Language, grammar and vocabulary questions
What this domain tests
The language paper tests accidence, including declensions, conjugations and principal parts, syntax such as cases, subjunctive and indirect statement, and vocabulary. Questions may ask you to parse, identify a construction or choose the correct form.
Core rules
- Learn principal parts in sets: capio, capere, cepi, captus; fero, ferre, tuli, latus; eo, ire, ii, itus.
- Know the five declensions and the conjugations, including mixed capio and irregular volo, nolo, malo, fio.
- Sequence of tenses: primary main verb takes present or perfect subjunctive; historic main verb takes imperfect or pluperfect.
- Case functions: nominative subject, accusative object, genitive possession, dative indirect object, ablative separation, means or absolute.
- Recognise indirect statement (accusative + infinitive), indirect question (subjunctive), purpose and result clauses.
Worked example
Rogavit quid faceremus.
- Rogavit = perfect indicative, a secondary tense.
- quid = interrogative pronoun introducing an indirect question.
- faceremus = imperfect subjunctive, first person plural, following sequence of tenses after a past main verb. Translation: 'He asked what we were doing' or 'what we should do'.
Traps
Using the present subjunctive after a past main verb; confusing cum temporal, causal and concessive; parsing cepit from capio as coepit ('began'); forgetting that deponent verbs have passive forms but active meaning.