NCEA Level 3 Latin flashcards

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Ablative absolute

A noun or pronoun plus a participle or adjective, both in the ablative and grammatically independent of the main clause. Translate with 'with', 'after', 'when', 'since' or 'because' plus a finite verb.

Accusative and infinitive

Construction used for indirect statement after verbs of saying, thinking, knowing or perceiving: the subject goes into the accusative and the verb becomes an infinitive whose tense shows time relative to the main verb.

Sequence of tenses

Rule governing subjunctive tense in subordinate clauses: after a primary main verb (present, future, perfect with 'have') use present or perfect subjunctive; after a historic main verb use imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive.

Purpose clause

Subordinate clause expressing aim, introduced by ut (positive) or ne (negative) plus a present or imperfect subjunctive depending on sequence of tenses; translated 'in order to' or 'so that'.

Result clause

Clause introduced by ut or ut non plus subjunctive, expressing consequence, usually signalled in the main clause by tam, ita, sic, tantus, talis or tot.

Indirect question

A question reported rather than asked directly, using an interrogative word plus a subjunctive verb; the subjunctive tense follows sequence of tenses relative to the main verb.

Fear clause

Clause after verbs such as timeo or metuo, introduced by ne plus subjunctive meaning 'that' something may happen, or ne non/ut plus subjunctive meaning 'that not'.

Future less vivid

Conditional sentence presenting a hypothetical future possibility: both protasis and apodosis use the present subjunctive, translated 'if I were to do this, I would do that'.

Contrary-to-fact condition

Conditional sentence about an unreal situation: imperfect subjunctive in both clauses for present time, pluperfect subjunctive in both clauses for past time.

Passive periphrastic

The gerundive (future passive participle) with a form of esse, expressing obligation or necessity, e.g. 'delenda est Carthago' - Carthage must be destroyed.

Gerund vs gerundive

The gerund is a verbal noun in the oblique cases (genitive, dative, accusative, ablative) expressing 'the act of doing'; the gerundive is a future passive participle agreeing with a noun, expressing obligation or purpose.

Deponent verbs

Verbs passive in form but active in meaning, such as sequor, loquor, proficiscor and conor. They have no active forms but do take objects in the accusative.

Semi-deponent verbs

Verbs active in form in the present, imperfect and future but passive in form with active meaning in the perfect, pluperfect and future perfect: audeo, gaudeo, soleo, fido.

Supine

Verbal noun with only two forms: the accusative in -um used after verbs of motion to express purpose, and the ablative in -u used after certain adjectives such as facilis and mirabilis.

Dactylic hexameter

The metre of epic and didactic poetry: six feet, each a dactyl (long plus two shorts) or spondee (two longs); the fifth foot is nearly always a dactyl and the sixth a spondee.

Elision

In verse, a vowel or vowel plus m at the end of a word is dropped before a following word beginning with a vowel or h, so the syllables merge and the metre is preserved.

Elegiac couplet

Metre of elegy and many epigrams: a dactylic hexameter line followed by a pentameter line of two half-feet, two dactyls and a half-foot. Used by Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus and Ovid.

Hendiadys

Figure of speech in which two coordinated words express a single idea, usually noun plus noun instead of noun plus adjective, e.g. 'cup and gold' for 'golden cup'.

Litotes

Understatement by denying the opposite, often 'non sine' for 'with', used for emphasis or irony; common in Cicero's speeches and in narrative prose.

Chiasmus

Arrangement of four elements in the pattern ABBA, so that the outer pair and inner pair correspond, often used in Latin verse and in rhetorical prose for emphasis.

Apostrophe

Direct address to an absent person, a god, a place or an abstraction, breaking the narrative frame; frequent in Virgil and in Roman love elegy.

Ekphrasis

A vivid, self-contained description of a work of art or a scene within a narrative, such as the shield of Aeneas in Aeneid 8 or the doors of the temple in Aeneid 1.

Epic simile

An extended comparison, often drawn from nature, agriculture or warfare, that expands beyond the point of comparison and comments on the narrative; a hallmark of Homeric and Virgilian style.

In medias res

'Into the middle of things': narrative technique of beginning a story partway through the action and supplying earlier events later through flashback, as in the Aeneid.

Pietas

The Roman virtue of dutiful loyalty towards gods, family, country and ancestors; the defining quality of Aeneas and a central theme of the Aeneid.

Furor

Uncontrolled rage or passion, opposed to reason and order; in the Aeneid associated with Juno, Turnus and Dido, and overcome by Aeneas' pietas.

Dactylic hexameter caesura

A word break within a foot, most commonly in the third foot, which gives the line its rhythm and often marks a pause in sense or emphasis.

Historic present

Use of the present tense to narrate past events, common in Latin prose and verse for vividness; it counts as a primary tense for sequence of tenses.

Indirect command

Subordinate clause after verbs of ordering, urging or asking, introduced by ut or ne plus subjunctive, translated with 'to' or 'not to'.

Cum clauses

Clauses introduced by cum. With indicative they are temporal ('when'); with subjunctive they are circumstantial, causal or concessive, and cum + pluperfect subjunctive often means 'since' or 'although'.

Ablative of comparison

After a comparative adjective, the ablative expresses the standard of comparison without quam, e.g. 'fortior hoste' - braver than the enemy.

Dative of agent

With a passive periphrastic (gerundive plus esse), the person who must act stands in the dative, e.g. 'mihi eundum est' - I must go.