MATSEC SEC Latin cheat sheet

Latin Language and Literature (SEC Syllabus): Core Reference

• Noun declensions: 1st = -a/-ae (mostly feminine, but agricola, nauta, poeta are masculine); 2nd = -us/-er, -um (masculine and neuter); 3rd = variable stem, genitive -is; 4th = -us/-ūs, -u/-ūs; 5th = -es/-ei, mostly feminine except dies and meridies.

• Case functions: nominative = subject and complement; vocative = address; accusative = direct object, motion towards (in + acc.), duration of time; genitive = possession, partitive, objective/subjective, value; dative = indirect object, advantage/disadvantage, possession with esse, agent with passive gerundive; ablative = means, manner, accompaniment (cum), separation, comparison, absolute, place where (in + abl.), time when.

• Verb conjugations by present infinitive: 1st -āre, 2nd -ēre, 3rd -ere, 4th -īre; mixed 3rd/4th (capio) takes -iō present stem but -ere infinitive. Principal parts give present, infinitive, perfect, supine: amō, amāre, amāvī, amātum.

• Sequence of tenses: primary sequence (present, future, future perfect main verb) takes present or perfect subjunctive in the subordinate clause; historic sequence (imperfect, perfect, pluperfect main verb) takes imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive.

• Subjunctive uses to identify: purpose (ut/ne + subj.), result (ut/ut non after tam, ita, tantus), indirect command (imperō ut), indirect question (interrogative word + subj.), cum clauses (cum + impf./pluperf. subj. = 'when/since/although'), conditional sentences (si + subj.), fearing clauses (timeō ne/ut).

• Ablative absolute = noun/pronoun + participle or adjective in the ablative, grammatically independent of the main clause; translate with 'with/after/when/since/although'. Distinguish from passive ablative of agent (ā/ab + person).

• Participles: present active (-ns, -ntis) = simultaneous action; perfect passive (-tus, -a, -um) = prior action, translated 'having been X'; future active (-tūrus) = about to X; future passive (gerundive -ndus) = obligation ('must be X').

• Irregular verbs to memorise fully: sum, possum, volō, nōlō, mālō, eō, ferō, fīō; deponent verbs (hortor, sequor, loquor, proficīscor) are passive in form but active in meaning.

• Literary set texts: identify author, work, genre and metre; dactylic hexameter for epic (Vergil, Aeneid; Ovid, Metamorphoses), elegiac couplet for love elegy (Catullus, Propertius, Ovid, Amores), hendecasyllables for Catullus's shorter poems, iambic senarii and trochaic septenarii for Roman comedy (Plautus, Terence).