拉丁語/第一課 - 主格

 

主格(The Nominative Case) 編輯

當名詞是句子的主詞時,我們使用主格名詞。主格也是現代英文三種名詞格式(主格、所有格、受格)其中一種。

類似英文,每個句子都必定有一個主詞,像是:

凱薩是羅馬的皇帝(Caesar is emperor of Rome.)

上面這句凱薩(Caesar)是整個句子的主詞,因此這邊凱薩使用主格。

凱薩的軍隊進入了羅馬(Caesar's army entered Rome)

上面這句的凱薩變成了所有格:這隻軍隊是凱薩的軍隊,這裡我們將原本的"Caesar"尾端加上('s),以改變名詞的格式。

拉丁語名詞的格式,以類似英文名詞的方式進行改變。首先,我們學習一些主格形式的名詞,這些名詞要改成其他格式時,一樣對名詞尾端進行某種改變即可。

單字表 編輯

單字
拉丁文 中文
magn-us -a -um
bon-us -a -um
mal-us -a -um
puell-a -ae (f.) 女孩
puer (m.) 男孩
māter (f.) 母親
domin-a (f.) 女主人
domin-us (m.) 主人
lūd-us (m.) 學校
trīclīni-um (n.) 飯廳
templ-um (n.) 寺廟
esse
(ego) sum
(tū) es
est
(nōs) sumus
(vōs) estis
sunt
將是(to be)
我是
你是
(他/她/它) 是*
我們是
你們是
(他們/她們)是
ambula-t, ambula-nt (他/她/它) 正在走路, (他們/她們) 正在走路
curri-t, curru-nt (他/她/它) 正在跑步, (他們/她們) 正在跑步
nōn 不(否定用副詞,加在動詞前面)
有些雄性名詞的第二變格(declension ),不是以-us結尾,而是以 -r — 像男孩的第二變格是puer,不是puer-us。在這一頁的單字裡面,只有puer符合這個狀況。

在所有表上「是」(to be)的動詞,只有談到estsunt。未來會在提到其他的動詞,這邊只是讓讀者稍微熟悉一下。

在句子的主詞,或者主詞同位語上面,使用主格。

本章節中,名詞標注依照下列習慣:

  • m. = 雄性
  • f. = 雌性
  • n. = 中性
  • First and second declension substantives are given with at least the nominative case. (We will add the genitive singular as time permits. It is not strictly necessary, but you should get in the habit now of declining nouns based on the genitive stem and not the nominative. This chapter is therefore slightly misleading in this regard.)
  • Third, fourth, and fifth declension substantives are given with the nominative and genitive singular.

 

形容詞概觀 編輯

形容詞簡單說就是用來形容名詞的詞彙,用來形容像是句子裡面的物體或者對象。有時候我們會用一整個子句來形容一個名詞,但是這時候不稱呼為形容詞。例如:

英文(中文) 拉丁文
The good boy walks. (這個 男孩在走路。) Puer bonus ambulat.

形容詞也可以用在使用be動詞的句子裡面。be動詞僅僅是一個連接性的動詞(註:英文文法裡面,句子裡面一定要有動詞),「好男孩」("the good boy")文法上不是一個完整的句子,但是「這男孩是好的」("the boy is good")就是一個完整的句子了。

中文 拉丁文
這男孩 好的. Puer bonus est.

如上,同樣的原則也適用於拉丁文

拉丁語的形容詞 編輯

跟名詞一樣,拉丁文的形容詞也是用字尾修飾。大部分形容詞使用第一種或者第二種詞尾(antiquus -a -um,古老的)有時使用第三種詞尾(ferox, ferocis,激烈的)。 這類形容詞必須與所形容的名詞使用相同的性別、時態、格式,但是不一定是相同詞尾

  • First and second declension adjectives have three distinct genders. Feminine adjectives require the first declension, masculine the second, and neuter the second. First/second declension adjectives use all three gender suffixes: -us, -a, -um (masculine, feminine, and neuter, respectively). This is because description is not limited to a single gender. For example, being good is not a quality limited to a single gender. Boys can be good, girls can be good, and things can be good. So, since all three genders must apply, we don't label adjectives as particularly m., f., or n..
  • Third declension adjectives are given with the nominative and genitive singular. This, however, is only true for third declension adjectives of one termination, so again this chapter is misleading in this regard. Most third declension adjectives do not have separate masculine and feminine forms. (Neuter adjectives follow the third declension neuter pattern.)

這些形容詞像是 antiquus (老的,陳舊的):

antiquus (雄性), antiqua (雌性), antiquum (中性).

Third declension adjectives typically look more like ferox, ferocis (wild, bold). This is because the third declension has no stem assigned to the nominative singular and is a "wild card" in that regard.

Adjectives often come after the word they describe. (But since word order is not central to the meaning of a Latin sentence, the adjective may appear anywhere within the sentence. In poetry, for example, several words often separate an adjective from the noun it modifies.)

For example: Nota bene: In the following examples the -us ending stands for the masculine (m.) gender, the -a for the feminine (f.) gender, and the -um stands for the neuter (n.) gender. So magnus is masculine, magna is feminine and magnum is neuter.

Latin English
Puella bona est. The girl is good.
Dominus bonus est. The master is good.
Templum magnum est. The temple is big.

Bona is an adjective describing a feminine substantive, such as puella.
Bonus is an adjective describing a masculine substantive, such as dominus.

文法:主格複數 編輯

個數 第一詞尾 雌性 第二詞尾 雄性 第二詞尾 中性
單數 puell-a lūd-us triclīni-um
複數 puell-ae lūd-ī triclīni-a

To pluralize most first and second declension nouns, replace the singular suffix with the equivalent plural suffix. All adjectives that describe the noun must be pluralized as well because adjectives must agree in case, number, and gender (but not necessarily declension). With the adjectives given, use first declension with feminine nouns and second declension with masculine nouns. In English we use the same nominative plural endings for words we have borrowed from Latin, so it may be helpful to remember we say one vertebr-a but two vertebr-ae, one radi-us but two radi-ī, and one medium but multi-medi-a.

基礎動詞 編輯

Verbs in Latin work quite differently than those in English. Study the following table, then view the examples below, though keep in mind that you only need to fully understand the difference between numbers for the time being.

English Latin
Number Only pluralize the noun that is being pluralized, not the adjectives that describe it or the verb that it is performing. All three are pluralized. In this context, singular verbs end in "-t" (est, ambulat), and plural verbs end in "-nt" (sunt, ambulant).
Tense The ending is sometimes changed, though the words surrounding the verb can also be used to denote tense. Consider these examples: "he will walk, he is walking, he walks, he walked". The stem is used to denote the tense, though this will be covered in a future lesson. In this lesson, only the present tense is being taught.
Person The subject of the sentence is used to determine the person. If I am the subject of the sentence, then the sentence is in the first person. If you are the subject, then the second person, and so forth with the third. In this lesson, only the third person is being taught, which refers to anyone other than the speaker or the listener. The stem also denotes the person, though as previously stated, only third person is being taught in this lesson.

範例 編輯

注意要配合複數型態的 "triclīnia"時,"magnum"變成"magna"
拉丁語 English
puell-a bon-a es-t. The girl is good.
And to pluralize:
puell-ae bon-ae su-nt The girls are good.
Note that verbs do not have gender, in that they do not change to the gender of the word that they are describing.
Puer bon-us ambula-t. The good boy is walking.
And to pluralize:
Puer-ī bon-ī ambula-nt The good boys are walking.
You will notice that neither the linking verbs "est" nor "sunt" appear in the previous two sentences. The meaning of the linking verbs are assumed in Latin sentences, as their respective meanings already exist in the verb stems.
triclīni-um magn-um es-t The dining room is large.
And to pluralize:
triclīni-a magn-a su-nt The dining rooms are large.

延伸範例 編輯

範例一 編輯

拉丁文 英文
templum magnum est The temple is big.
備註
  • 形容詞 magnus -a -umtemplum 必須要同性別、同個數(單/複)、同時態。and case, so the correct form is magnum (neuter nominative singular).
  • Something like templum magnus est is incorrect because magn-us does not agree with templ-um. To a Latin speaker, this would sound like nonsense.

範例二 編輯

Latin English
puella magna est. The girl is big.

Notes: In the same way, the adjective magnus -a -um must agree with puella in gender, number, and case, so the correct form is magna (feminine nominative singular, a-declinatio).

範例三 編輯

Latin English
Puer currit. The boy is running.
Puerī currunt. The boys are running

Notes: You may notice that, when pluralized, "currit" becomes "currunt". The original spelling was probably "currint", but changed to "currunt" over time to make it easier to say. This is true of any pluralized verbs that would otherwise be ending in "-int".

範例四 編輯

Latin English
lūdī magnī sunt The schools are big.

Notes: The adjective magnus -a -um in this case must agree with lūdī in gender, number, and case, so the correct form is magnī (masculine nominative plural).

名詞與形容詞第三種詞尾 編輯

Third declension nouns and adjectives follow a different pattern. The nominative singular stem is not defined, and as such, any letter (or letters) can serve as a third declension stem. For example, Māter (mother) is a third declension noun in the nominative case. When pluralized, it becomes Mātrēs. "-ēs" is attached to the end of a third declension noun to pluralize it, as opposed to changing the ending completely, because there is no uniform way to do so given the third declension's random nature.

You may have also noticed that that the "e" in "Māter" was dropped when pluralized. This often happens when a stem is attached to a third declension noun of similar spelling (example, "Pater" (father) becomes "Patrēs")

Examples:

Latin English
māter bona est The mother is good.
mātrēs bonae sunt The mothers are good.
pater magnus est The father is large.
patrēs magnī sunt The fathers are large.
amīcus fortis est The friend is strong.
amīcī fortēs sunt The friends are strong

Third declension nouns are listed with the nominative case and the genitive case to provide the main stem, which will be covered in a few lessons. All other nouns are also listed with the genitive for standardization, but often just the genitive ending is given. For example:

Latin English
pater, patris father
ōrātiō, ōrātiōnis speech
uxor, uxōris wife
canis, canis dog
proelium, -ī battle
oculus, -ī eye
amīcus, -ī friend

All other types of nouns are also generally listed with the genitive

Adjectives with a nominative ending in -is and the same stem in the nominative and in the other cases (eg. fortis) end in -e in the neuter and -ia in the neuter plural.

For example:

  • dies difficilis = the difficult day
  • proelium difficile = the difficult battle
  • proelia difficilia = the difficult battles

練習 編輯

  1. 將下列句子翻譯成中文
    1. dominus bonus
    2. lūdus malus
    3. puella magna
    4. trīclīnium est magnum
  2. 將下列句子翻譯成拉丁文
    1. 好男孩
    2. 大主人
    3. 這間寺廟很大
    4. 這主人很壞

解答:

  1. 將下列句子翻譯成中文
    1. 好主人
    2. 壞學校
    3. 大女孩
    4. 這飯廳很大
  2. 將下列句子翻譯成拉丁文
    1. Puer bonus
    2. dominus magnus
    3. templum magnum est
    4. dominus malus est