MATSEC SEC Latin key terms

A grammatical category of a Latin noun, pronoun, or adjective that shows its role in the sentence, such as subject, object, possession, or address.

The case used for the subject of a verb and for the complement after linking verbs like sum; it also names the entry form of nouns in dictionaries.

The case marking the direct object of a verb; it also follows many prepositions such as ad, in (with motion), and per.

The case expressing possession or close relationship, often translated with 'of'; it also gives the stem for declining most nouns.

The case of the indirect object, marking the person or thing to or for whom an action is done; it also follows certain verbs and adjectives.

A case used for separation, means, manner, and agent, and after many prepositions such as ab, cum, ex, and in (with place).

The case used when addressing someone directly, as in 'Marcus, come here'; it usually looks the same as the nominative except in second-declension -us nouns.

A family of nouns sharing the same set of case endings; Latin has five, grouped by the genitive singular ending.

A family of verbs sharing the same set of personal endings and stem vowels; Latin verbs fall into four main conjugations.

The four forms of a Latin verb listed in a dictionary: first person singular present, infinitive, first person singular perfect, and supine, from which all tenses are built.

The tense describing action happening now or habitually; its endings also serve as the base for forming other tenses such as the imperfect.

A past tense describing ongoing, repeated, or attempted action, usually translated 'was doing' or 'used to do'.

A past tense describing a completed action, usually translated 'did' or 'has done'; its stem comes from the third principal part.

A past tense describing an action completed before another past action, usually translated 'had done'.

The verb form where the subject receives the action rather than performing it, as in 'the letter was written'; Latin changes endings to show this.

The verb form where the subject performs the action, as in 'the farmer ploughs the field'; this is the most common voice in Latin prose.

A verb with passive endings but active meaning, such as loquor ('I speak'); it has no separate active forms.

A verbal adjective that shares features of both verb and adjective; the present active and perfect passive are the most common types in set texts.

A phrase made of a noun and a participle in the ablative case, grammatically separate from the main clause and translated as 'with... having been...' or a subordinate clause.

The non-finite verb form ending in -re or -isse in Latin, used after verbs like possum and in indirect statement.

Reported speech or thought using an accusative subject and infinitive verb, introduced by verbs like dico or puto.

A subordinate clause expressing an aim, introduced by ut or ne and containing a verb in the present or imperfect subjunctive.

A subordinate clause showing a consequence, introduced by ut or ut non and usually signalled in the main clause by words like tam or tantus.

A verb mood expressing possibility, wish, command, or dependency; in Latin it appears in purpose, result, and indirect question clauses.

A reported question introduced by a verb of asking and containing a question word plus a subjunctive verb, as in 'he asked where you were going'.

Describing a verb that takes a direct object in the accusative, such as amo ('I love'); intransitive verbs take no direct object.

The metre of epic poetry such as Virgil's Aeneid, built from six feet of dactyls and spondees with a fixed cadence in the last foot.

A two-line metre pairing a dactylic hexameter with a pentameter, used by poets such as Ovid and Catullus for love elegy and epigrams.

The process of marking a line of verse into metrical feet and long or short syllables to show its rhythm.

A long narrative poem on heroic themes, of which Virgil's Aeneid is the central Latin example studied at SEC level.

Virgil's twelve-book epic about Aeneas's journey from Troy to Italy and the founding of the Roman line; a standard set text.

A poem in elegiac couplets, often on love, loss, or exile; Ovid's Amores and Tristia are common SEC selections.

The writing of history as a literary genre; in Latin, authors such as Livy, Sallust, and Tacitus shape narrative with speeches and moral judgement.

The art of persuasive speech and writing, central to Roman education and visible in Cicero's orations and in historians' invented speeches.

Roman orator, politician, and prose stylist of the first century BC, whose speeches and letters are frequent set texts for prose study.

Roman historian of the Augustan age who wrote Ab Urbe Condita, a history of Rome from its foundation in 142 books.

Roman poet of the Augustan age known for the Metamorphoses, the Amores, and the exile poems; widely set for both verse and comprehension.

A short, pointed statement or maxim, often closing a rhetorical period; recognising one helps in translation and literary comment.