This is my study note of Wheelock’s Latin (7th edition).

For typing convention, I’ll use ~ to indicate a long vowel, e.g. fortu~nam = fortūnam

Bonam fortu~nam (good luck)

In Latin, the inflection of a verb (verbum) is decided with the following characteristics:

  1. Person (perso~na): who performs / receives the action, from the speaker’s POV.
  2. Number (numerus): how many subjects. Latin has only singular and plural, unlike some other Indo-European languages that have dual (e.g. Sanskrit)
  3. Tense (tempus): there are 6 tenses in Latin, they are Present, Future, Imperfect, Perfect, Future Perfect, and Pluperfect (past perfect)
  4. Mood (modus - manner): Indicative (直陈式), Imperative (命令式), and Subjunctive (虚拟式)
  5. Voice (vox): Active / Passive

The personal ending is simple:

Person Singular Plural
1st -o~ or -m -mus
2nd -s -tis
3rd -t -nt

Present Active Infinitive and Present Stem

The Stem of a verb indicates the conjugation group that the verb belongs to, e.g.:

  • lauda~re, -a~re indicates that lauda~re as first conjugation
  • mone~re, -e~re indicates that mone~re as second conjugation

in which, -a~- and -e~- are both stem vowels.

Dropping the -re of an infinitive results in a present stem, e.g.:

  • lauda~-
  • mone~-

and by adding the personal ending to the present stems, we have the verbs in present tense, e.g.:

  • lauda~s - (you) praise
  • mone~mus - (we) advise

Vowels that are normally long become short in the cases:

  • It is followed by another vowel, e.g.: moneo~ instead of mone~o~
  • Followed by -m, -r, and -t at the end of the word, e.g.: laudat instead of lauda~t
  • Followed by -nt / -nd in any position of the word, e.g.: laudant instead of lauda~nt

In first, conjugation, the first person singular ending removes the -a~-, e.g.: laudo~ but not lauda~o~.

Present Active Imperative

This mood is used to give command, and exists only in second person.

The singular is identical to the present stem of a verb, while the plural has a -t as suffix.

e.g.: lauda~, lauda~te; mone~, mone~te

Adverbs (adverbium)

In Latin, an adverb modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb, and it goes before the word it modifies, e.g.:

  • No~n valet. (She / He is not well)
  • Me~ saepe laudant. (They often praise me)
  • Me~ no~n saepe mone~s. (You do not often advise me)

Vocabulary (Voca~bvla)

  • me~ : pron. me, myself
  • quid : pron. what - in French: que, quoi, in Italian: che
  • nihil : noun. nothing
  • no~n : adv. not
  • saepe : adv. often
  • si~ : conj. if - in French: si, in Italian: se
  • amo~, ama~re, ama~vi~, ama~tum : to love, like
    • ama~bo~ te~ : please (I’ll love you)
  • co~gito~, co~gita~re, co~gita~vi~, co~gita~tum : to think, ponder, plan
  • de~beo~, be~be~re, de~bui~, de~bitum : to owe, ought, must, should
  • do~, dare, dedi~, datum : to give, offer
  • erro~, erra~re, erra~vi~, erra~tum : to wander, err, go astray, make a mistake, be mistaken
  • laudo~, lauda~re, lauda~ri~, lauda~tum : to praise - in French: louer, in Italian: laudare / lodare
  • moneo~, mone~re, monui~, monitum : to remind, advise, warn
  • salveo~, salve~re : to be well
    • salve~, salve~te : hello, greetings
  • servo~, serva~re, serva~vi~, serva~tum : to preserve, keep, guard
  • co~nservo~, co~nserva~re, co~nserva~vi~, co~nserva~tum : (stronger than serva~re) to preserve, conserve, maintain - in French: conserver, in Italian: conservare
  • terreo~, terre~re, terrui~, territum : to frighten, terrify
  • valeo~, vale~re, valui~, valitu~rum : to be strong, have power, be well - in French: valoir, in Italian: valere
    • vale~ / vale~te : good bye, farewell
  • video~, vide~re, vi~di~, vi~sum : to see, observe, understand - in French: voir, in Italian: vedere
  • voco~, voca~re, voca~vi~, voca~tum : to call, summon