Hey guys,
I’m new to this board and wondered if you could help me out. I spent about a month learning latin about a year ago. I couldn’t find enough time to continue though. In that period, I tried to make some correct sentences I needed. I have no idea whether I translated them with the correct declinations (and words for that matter) or not. Could anyone look at this sentence and tell me if it’s correct?
Auxilio octo reginarum locos bonos reperies et hic arcani celati sunt per me
What was your intended meaning in English?
I’m sorry, I knew I had forgotten something 
. The intended meaning in English was:
With the help of eight queens, you will find the right places. This is where the secret is hidden by me.
Ok, your sentence is very close…
Auxilio octo reginarum locos bonos reperies et hic arcani celati sunt per me
Locus, loci is irregular in the plural. With second declension plural ending it means “passages in literature”; if you want to say “places” you use neuter plural endings, in this case loca bona.
For “secret”, I think you should use the nominative singular arcanum.
Instead of per, ab (a) is usually used with a personal agent.
All together, it would go:
Auxilio octo reginarum loca bona reperies et hic arcanum celatum a/ab me est.
Wow, I never expected it to be so close 
.
Thanks a million, Benissimus.
[edit]Is there no difference between using a or ab?[/edit]
No problem, and that was very close considering you only took Latin for a month! A can only be used before words beginning with a consonant, ab can be used before either consonant or vowel but more commonly before a vowel; they are both identical in meaning and connotation.
One more question. By places I was refering to a certain arrangment. Considering this, is the following a better translation?
Auxilio octo reginarum posita bona reperies et hic arcanum celatum ab me est
Or should positus be used in singular form when used as arrangment?
I would recommend using positus, positus, a fourth declension noun. The accusative plural is positus (long final U), and it is masculine, so positus bonos. It specifically means “position, place, arrangement”. Locus would still be a valid choice too.
This is mere conjecture, but your translation of “right” may have been too liberal. Unless you intended that the adjective should insinuate a significance of “having merits” or “being righteous”, then you should probably accord yourself with a surety that the word, bonus, can be used to suggest the meaning, which does convey the word “correct”.
Just trying to be helpful. The question of whether I shall have been found to have been helpful is given to fortuity.
You’re “right”. I didn’t see that he chose bonus for “right” and that’s not exactly accurate. Bonus can verge on “useful” or “opportunitous”, so it is close to his meaning. If he wants to be very literal to his English he can change it I suppose, to something like correctos or idoneos.
I like your sig 
If he wants to be very literal to his English he can change it I suppose, to something like correctos or idoneos.
Or perhaps do it adverbially, recte?
Yet it can also be locos.
Devenere locos laetos et amoena virecta,
fortunatorum nemorum sedesque beatas - Vrg. Aen. VI. 638-639
According to the Oxford Latin Dictionary, most senses of the word can be found with either ending in the plural, but the ones that normally have masculine plural endings rarely have neuter variants. Of course Vergil is correct, but he is following poetic rules, where he needed the long final syllable in locos that was lacking in loca.
Come on Steven don’t patronise me I know how to scan. I clearly smoked you with the quote.