though “my beauty” may be more colloquial.
I am very sorry for asking so many questions and occupying you so much valuable time. Thanks a lot. Have a good day!
There is no need to apologize. I enjoy discussing Latin and sharing what I’ve learned. If I didn’t, I would have no right to expect those who know more than me to help me.
Best luck,
David
Hi, every one. I am very obliged to meet you who share the same interest with me. Thanks[/b]
