1A – Grammar (6 min video)

Transcript

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Okay, we’re back and we’re getting into the lesson. We’re getting into Latin, actually. No more concepts, no more talking about what Latin’s gonna do for you. Let’s get started. We’re gonna start with a verb, an important verb. I’m not gonna say the most important verb, but it’s way up there. This is the verb “to be” in English. Now, if I were to conjugate that in English, and when I say “conjugate,” what I mean is I take that verb and I attach all the pronouns to it that we use all the time. Let me give an example. If I say we’re going to conjugate the verb “to be,” this is what it would sound like. I am, you are, he/she/her/it is, we are, you all are, or they are. That’s an English verb conjugated in a very simple form. Present tense, we’ll talk about that much later. In Latin, that same verb is sum, S-U-M, sum. When we conjugate it, this is how it’s going to sound. es, est, sumus, estis, sunt. Now, we’ll talk about sum and es, sumus and estis later. Not a whole lot later, but later. They are going to take a back seat because we’re going to talk about est and sunt today. These are two of probably the easiest verbs to begin using immediately. Now this verb, before we go on in Latin, this verb in English and in Latin, I guess, it doesn’t matter, this verb is the verb that shows existence or state of being. You may have heard your English teachers talk about that, may have come up with that in English or literature class. This is the state of being or state of existence. So you’re not doing anything with this verb. You’re just saying “Here I am.” All right, let’s use it in some sentences. “Est” translates into English as “is”. “Suit” is “are”. So, I have some sentences here on the board. “Britannia est insula”. “Britannia” is the name, the ancient name for Britain. It’s almost the same. “Britannia est insula”. Since I’ve told you that it’s Britain or England we’re talking about, you can probably figure out what the word “insula” means. It’s island. Britannia, est, insula. See how easy that is? It’s a breeze. Britain is an island. That’s easy. By the way, insula is where we get the English word peninsula. Pine, in Latin, means almost. So, Pine Island, peninsula, almost an island. Florida is a peninsula. Italy is a peninsula. Look at the next sentence. Silva, est, magna. Silva means forest. ‘Magna’ means ‘big’, that’s where we get ‘magnificent’. ‘Silva’, by the way, is where we get the word ‘Pennsylvania’, which means ‘Penn’s woods’. If you know the story of Pennsylvania, you know what I’m talking about. ‘Silva est magna’ ‘easy’ ‘the forest is big’ ‘very easy’ The next sentence, ‘Puella est bella’ ‘Puella’ means ‘girl’, I think we’ve had that one before. ‘Est’ means “Is” and “Bella” means “beautiful,” so the girl is beautiful. “Easy.” “Est” means “is.” In the plural, “est” turns into “sunt,” and now it means “are.” So, if we take these same sentences and move them around a little bit, we’re going to change “Britannia.” We’re going to add a friend for “Britannia,” and we’re going to say, “Britannia et Madagascar.” “Et,” you see on the screen, means “and.” Britannia et Madagascar sunt insulay. We’ll talk later about why I changed it from insulay to insulay. Talk about that another time. Silva est magna, that’s singular. Let’s change it. Let’s add some– let’s add another word in there. So silva et insula. Now we have two words, so we have to have the singular verb to go with our singular subject. I’m sorry. I was all wrong, kids. we have to have a plural verb to go with our plural subject because we have silva et insula. So silva et insula sunt magne. They are big. Puella et mater, the girl and her mom, sunt belle. They are beautiful. Est means is, sunt means are. Very easy to use. Now, to turn these into questions, also very simple, All you do is take the little word, or the little ending, “ne,” this is inflection again, remember we talked about that, add “ne” to either of those words, and then take those words and move them to the front of the sentence. So “est ne” is– I could say, “Est ne Bretagne insula?” Is Britain an island? Yeah, Bretagne est insula. “Est ne Silva magna?” Is the forest big? Silva est magna. “¿Es ne puella bella?” Is the girl beautiful? “Ita.” Yes. “Ita.” Yes. “Puella est bella.” You can do the same thing with “sunt.” Take “ne,” slam it into the end of “sunt,” move it to the front of the sentence, and ask the question. “¿Sunt ne Britannia et Madagascar insule?” Are they islands? Yes. “¿Sunt ne Britannia et Madagascar puelle?” Are they girls? No. Sutt ne sylva et insula magne are the forest and the island. Big. Itä. They are. Sutt ne puella et matter bella are the mom and the girl. Beautiful. Itä. Sutt belle. They are beautiful. Easy verbs to use. We’re going to use them from now on. And from now on, do not forget them.