Grammar

New Words

Thermopylae

The Tense of a verb tells us about the timing of the action of the verb.

The Present tense is used for actions which are taking place at the present, and for statements which are generally independent of time.
Many languages, including Latin, have only one form of the Present tense. English is more complicated, in that it uses different forms for a simple statement (I do something) and a continuous or repeated action (I am doing something).

• I am doing my homework.
• We go to class every day.
• When I exercise, I feel fit.
• He has a happy life.
• She sees the dog.

The Future tense is used for actions which have not yet taken place, but which will occur at some time in the future.

• I shall get wet if it rains.
• Those who study will do well on their exams.
• The sun will shine tomorrow.
• We shall graduate next semester.
• They will get good grades.

NOTE : English-speakers are usually rather careless about their use of the future tense.
Because we so often abbreviate "will" and "shall" to 'll (I'll . . . he'll . . we'll . . . you'll . . they'll . .) we don't think about whether we should say "will" or "shall", and there is a particularly strange bit of English grammar relating to the English use of auxiliary verbs to express tense.
In English, if we wish to make a general statement about an action taking place in the future, we should use "will" with Second or Third Person (you, he, she, it, they), and "shall" with First Person (I, we)
If "will" and "shall" are used the other way around - "will" with First Person, or "shall" with Second or Third Person, it implies that there is some definite wish, command, threat, or promise to do the action.

• I will do it, no-one shall stop me.
• You shall obey the speed-limit.
• We will do everything you tell us.
• They shall not break the law.

I met this as a point of grammar when I first learned Latin, and was given the story about a man who got his grammar wrong, and was being swept along by a river. He shouted "I will drown - no-one shall save me!" - So they let him drown because that's what he said he wanted.

Most languages have several Past tenses, which are used to show whether or not the action has been completed, or if it was a continuous action or a repeated action in the past, or if it has consequences which are still in effect at the present time.
Students who are learning Greek will be familiar with the idea of several past tenses, but there is a slight difference between Greek and Latin usage.
In Latin (and Greek) the Imperfect tense is used for a past action that was continuous (spread over a period of time) eg. "I was doing something" or repeated , eg. "I used to do something."
In Latin, the Perfect tense is used to express the simple past, or an action that has been completed in the past.

• I sang
• I did sing
• I have sung
• I went
• I told
• I saw
• I talked

NB - Greek students please note that the Perfect does not necessarliy imply an action in the past with consequences for the present. Latin "Perfect" is like Greek "Aorist" - it can be used for a simple action in the past.

The Cambridge Course introduces some forms of the Perfect at the same time as the Imperfect. Some of the sentences on pages 88-89 use the Imperfect, some use the Perfect. So we had "The slaves were walking through/along the street.", (Imperfect), but "The dog barked." (Perfect)
Wheelock does not deal with the Perfect until chapter 12, because there are some changes which may take place to the verb stem which are better left until we have met all the conjugations of verbs. This is similar to what happens with English past tenses - sing/sang, go/went, tell/told, see/saw, bring/brought, talk/talked.
For now, learn the Perfect endings -ī, -istī, -it, -imus, -istis, -ērunt
However, don't try to stick them onto the verb stem you learned for the Present tense - we have to use the "Perfect" stem, which is why we learn the "Principal parts" of Latin verbs - the third of the Principal parts is the one we need for the Perfect.

This week we learn a couple of words which can be used to build more complex sentences. quod - "because", and postquam - "after"
They are used like their English counterparts, although the word order may be different.

Quīntus, quod clāmōrem audīvit, ad pugna festīnāvit
Quintus, because he heard the noise, hurried to the fight.
Also correct, and more often what we would say :
Quintus hurried to the fight because he heard the noise.

servī, postquam iuvenis canem pulsāvit, Quīntum laudāvērunt.
The slaves, after the young man hit the dog, praised Quintus.
or
The slaves praised Quintus after the young man hit the dog.

emō, emere, ēmī, ēmptus - "to buy" gives us the word emporium (large shop) and is also buried in the words redeem and redemption - the "re-" prefix means to do something again - "to buy back"
The Latin phrase caveat emptor means "buyer beware" (the seller is trying to trick you) - remember cave canem - "beware of the dog"
N.B. (nota bene - note well) - The words "empire" and "emperor" are not related to buying and selling. They have come from the Latin words imperātor (emperor), imperium (empire), which are derived from imperō -āre, -āvī, -ātum - to order

The Battle of Thermopylae was fought in 480 BC between the Greeks, led by the Spartan general Leonidas, and the invading Persians. The Greeks held a narrow coastal plain against the Persians, until a traitor led Persian forces behind the Greeks. Leonidas gave the Greek soldiers the option of fleeing, but he and his Spartan troops stayed and died to the last man. Leonidas and the Spartans delayed the Persians long enough for the Athenians and other Greeks to rebuild their defenses and hold out against and eventually defeat the Persians.