Latin & Greek: Listen and Learn
If you are in your first year or about to enter your second year of either language, you may find this podcast helpful for learning a vast amount of necessary vocabulary. Let’s face it, the greatest obstacle standing between us and some of the greatest writers the world has ever known is our lack of vocabulary. Just listen! You will be amazed by how much Latin and Greek you can learn in just a few minutes a day.
The Irregular Verb Fero and Its Compounds
fero, ferre, tuli, latus
These verbs are all compounds of the irregular verb meaning ‘to bear,’ fero, ferre, tuli, latus. Notice how the spelling and the pronunciation of each preposition may undergo assimilation depending on which consonant sound it precedes. The vocabulary items in this episode are as follow:
ad: affero, afferre, attuli, allatus
ab: aufero, auferre, abstuli, ablatus
com: confero, conferre, contuli collatus
de: defero, deferre, detuli, delatus
dis: differo, differre, distuli, dilatus
ex: effero, efferre, extuli, elatus
in: infero, inferre, intuli, illatus
ob: offero, offerre, obtuli, oblatus
re: refero, referre, rettuli, relatus
sub: suffero, sufferre, sustuli, sublatus
trans: transfero, transferre, transtuli, translatus
The Irregular Verb Sum and Its Compounds
sum, esse, fui, futurus
These verbs are all compounds of the irregular verb “to be,” sum, esse, fui, futurus, and will frequently take the dative case. Verba mihi desunt, for instance, is how a Roman would say “words fail me,” or “I’m speechless.”
See Gildersleeve & Lodge: 347 for a few more examples.
4th Conjugation (Deponents)
blandior, blandiri, blanditus sum
Note that these verbs are passive in form but active in sense. Note also that the verb orior, oriri, ortus sum was very frequently conjugated by Romans as a 3rd and not a 4th conjugation verb. This is why the accent falls on the first and not the second syllable of óritur. As you will hear, I have decided again to go against convention and not include the final “sum” for the third principal part. Just remember to add it mentally yourself.
4th Conjugation (-VENI)
venio, venire, veni, ventum
Note that these verbs are all compounds of the intransitive verb venio. Nevertheless, not all of the verbs in this episode are intransitive. A few verbs are transitive. Listen carefully to the fourth principal part to determine whether the verb is more likely to be intransitive (vent-um) or transitive (invent-us).
4th Conjugation (-SI)
sentio, sentire, sensi, sensus.
Note that the PERFECT ends in -SI. You may wonder why the verb amicio, amicire, amixi, amictus, “to envolop, to wrap up, to clothe,” has been revisited. The reason is that the PERFECT of amicio can be either amicui as in the last episode or amixi as in this episode.
4th Conjugation (-UI)
salio, salire, salui, saltum
Note that the PERFECT ends in -UI. Note also that two of the verbs in this episode, salto and insulto, belong to the 1st Conjugation. They are built off of the fourth principal part (salt-um > salt-are) or what would have been the fourth principal part (insult-um > insult-are), if it existed. Such verbs denote repetitive or continuous action. This is why the verb saltare means “to dance,” because dancing — for the Romans, at least — was an act of leaping and bounding continuously.
4th Conjugation (-IVI)
audio, audire, audivi, auditus
Note that nearly all of these verbs may show an ending other than -IVI in the perfect. We thus find audii as well as audivi. Note also that the last four verbs of this audio are used only in the present, imperfect, and future.
3rd Conjugation (Deponents & Semi-Deponents)
nascor, nasci, natus sum
Note that these verbs are passive in form but active in sense. Note also that the last five verbs of this audio are semi-deponents: gaudeo, gaudere, gavisus sum. As you will hear, I have decided to go against convention and not include the final ‘sum’ for the third principal part. Just remember to add it mentally yourself.
