National Latin Exam (NLE) key terms

A Latin participial phrase made up of a noun and a participle, both in the ablative case, that stands apart from the main clause and expresses circumstance such as time, cause, or condition.

The Latin case used chiefly for separation, means or instrument, manner, agent with a passive verb, and location; it also supplies the noun in absolute phrases and in many prepositions.

The Latin case that marks the direct object of a transitive verb and the object of prepositions expressing motion toward or extent; it also serves as subject of an infinitive in indirect statement.

The Latin case expressing the indirect object, the person interested or advantaged, and possession with esse; certain verbs and compound adjectives take it as their required complement.

The Latin case used mainly to show possession, partitive关系, and quality; it supplies the object of verbs of remembering and forgetting and depends on many adjectives.

A construction in which a verb of saying, thinking, or perceiving introduces an infinitive with an accusative subject, translating with 'that' plus a clause in English.

A subordinate clause expressing the aim of an action, introduced by ut or ne with a present or imperfect subjunctive; it answers the question 'in order that' or 'so that not'.

A subordinate clause introduced by ut or ut non with a subjunctive verb, expressing a consequence; it is often signaled in the main clause by words such as tam, ita, tantus, or sic.

The Latin verb mood of hypothetical, potential, hortatory, and subordinate uses; its forms are built on a shifted stem vowel and appear in purpose, result, cum, and indirect question clauses.

A subordinate clause reporting an unanswered question, introduced by an interrogative word and taking a subjunctive verb; English renders it with a normal statement word order.

A verbal adjective that shares tense and voice with a verb while declining like an adjective; Latin has present active, perfect passive, and future active and passive forms.

A future passive participle declining like an adjective, expressing obligation or fitness, as in 'delenda est Carthago'; it also appears in place of a gerund with a direct object.

The non-finite verb form ending in -re, -ri, or -sse that names an action without person or number; it completes many verbs and supplies the verb of indirect statement.

A Latin verb with passive-looking forms but active meaning, such as loqui, sequi, or proficisci; its participles may still carry either active or passive force depending on tense.

The verb form showing that the subject receives the action rather than performs it; Latin expresses personal agent with a or ab plus the ablative case.

An uninflected word governing a noun in the accusative or ablative case; most prepositions of place and motion take the accusative, while those of separation and position take the ablative.

A pronoun used to ask a question, such as quis, quid, or qualis; it introduces both direct questions and indirect questions with a subjunctive verb.

The pronoun qui, quae, quod that begins a subordinate clause and agrees with its antecedent in gender and number while taking its own case from its clause.

A genitive naming the whole of which a part is meant, used with words like pars, satis, and plus, or with comparative and superlative adjectives.

The person or thing for or to whom an action is done, expressed in Latin by the dative case without a preposition and often paired with a verb of giving, showing, or telling.

The four forms of a Latin verb, such as amo, amare, amavi, amatus, that supply the present, infinitive, perfect, and supine stems needed to build all tenses and verbal nouns.

One of the four regular families of Latin verbs, distinguished by the stem vowel of the infinitive, plus the irregular verb esse and its compounds.

One of the five regular patterns of Latin noun endings, identified by the genitive singular form and determining how a noun shows case, number, and gender.

The final letters of a Latin noun, pronoun, or adjective that signal its grammatical case, number, and often gender, allowing flexible word order in a sentence.

A subordinate clause introduced by cum; with the indicative it usually means 'when', while with the subjunctive it may mean 'since', 'although', or 'when' depending on context.

The verb mood used for direct commands; Latin has singular and plural active forms, and passive forms such as the future imperative appear in legal and formal writing.

A verbal noun with only accusative and ablative forms, used after verbs of motion to express purpose and after certain adjectives to show respect or specification.

A verbal noun declining in the neuter singular, used in oblique cases to express the idea of an action; it often takes an object in the accusative.

The construction of a gerundive with a form of esse, expressing necessity or obligation; the person who must act appears in the dative case.

A use of the subjunctive expressing a wish, often introduced by utinam; present tense wishes for the future, imperfect for the unattainable present, and pluperfect for the past.

An accusative noun of the same root as the verb it follows, such as pugnam pugnare, used to intensify or specify the action rather than to name a separate object.

The pairing of a dative of purpose with a dative of reference or advantage, as in 'magno usui esse', meaning 'to be of great use to someone'.

The study of a word's origin and development; for Latin candidates, tracing English words such as 'aquatic' or 'paternal' back to Latin roots is a core derivative skill.

An English word formed from a Latin root or affix, such as 'audible' from audire or 'benevolent' from bene plus velle; recognizing these links is a standard NLE vocabulary task.

An element attached before a Latin or English root that modifies its meaning, such as in-, re-, sub-, or trans-; these often correspond to Latin prepositions.

An element added to the end of a word to form a new word or change its part of speech, such as -tion, -ous, or -ment in English words drawn from Latin.

A word in another language that shares an origin with a Latin word, such as English 'mother' and Latin mater, or 'three' and tres; these reveal shared Indo-European roots.

The ability to infer an unfamiliar Latin word's meaning from context, word formation, or a related English derivative rather than from a memorized list.