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Free Latin courses online. Learn Latin from scratch! Latin for beginners tutorial

The course will provide you with the opportunity to touch the riches of the Latin language, which influenced the formation and development of several European ones, such as French, Italian, Spanish, English and others. Therefore, learning Latin will make it easier for you to master new foreign languages ​​in the future or open up unexpected facets in already known ones. Just like logic and mathematics, the practical skills of linguistic analysis of Latin texts will have a positive impact on any research activity.

The Latin language has long been the basis of scientific terminology in various branches of knowledge, and therefore is necessary for those who study jurisprudence, medicine, biology, philology, history, philosophy and other disciplines.

Since the Latin language today is not native to any nation, that is, it does not belong to the "living" ones, during the classes we will concentrate not on conversational practice, but on the translation and analysis of texts. The compilers of the course have made efforts to ensure that in the process of learning you learn to read, understand and translate with a dictionary both individual sentences and adapted prose texts. In the classroom, you will also master the ability to translate simple Russian sentences into Latin, which will help you better understand and consolidate the grammatical categories of the language being studied.

During the course, you will definitely get acquainted with the winged Latin expressions included in the treasury of world culture, as well as with the fate of Latin words in Russian and other European languages.

Requirements

Completed secondary education.

Course program

Introductory Lecture

I. 1. Alphabet. Reading Rules

2. Verb - general information. Basic forms, bases, personal endings of the active voice

3. Praesens indicativi activi. Imperativus praesentis activi. Prohibition forms

4. Noun - general information. Cases. first declension

5. Personal pronouns. reflexive pronoun

II 1. Second declension (masculine)

  1. 2. Second declension (neuter). neuter rule

3. Adjectives I-II declension. Possessive pronouns

4. Passive voice. Personal endings of the passive voice. Praesens indicativi passivi. Infinitivus praesentis passivi

5. Real and passive constructions. Ablativus auctoris. Ablativus instrumenti

III 1. Pronouns ille; iste; ipse

2. Imperfectum indicativi activi et passivi

3. The pronoun is, ea, id. Pronominal adjectives

4. Futurum primum indicativi acti et passivi

5. Prefixed verbs with “esse”

IV 1. Third declension: consonant type

2. Third declension: vowel type

3. Third declension: mixed type

3. Third declension: adjectives

4. Features of the third declension

5. Participium praesentis activi

V 1. Functions of the infinitive. Turnover Accusativus cum infinitivo (beginning)

2. Turn Nominativus cum infinitivo (beginning)

3. Perfectum indicativi activi

4. Participium perfecti passivi. Perfectum indicativi passivi

5. Pronouns qui, quae, quod

VI 1. Plusquamperfectum et futurum secundum indicativi activi et passivi.

2. Ablativus absolutus

3. Comparative degree of comparison of adjectives and adverbs. Ablativus comparisonis.

4. Superlative degree of comparison of adjectives. Genetivus partivus

5. Fourth declension

VII 1. Fifth declension

2. Pronoun hic, haec, hoc

3. Participium futuri activi. Infinitives

4. Turnover Accusativus cum infinitivo (continued)

5. Numerals

VIII 1. Gerundium

2. Gerundivum as a definition

3. Coniugatio periphrastica. Descriptive conjugation.

4. Irregular verbs - eo, fero

5. Irregular verbs - volo, nolo, malo

IX 1. Modus coniunctivus - formation of forms

2. Coniunctivus in independent clauses

3. Student anthem "Gaudeamus"

4. The rule for setting tenses in subordinate clauses with a subjunctive

5. Indirect question

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students will

Be able to:

1. Translate into Russian coherent adapted texts and individual sentences with a dictionary.

2. Translate simple sentences into Latin with a dictionary.

3. Use a Latin-Russian and Russian-Latin dictionary.

Know:

1. Fundamentals of Latin morphology.

2. Fundamentals of Latin syntax.

3. Fundamentals of grammatical terminology.

Own:

1. The skills of reading texts and setting stress.

2. Translation skills from Latin into Russian.

3. Translation skills from Russian into Latin.

Formed competencies

OK-1 - readiness for a critical understanding of the phenomena of social and cultural life; the ability to perceive, analyze, generalize information, set a goal and choose ways to achieve it

OK-2 - willingness to respect the historical heritage and cultural traditions, tolerantly perceive social and cultural differences

OK-3 - the ability to use basic knowledge in the field of humanitarian, social and economic sciences in cognitive and professional activities

OK-4 - possession of a culture of thinking, the ability to reasonably and clearly build oral and written speech

OK-5 - the ability to use computer skills in the social sphere, in cognitive and professional activities

PC-1 - the ability to demonstrate knowledge of the main provisions and concepts in the field of theory and history of literature (literatures) and the main language (languages) being studied, communication theory, philological analysis and text interpretation, understanding of the history, current state and prospects for the development of philology

PC-3 - possession of basic skills in collecting and analyzing literary and linguistic facts using traditional methods and modern information technologies

PC-6 - the ability to apply the acquired knowledge in the field of theory and history of literature (literatures) and the studied foreign language (languages), communication theory, philological analysis and text interpretation in their own research activities

PC-13 - proficiency in translating various types of texts (mainly scientific and journalistic) from a foreign language and into a foreign language; annotation and abstracting of scientific works and works of art in a foreign language

Despite the fact that it is considered dead, it is studied and used in many areas of human activity: jurisprudence, medicine, pharmacology, biology. The amount of knowledge a person needs depends on the scope and end goal, but in any case, you need to know the basics. In this article, we will consider the question of how the course "for beginners" looks like. The alphabet, grammar review, and practice tips are the bare minimum to help with self-study.

Alphabet and phonetics

How to start learning Latin? For beginners, it is important, first of all, to know the alphabet. It includes 24 letters. Based on research, their pronunciation is unified and close to the approximate pronunciation of the ancient Romans. Below is the transcription in Russian.

There are some features of their reading.

The vowel i is read as [and] and [th] before vowels, h - aspirated, l - softly like in French, y sounds like [and]. The letter c is read as [ц] before e, i, y, ae, oe or as [k] before a, o, u and at the end of words. S sounds like [h] between vowels, x - like [ks].

Diphthongs read like this:

  1. ae - [e]
  2. oe - [Ö]
  3. au - [au]
  4. eu - [eu]
  5. ch - [x]
  6. ngu - [ngv]
  7. ph - [f]
  8. qu - [kv]
  9. rh - [r]
  10. th - [t]
  11. ti - [ti]

stress

  • short (pronounced quickly) - ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, ŭ, y̆;
  • long (stretch during pronunciation) - ā, ē, ī, ō, ū, ȳ.

The syllables are:

  • open - end in a vowel;
  • closed - end in a consonant.

The stress is placed on the first syllable if the word is two-syllable (it is never placed on the last syllable). If the word consists of three or more syllables, then the stress is placed on the second syllable from the end if it is long, and on the third if it is short.

Grammar

The course "for beginners" assumes knowledge of the basics of grammar. In Latin, all parts of speech are divided into inflected numerals, pronouns) and invariable interjections).

When studying grammar on your own, you should study according to those manuals that have answers to exercises for self-examination. It is advisable to perform a large number of practical tasks, which will automate the skill of using grammatical structures, and, as a result, the material covered will be remembered for a long time.

Practice

When studying the alphabet and grammar, a passive vocabulary is gradually accumulated, which later needs to be activated when reading texts. At this stage, new words will appear, for the translation of which you will need an academic dictionary, for example, Big Latin-Russian. If you know English, you can buy Elementary Latin Dictionary and Oxford Latin Dictuonary. You also need to start your own dictionary and periodically repeat the words from it.

Reading is the final stage of the course "Latin for beginners". At this level, it is recommended to read such texts as:

  1. Fabulae Facilies.
  2. Latin Reader.
  3. De Viris Illustribus.
  4. The Latin Vulgate Bible.

Gradually, you need to complicate the tasks and move from simple reading to understanding without a dictionary. For this purpose, courses "Assimil", Schola Latina Universalis and forums for learners of Latin are suitable, where you can practice speaking and get advice if something is not clear.

Latin (or just Latin) for beginners and "from scratch" at the "European Education" school - training is conducted via Skype.

Two languages ​​have their roots in the history of European civilization - these are ancient Greek and Latin. They are also often referred to as classics.

The ancient Greek language was the most important factor in the development of European civilization in its various spheres. It was the Greeks who laid the foundation for philosophy, the basis for the natural and human sciences, gave direction to literature, and were the first to demonstrate complex socio-political ties and relationships. It was Greek that became the first European language to have its own written language. Ancient civilization begins in Greece, but then the Roman Empire picks up the baton. Rome brings further development to Western Europe, but Greek is no longer the language of civilization, but Latin.

The Latin language belongs to the Indo-European family (along with Greek, English, German and other Germanic languages), and later Romance languages ​​arise on its basis: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and others.

Latin was the language of live communication in the period from the 6th century BC. to VI n. e. One of the Italic peoples, Latini, was the first to use the Latin language. The Latins inhabited the central part of Italy - Latium (Latium). Starting from the VIII BC. e. Rome becomes their cultural and political center.

Throughout its thousand-year existence, the Latin language, like any other living language, has changed and replenished with new words and rules.

In the modern world, Latin is considered dead (i.e., it is no longer used for live communication).

Today, students of philological faculties, medical workers, lawyers, politicians, philosophers and representatives of some other professions need Latin. In addition, Latin terminology is taken as a basis by other languages, remaining in its original form or subject to certain changes. It should be noted that in mathematics, physics and other sciences, conventions are still used, which often serve as an abbreviation of Latin words. In biology, medicine, pharmacology, and today they use a single international Latin nomenclature. Along with Italian, Latin is the official language of the Vatican.

Since Roman science was built on the foundation of Greek, modern scientific terminology contains a significant Greco-Latin component.

Latin for beginners is a fairly broad concept, because its study has various goals. The teachers of our school will help you to clearly define the structure of the work and build a course that will be most focused on your goals and wishes. Even if the goal is the same for many, the paths to achieve it may be different. Since we are all different, we have different perceptions and understanding of the structure of the language, different memorization schemes, etc. The teacher tries to take into account the individual characteristics of each student when preparing for classes, which greatly facilitates the process of mastering a particular topic and the language as a whole. For example, if you are a student of the Faculty of Medicine, then topics such as Latin and the basics of medical terminology, Latin for physicians, Latin for studying pharmaceutical terminology, a brief anatomical dictionary, Latin terminology in the course of human anatomy, etc. d.

Each profession has its own programs and topics for study, which can be changed and supplemented in accordance with the wishes of the student.

It is better to study Latin for beginners for an hour and a half, and on days when you do not have classes, consolidate the material with shorter approaches. On weekends, you can devote a little more time to learning Latin. It should be remembered that working with a teacher is only part of the journey. To achieve the result, you need to put a lot of effort and independent work.

Latin phonetics is quite simple as it is based on the letters we are all familiar with (the Latin alphabet is the basis for almost all European languages). For beginners, it is more difficult to master the rules of reading in Latin. If you want to learn how to understand the language, and not just learn a couple of Latin proverbs and phrases, you need to master the grammar. Understanding the meaning of Latin texts is simply impossible without knowledge of grammar. The fact is that conjugation and other transformations of parts of speech occur according to certain rules, therefore, at the initial stages, textbooks often contain explanations and footnotes to texts to facilitate understanding and perception of the meaning of what is read.

It should also be remembered that the Latin course for beginners is not aimed at mastering spoken Latin (since Latin has not been used in colloquial speech for a very long time). A beginner's Latin course will help you master the grammar and vocabulary needed in your field.

WikiHow is a wiki, which means that many of our articles are written by multiple authors. When creating this article, 15 people worked on editing and improving it, including anonymously.

You can learn Latin on your own if you approach this issue correctly. All you need is a set of the right textbooks, doing the exercises, and practicing Latin writing. It is likely that your family and friends will not be able to speak to you in Latin, but the practice of speaking the language will help you improve your knowledge of Latin in general. If you try, you can speak Latin as well as the Pope, and in no time at all.

Steps

  1. Get a beginner's book with lots of exercises and answers. Answers are important because there is no one to check you.

    • Wheelock's Latin is a widely known answer book. This is perhaps the best choice for self-study. The book contains a huge number of exercises, as well as groups for learning on the Internet.
    • There are several public books with answers, for example:
      • Choosing the right dictionary is important for what you will be reading. If you are interested in Classical Latin, use Elementary Latin Dictionary or Oxford Latin Dictionary if you can buy it. If you are interested in late Latin, medieval, renaissance and neo-Latin, you are better off using the Lewis and Short's Latin Dictionary, although it is expensive. Otherwise, you will have to use Cassell, which is not very useful and not small in size. Unfortunately, choosing the right and inexpensive dictionary will not be easy.If you understand French, then the dictionary Grand Gaffiot would be a good choice.
      • While you are still learning from a textbook, you will have to memorize a lot: declensions, conjugations, vocabulary. There is no shortcut. In this case, your morale is very important.
      • Latin is a language with a poor vocabulary, in other words, one word can have several meanings. This also means that there are many idioms in Latin that you will also have to memorize. You will get to the point where you understand every word, but the meaning of the sentence as a whole will not be clear to you. This is because you think about the meaning of each word individually. For example, the expression hominem e medio tollere means "to kill a person", but if you do not know this phrase, then it literally translates to "remove a person from the center."
      • Avoid poetry while you're still learning prose. You would not recommend reading Shakespeare to someone who is learning English without being able to read a newspaper yet. The same applies to the Latin language.
      • Learn words. Carry a list of words or flashcards with you to look up in the bus, restroom, or anywhere else.
      • Write in Latin. Even if you want to learn how to read, don't skip the English-to-Latin translation exercise.
      • Do not hurry. One session every few days is enough. If you are in a hurry, you will not have time to remember the information you need. On the other hand, don't hesitate. Try to exercise at least once a week.
      • If your answers don't match those of the tutorial, chances are you're missing something. Get back to work and reread.

CASE SYSTEM OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE
NOUNS OF THE FIRST declension
VERB "TO BE"

In Latin, as in Russian, nouns differ in numbers and cases. These cases are as follows:

Nominativus - nominative
Genetivus - Genitive
Dativus - Dative
Accusativus - Accusative
Ablativus - Deferral
Vocativus - Vocal

The first four cases of Latin generally correspond to the first four cases of Latin. Special mention should be made of the last two. The deferred case (Ablatīvus) corresponds to the Russian instrumental case, the Russian prepositional case, and, in addition, is the reverse case of the dative. If the dative case answers questions to whom? why ?, then the deferred case - to questions from whom? from what? where?
The vocative case (Vocatīvus) does not answer any question. This case form is taken by nouns in the position of address. Vocatīvus is translated into modern Russian in the nominative case. In the Old Russian language, the forms “God”, “prince”, “friend”, “father”, “starche”, etc. corresponded to it.
All nouns of the Latin language are distributed among five declensions. A declension is a group of nouns that have the same set of endings. The first declension includes nouns ending in the nominative singular in -a. Almost all of them are feminine, and only a few exceptions, a list of which will be given below, are masculine.
Consider this declension using the example of the noun ancilla - “slave, maid”.

Singularis - Singular Pluralis - Plural

N. ancīlla - servant ancīllae - servants
G. ancīllae - servants ancīllārum - servants
D. ancīllae - maid ancillis - maids
Ac. ancillam - maid ancillas - maids
Ab. ancillā - maidservant ancillis - maidservants
V. ancilla - maid! ancillae - servants!

Conjugation of the verb "to be" in the present tense

In Latin, unlike Russian, it is impossible to construct a sentence without a verb. If in Russian we can say "Peter is a judge", then in Latin - only Petrus est judex, that is, "Peter is a judge." The verb "to be" is conjugated in the present tense as follows.

esse - to be

sum - I am sumus - we are
es - you are estis - you are
est - he, she, it is sunt - they are

Exercise I
Decline the following nouns:

Vita - "life", terra - "earth", aqua - "water", familia - "family", schola - "school", victoria - "victory", insŭla - "island", via - "road", bestia - "beast, animal", silva - "forest", injuria - "insult, injustice".

Exercise II
Translate the sentences into Russian. Transcribe them in Russian letters.

1) Terra est sphaera. 2) Jurisprudentia est schola vitae. 3) Illae puellae sunt amīcae. 4) Illae puellae sunt disciplae scholae nostrae. 5) In silvis patriae nostrae sunt bestiae. 6) Vita bestiarum non longa est. 7) Sumus incŏlae insǔlae. 8) Incŏlae insulārum quoque estis.

amīca (f) - girlfriend
bestia (f) - animal, beast
discipŭla (f) - student
illae (f) - these
in - in
incŏla (m, f) - resident, resident
insŭla (f) - island
jurisprudentia (f) - jurisprudence
longa - long, long nostra - ours
patria (f) - homeland
puella (f) - girl
quoque - too, also
schola (f) - school
sphaera (f) - ball, sphere
silva (f) - forest
terra (f) - earth
vita (f) - life

Exercise III
From exercises I and II write out the words:
a) borrowed by the Russian language without changing the meaning;
b) borrowed by the Russian language with a change in meaning;
c) borrowed by the foreign language you are studying without changing the meaning;
d) borrowed by the foreign language you are studying with a change in meaning.