Državna Matura Latin cheat sheet

Five declensions: 1st -a (fem.), 2nd -us/-er/-um (masc./neut.), 3rd consonant/i-stem (m./f./n.), 4th -us/-u (m./n.), 5th -es (fem., mostly).

Case endings (1st decl.): nom. -a, gen. -ae, dat. -ae, acc. -am, abl. -ā, voc. -a, pl. nom. -ae, gen. -ārum, dat./abl. -īs, acc. -ās.

3rd decl. i-stem markers: gen. pl. -ium, abl. sg. -ī, neut. nom./acc. pl. -ia; e.g., cīvis, cīvis, gen. pl. cīvium.

Verb principal parts: present, infinitive, perfect, supine (e.g., amō, amāre, amāvī, amātum). Conjugations: 1 -āre, 2 -ēre, 3 -ere, 4 -īre; 3rd -iō (capere) mixed.

Present stem tenses (present, imperfect, future) built from infinitive minus -re; perfect stem (perfect, pluperfect, future perfect) from 3rd principal part.

Personal endings active: -ō/-m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt; passive: -or/-r, -ris, -tur, -mur, -minī, -ntur.

Irregular verbs: sum, esse, fuī (posse, potuī); ferō, ferre, tulī, lātum; eō, īre, iī, itum; volō, velle, voluī; nōlō, nōlle, nōluī; mālō, mālle, māluī.

Pronouns: is/ea/id (gen. eius, dat. eī); hic/haec/hoc; ille/illa/illud; ipse/ipsa/ipsum; relative quī/quae/quod; interrogative quis/quid.

Comparative/superlative: -ior/-ius, -issimus/-a/-um; irregular bonus→melior→optimus, malus→peior→pessimus, magnus→maior→maximus, parvus→minor→minimus.

Case functions: nominative subject/predicate noun; genitive possession/partitive/objective; dative indirect object/possession with esse; accusative direct object/extent/duration; ablative means/agent (with ā/ab)/manner (with cum)/absolute.

Ablative absolute = noun/pronoun + participle or adjective in ablative, grammatically independent: Urbe captā, cīvēs fūgērunt.

Cum clauses: cum + indicative = temporal ('when'); cum + subjunctive = circumstantial ('since/although') or narrative cum ('when', historic).

Purpose clauses: ut/nē + subjunctive; negative nē; introduced by ut/quo (with comparatives). Result clauses: ut/nē + subjunctive, often with tam, ita, tantus, adeō.

Indirect questions: subjunctive after interrogative words (quis, quid, ubi, cur, num, -ne); sequence of tenses applies.

Sequence of tenses: primary (present, future, future perfect, imperative) → present/perfect subjunctive; secondary (imperfect, perfect, pluperfect) → imperfect/pluperfect subjunctive.

Indirect statement (accusative + infinitive): dīcit eum venīre (present), dīxit eum vēnisse (perfect), dīxit eum ventūrum esse (future).

Fear clauses: timeō nē + subjunctive = 'I fear that'; timeō ut/nē nōn = 'I fear that not'.

Conditions: sī + present indicative (real); sī + imperfect subjunctive (contrary to fact present); sī + pluperfect subjunctive (contrary to fact past).

High-frequency exam words: rēs (thing, matter, state), causa (cause, reason, case), genus (kind, race), animus (mind, spirit), imperium (power, command), virtūs (courage, virtue).

Polysemy: caput = head / leader / capital; manus = hand / band / power; lēx = law / condition / contract; signum = sign / standard / signal.

Verbs with multiple senses: cōnstituō (decide, station, establish), cōgō (collect, compel), reddō (return, render, give up), gerō (carry, wage, manage).

Semantic fields: bellum–pāx, socius–hostis, dux–mīles, senātus–populus, patrēs–plēbs; use context to choose between near-synonyms.

Prepositional semantics: in + abl. = place where / time when; in + acc. = place to which / purpose; ad + acc. = to, toward, for; ab + abl. = from, by (agent).

Idioms: bellum gerere (wage war), cōnsilium capere (form a plan), castra movēre (break camp), mōrem gerere (obey), ūsū venīre (happen).

Derivatives aid recall: fortis→fortitude, lēx→legislate, mīles→military, pater→paternal, urbs→urban, rēx→regal.

Distinguish: venia (favour/pardon) vs. vēnia (same); sōlus (alone) vs. sōlum (only); quidem (indeed) vs. quidam (a certain).

Greek loanwords in Latin: philosophia, schola, theatrum, historia; often retain Greek declension forms (e.g., philosophia, -ae).

Step 1: identify finite verbs and their subjects; mark clause boundaries before translating.

Step 2: resolve case/number/gender of each noun and agreement with adjectives/participles; flag ambiguous forms (e.g., -ae gen./dat. sg. or nom. pl.).

Step 3: translate ablative absolute first as a dependent clause ('kad je..., nakon što je...').

Step 4: render accusative+infinitive as 'da + present/perfect/future' in Croatian, preserving tense relation.

Step 5: keep Latin word order only when Croatian allows; otherwise reorder to Croatian SVO.

Step 6: translate particles: enim (naime), autem (pak/međutim), tamen (ipak), igitur (dakle), quidem (doduše).

Step 7: check numerals and dates: ab Urbe conditā = 753 BC; AUC year N = 753 − N BC (for N ≤ 753).

Step 8: preserve proper names in Croatian standard forms (Ciceron, Cezar, Pompej, Atena, Rim).

Step 9: final pass: verify subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, and that no Latin word is left untranslated.

Skim for proper names, numbers, and connectives (sed, autem, igitur, postquam) to map narrative structure.

Identify the main verb of each sentence; subordinate clauses are marked by ut, cum, quod, quia, dum, postquam, ubi, sī, nisi.

Locate the topic sentence: first sentence of a Latin prose passage usually states subject and action.

Track pronoun reference: is, ille, hic, ipse, quī often refer to the last-mentioned masculine/feminine noun; confirm by gender/number.

Historic present (e.g., dīcit, venit) is translated as past in Croatian narrative; do not shift to present tense.

Recognise rhetorical questions (quid? quō usque?) and exclamations (ō, quam, quantus) as emphasis, not literal questions.

Inference questions: answer only from stated or directly implied text; reject options adding outside historical facts.

Vocabulary in context: use surrounding words to disambiguate polysemous terms (e.g., imperium = command vs. empire).

Summary items: match each option to a specific sentence; the correct summary covers the whole passage, not one detail.

Founding: 753 BC (traditional, Romulus); Republic 509 BC; Empire begins 27 BC with Augustus; Western Empire falls AD 476.

Political offices (cursus honorum): quaestor → aedile → praetor → consul → censor/dictator; tribune of the plebs sacrosanct.

Senate ~300 (Sulla to 600, Caesar to 900); comitia centuriata elects consuls; comitia tributa passes laws.

Daily life: domus with atrium, tablinum, peristylium; insulae (apartment blocks); thermopolia (fast-food counters).

Roman day: clientela (morning salutatio), forum business, cena (main meal) in late afternoon; staple foods: bread, olive oil, garum, wine.

Baths (thermae): apodyterium, tepidarium, caldarium, frigidarium, palaestra; public baths central to social life.

Religion: state cult with pontifex maximus; Vestal Virgins; domestic Lares and Penates; imperial cult from Augustus.

Army: legions (~5,000 men) + auxilia; equipment: gladius, scutum, lorica segmentata, pilum; camp (castra) standardised.

Literature periods: Republican (Cicero, Caesar, Catullus), Augustan (Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Livy), Silver (Seneca, Tacitus, Juvenal).

Vergil, Aeneid: 12 books, dactylic hexameter; themes: pietas, fatum, founding of Rome; Aeneas flees Troy, reaches Latium.

Cicero, In Catilinam I: opening 'Quō usque tandem...'; rhetorical questions, apostrophe, anaphora; delivered 63 BC.

Caesar, De Bello Gallico: third-person narrative (commentarii), clear periodic style; opening 'Gallia est omnis dīvīsa in partēs trēs'.

Sallust, Bellum Catilinae / Bellum Iugurthinum: moralising proems, archaisms, asymdetic style.

Ovid, Metamorphoses: 15 books, hexameter; themes of transformation; also Ars Amatoria, Fasti.

Horace, Carmina (Odes): lyric metres (Alcaic, Sapphic); themes: carpe diem, aurea mediocritas, Roman virtues.

Livy, Ab Urbe Condita: 142 books, preface on moral decline; sources include annalists; style varied and rhetorical.

Seneca, Epistulae morales: Stoic letters to Lucilius; concise sententiae; also tragedies (Phaedra, Medea).

Tacitus, Annales/Historiae: dense, ironic style; Germania ethnographic excursus; Agricola biography.