The Cheat Sheet for English to Latin
September 5, 2009 | Print This Homework Post
Hey Students,
I hope that you are enjoying your LONG weekend. Since the football team CREAMED the opposition, though I RUSHED to the field directly after Cistercian mass, I couldn’t catch any. I found some fans from the other side mourning in the parking lot and they told me of the 50-0 smattering. Congrats to the players and cheerleaders alike.
This is the Modus Operandi for success at these English to Latin translations and BELIEVE ME I have struggled through it every bit as much as you have. To no one do these come naturally; it takes hard work and persistence.
1. Go through the English and ask yourself FOR EVERY WORD if it is singular or plural. Mark s or p above each word to indicate this and be vigilant in this task. I don’t mind at all if you write with pencil in the book. In fact I would love it if you did.
2. Go through the English and ask yourself FOR EVERY WORD if it is masculine or feminine. If it’s masculine, write 2 above it, if feminine, 1 (save nauta, which is masculine, but above which a 1 must be placed). This will remind you which declension to put it in.
3. Now go through and ask yourself WHICH PART OF SPEECH each word is. At this point it will be either a Subject (put an N), a Direct Object (put an A), a Possessive (put a G), or a Verb (put a v).
4. Now you can translate into Latin, having notated PRECISELY how each word is to be translated. For example, if you find S2N above a word, you will know to translate it as a Nominative Singular of the 2nd declension. Use your paradigm charts in your grammar book to be sure you’re forming it correctly, recalling that you are to find the stem by dropping off the ending of the genitive singular, then add the endings of the particular case and number.
5. Once you’ve done this, take a break-for as much as an entire day if you want to.
6. Come back to it and double check.
a. That you did not write direct objects in the nominative case. This seems to be a very common error. For instance, “He praises Mary” must not be translated as “Laudat Maria” (which would mean “Mary praises”), but rather, “Laudat MariaM.” This way, it is correctly translated as she to whom the action is being done.
Go all the way through like this, then go back to the top again and triple check
b. That the verb endings are right. The six options you have now are laudat, laudant, orat, orant, and videt, vident. So, it’s gonna be “a” for all except videt and vident.
This should do it, and you will turn in beautifully-crafted Latin sentences.
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