Welcome to Loquī! Let’s be loquacious in Latin!
I am a middle school Latin teacher in a rural Ohio Catholic school. Our purposes for teaching Latin are 1. to introduce the students to the elements of the Romance languages so they are prepared to study those in high school, 2. to enhance their English grammar studies and expand their vocabulary, and, 3. to teach the Ecclesiastical Latin of the Church which has used Latin as its “home” language for over 2000 years (and is easier to pronounce, in my opinion, than Classical Latin).
In years past, Latin was often a drudge to learn. Tedious hours were spent memorizing cases and declensions, tenses and conjugations, and then translating writings of long-dead Romans. At least for Catholics, it was a way to delve deeper into our Mass, and learn the prayers and writings of the saints and scholars of our Church. But Latin remained a mostly “read” (and nearly dead) language, not one which was spoken and alive. But it doesn’t need to be that way.
During the pandemic, when so many students were at home, I began a free Substack called Manuscribit. As a retired English teacher, my goal was to provide a solid English grammar study for any student, home-school teacher, or frustrated parent who wanted to help their child. Manuscribit is based upon the way I taught English—active participation through the Socratic method to understand the Latin roots of our grammar and vocabulary. My method for Loquī is the same—to provide interactive Latin language lessons which will get you speaking and writing, while learning about the roots of English grammar as well.
Just as Manuscribit will always remain free to anyone who wants to read it, Loquī will also be available at no charge. Loquī is suitable for middle school students and older. You can easily divide the large monthly lesson into once-weekly or twice-weekly lessons over the month, based upon your timetable. As with Manuscribit, I ask that you only bring your own sketchbook to each lesson so that you can write, draw, doodle, or copy in whatever way you wish. You may also wish to obtain a Latin dictionary. You are free to download and print the lessons so you can tape it into your sketchbook, then jot notes all around it. This is what we do in school to create own “Latin books.”
Loquī means “to speak” in Latin, so let us begin and rēs ipsa loquitur! Let the fact (Loquī!) speak for itself!
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ŪNUS (oo-nus) One
First: Without looking at the vocabulary words which follow, read the conversation below, first silently, and then aloud.
COLLOQUIUM (ko-lo-kwee-um) conversation
Marcus, Lucas, Maria, et Anna sunt. Marcus et Lucas sunt puerī. Maria et Anna sunt puellae. Sunt amicī. Marcus appropinquat.
Marcus: Salvete!
Maria: Marcus est! Salve, Marcus! Quid agis, amicus?
Marcus: Nunc sum optimus, sed eram infirmus.
Maria: Anna quoque erat infirma.
Anna: Ita vērō. Sed nunc quoque sum melia. Quid agis, Lucas?
Lucas: Sum bonus, sed diēs est frigidus! Nōn est bonus!
Anna: Ō Lucas, diēs est serēnus, et sum laeta!
Marcus: Ō Anna, semper es puella laeta, sed hodiē quoque sum laetus.
Lucas: Et hodiē etiam sum frigidus! Valete, amici!
Anna, Marcus, et Maria: Vale, Lucas!
Do the following exercises without scrolling down to the vocabulary.
Exercise 1. Can you guess what this conversation is about? What words gave you hints and why? Write down your “translation” of each line.
Exercise 2. Where do the words “sum,” “sunt,” “eram,” “eras,” “est,” “es,” appear in the sentence? Highlight those words in the conversation. What English word does “sum” resemble? What about “est” or “es”? Can you guess what they mean? Jot your ideas down on the page.
Exercise 3. Which Latin words sound like English? Circle those words and write down what you think they mean in the spaces above them.
Exercise 4: Read the conversation once more. Did you notice that sometimes the same words have different endings? Why do you think that is so? Highlight those words that are the same with different endings. Do you notice that words describing females end in “a,” and those describing males end in “us”? Why do you think that is so?
Exercise 5: Now scroll down to this lesson’s vocabulary list. Read each of these words aloud, using the pronunciation guide in parentheses. Unlike in English, there are no “silent letters” in Latin. Every letter is pronounced. Repeat until you feel comfortable pronouncing the words, especially the greetings.
VOCĀBULĪ (voh-kah-boo-lee) vocabulary
Salūtis (sahl-oo-tis) greetings
Salve (sahl-veh) Hello (to only one person)
Salvete (sahl-veh-teh) Hello (to more than one person)
Quid agis? (Kwid a-jis?) How are you? (How are you doing?)
Vale (vah-leh) Good bye (to only one person)
Valete (vah-leh-teh) Good bye (to more than person)
Verbī (vair-bee) verbs
esse (es-seh) to be
sum (soom) I am
eram (air-ahm) I was
es you are
erās (air-auhs) you were
est he, she, it, there is
erat (air-aht) he, she, it, there was, used to be
sumus (soo-moos) we are
erāmus (air-auh-moos) we were, used to be
estis (es-tis) you (plural) are
erātis (air-auh-tis) you (plural) were, used to be
sunt (soont) they are, there are
erant (air-ahnt) they were, there were, used to be
Nomīna (nah-mee-nah) nouns
diēs (di-ays) day
hodiē (ho-di-ay) today
puella (poo-well-ah) girl
puellae (poo-well-ay) girls
puer (poo-air) boy
puerī (poo-air-ee) boys
amicus (ah-mi-koos) male friend
amica (ah-mi-ka) female friend
amicī (ah-mi-chee) male or mixed male/female friends
amicae (ah-mi-kay) female friends
Adiectivī (ad-yek-ti-vee) adjectives
bonus, -a, -um (bo-noos) good, fine
melius, -a, -um (meh-li-oos) better
optimus, -a, -um (ahp-ti-moos) great
malus, -a, -um (mah-loos) bad
infirmus, -a, -um (in-fir-moos) sick
laetus, -a, -um (lay-toos) happy
iratus, -a, -um (i-rah-toos) angry
defessus, -a, -um (deh-fess-oos) tired, exhausted
timidus, -a, -um (ti-mi-doos) afraid
frigidus, -a, -um (fri-ji-doos) cold
calidus, -a, -um (kah-li-doos) hot, warm
serēnus, -a, -um (sair-ay-noos) sunny, clear
Adverbī (ahd-vair-bee) adverbs
quoque (kwo-kweh) also
nunc (noonk) now
Ita vērō (i-ta-vay-row) Yes
Minimē (mini-may) No
semper always
nōn not
etiam (et-yahm) still, besides
Coniūnctiōnis (kon-yoonk-ti-oh-nis) conjunctions
et and
sed but
quod (kwohd) because
Exercise 6: Write the vocabulary words in your sketchbook. Think about how you would like to organize your words. Will you use different ink colors for different kinds of words? Use illustrations or doodles to help you remember their meanings. Handwriting or doodling is important because you better remember information if you handwrite it.
Exercise 7: Create a six-pack with the verb section. Separate them into singular and plural, present and past. See the example below of the present tense.
Do the same with the past tense verbs also, and eventually you will easily memorize them. Why do you think you will easily memorize them? You will us them very frequently, as you will see.
Exercise 8: Using the above vocabulary words, create a conversation. For now, it does not matter what order you place the words in a sentence. I just want you to start speaking in Latin. But you have an idea by referring back to what you’ve read already.
Dictī (dik-tee) sayings
“In principio erat Verbum…” In the beginning was the Word. John 1:1.
“Domine, non sum dignus.” Lord, I am not worthy – from the Canon of the Mass
“Cogito ergo sum.” I think, therefore, I am. Renē Descartes
What are your “light bulb” moments from this lesson? Are there some patterns that are emerging from your observations and reading? Jot them down, and in the next monthly lesson, to be posted by August 1, we will outline some of the touchstones—most important rules—of Latin, and continue loquī!
Until then, valete!
I love this! I am teaching Latin II this year to high schoolers and I may borrow some of these ideas because I want to incorporate a more immersive experience for them vs. just rote memorization! So glad I found your Substack!
Rural Ohio? Anywhere near Steubenville? We live in Central FL, but I've been looking for land outside of Steubenville in the WV panhandle.