DIES - Day (of the week)

DIES III - SEPTEMBER XIV

The third day of class we got into a little bit of Latin small talk. You know, just in case you wake up one day in Rome around 45 B.C. you won't seem too out of place. The following phrases my help you out:

Salve - Hello (s.)
Salvete - Hello (pl.)
Vale - Good-bye (s.)
Valete - Good-bye (pl.)

Ut vales? - How are you (s.)
Ut valetis? - How are you (pl.)

Some responses might be:

Bene - Well
Satis bene - Quite well
Optime bene - Very well
Quam optime - As well as possible
Male - Not well
Pessime - Awful

Here are a few more Latin words to kick around to trick the locals into thinking you are supposed to be there:

Dies - Day
Hodie - Today
Hic dies - This day

Next you will probably want to know what day of the week it is, I know I sure would:

Lunae dies - Monday (named for the Moon)
Martis dies - Tuesday (named for Mars)
Mercurii dies - Wednesday (named for Mercury)
Iovis dies - Thursday (named for Jupiter)
Veneris dies - Friday (named for Venus)
Saturni dies - Saturday (named for Saturn)
Solis dies - Sunday (named for the Sun)

Next post I will continue with the verbs we learned on the 3rd day of class.

NUMERI - Numbers

DIES II - SEPTEMBER XI

The second day of class - my first - we began simply with numbers, pronunciation and the explanation of verbs. As pronunciation can be pretty tedious to write, and since you can easily find out what a verb is I thought I would stick with the numbers from 1 to 10.

I would be later told these are the Cardinal numbers:

 1 - unus
 2 - duo
 3 - tres
 4 - quattuor
 5 - quinque
 6 - sex
 7 - septem
 8 - octo
 9 - novem
10 - decem

*Side Note: I actually wrote those numbers from memory, aren't you proud of me? I know I am. And yes I did check to make sure they were correct.

COMMENTARIOLI LATIN - Latin Textbooks

DIES I - SEPTEMBER V

The first day of class I was still fighting my way out of the back woods of Algonquin Park, so I didn't make it to class. I later found out neither did the Professor. The first day is usually a write off anyway.

Students were give the names of the textbooks to buy, Wheelock's Latin 6th Edition Revised and 38 Latin Stories 5th Edition. Regrettably by the time I found out on the next class the bookstore would already be sold out and I would be without a textbook. I decided to jump the queue and order them from Amazon, but it seems they also were backlogged. There must be an onslaught of Latin students this year.

Today the textbooks were delivered, so it is time to get studying. Just a few more posts to write first.

Salve! From Learnin' Latin

I recently decided to take a course in Latin at the local University, so as a way to help myself learn I decided to create this blog, Learnin' Latin.

I'm now three weeks into the course, learning 2nd declension nouns, and well, I am already confused. I seem to have the verbs down pat, at least the first two conjunctions anyway, but beyond that I'm a bit lost.

My hope with this blog is to not only connect with others learning Latin but also use it as a way to help (force) me to study as I go. The plan is to write a new post for each class that I learn something new. At three classes a week this blog should be updated pretty regularly.

Wish me good luck, or BONAM FORTUNAM!