LINGVALATINA - Calling all Latin pupils!

[Tc Frorleivus Almus Ph]

Nevermind, I lied. =p We're going to do green adjectives, which will give way to the yellow nouns and verbs so that when we do the orange adjectives, it'll be easier to deal with. It'll work, I promise.  

[Tc Frorleivus Almus Ph]

Lillian Ginn

So, what about them? In Latin, there is this somewhat complicated idea called "declension". At first, this may seem confusing, but try to bear with me. Latin is what they call a "fusional language", which means that we attach affixes to the base form of a word to express different meanings. That's really just a fancy-shmancy way to express this idea: (base of the word that doesn't change)(ending here that does change). Word - ending 1. Word - ending 2. Ending 1 will mean, let's say, subject. Ending 2 will mean object. That's all it is. Depending on the way a word ends and its gender will sort of determine in what way the endings are affected. With that in mind, there are groups of nouns in Latin that have the same or similar endings and/or will conjugate similar to each other. These groups of similarly conjugating nouns are called "declensions".
There are five declensions of nouns, but I often forgo the technical terms for color-coding them. It makes it a little easier, I think, so we'll try it out and see how it goes.


yeah you lost me around word ending 1. word ending 2.... do you have a better way of explaining it?

The best way I can think to explain it is to outright tell you a word. "Bonus" in Latin means "good". The base is "bon-" and "-us" is the ending. "Bon" remains the same while "us" may change. The "us" means masculine, so "bonus" means "good" and is masculine. Bon-us. Bon-a means feminine "good". Bon-um means neuter "good". See? Different word endings mean different things, but the word still retains its meaning.  

[Tc Frorleivus Almus Ph]

Lillian Ginn

Shizuka Mizu

Lillian Ginn

So, what about them? In Latin, there is this somewhat complicated idea called "declension". At first, this may seem confusing, but try to bear with me. Latin is what they call a "fusional language", which means that we attach affixes to the base form of a word to express different meanings. That's really just a fancy-shmancy way to express this idea: (base of the word that doesn't change)(ending here that does change). Word - ending 1. Word - ending 2. Ending 1 will mean, let's say, subject. Ending 2 will mean object. That's all it is. Depending on the way a word ends and its gender will sort of determine in what way the endings are affected. With that in mind, there are groups of nouns in Latin that have the same or similar endings and/or will conjugate similar to each other. These groups of similarly conjugating nouns are called "declensions".
There are five declensions of nouns, but I often forgo the technical terms for color-coding them. It makes it a little easier, I think, so we'll try it out and see how it goes.


yeah you lost me around word ending 1. word ending 2.... do you have a better way of explaining it?

The best way I can think to explain it is to outright tell you a word. "Bonus" in Latin means "good". The base is "bon-" and "-us" is the ending. "Bon" remains the same while "us" may change. The "us" means masculine, so "bonus" means "good" and is masculine. Bon-us. Bon-a means feminine "good". Bon-um means neuter "good". See? Different word endings mean different things, but the word still retains its meaning.

I think I get it.Like Brava. Nina...

Very good! See, no reason to be scared. =3  

[Tc Frorleivus Almus Ph]

Seraphine Lunaire

Shizuka Mizu

[...] if you are reading from my Latin thread, then post your name here. Tell me who you are and why you're learning Latin. Any other information you wish to provide is also welcomed. [...]

Sera here (just joined the guild a few hours ago).
I've sung some Latin pieces in the choirs of the schools I've attended, so I know a bit of Ecclesiastical Latin, but I'd like to learn Classical Latin all the same because:
+ I hear that some of the great authors have based their works off classics that are in Latin, so learning Latin will remove the headache I currently get while trying to decipher what's being said;
+ there are many words in the Romance languages that have Latin roots, and since I'm training to teach French, some of this knowledge might help;
+ I know I'll have fun doing so. biggrin

Magnifica!~ I hope that you'll get from this what you desire.