Salvēte omnēs! Welcome back to Latin for Wikiversity. Here you can peruse a new lesson in Latin, in a simple format. If you would like to catch up, you can find a directory of lessons, a classified vocabulary list, and Memrise courses at the links on the right.
This lesson will focus on adverbs.
Old and new vocabulary
We’ve already encountered many adverbs:
| Latin | English | Audio (Classical) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| bene | well | ||
| crās | tomorrow | ||
| cūr | why | ||
| herī | yesterday | ||
| hodiē | today, on this day | ||
| male | badly | ||
| māne | morning, in the morning | ||
| -ne | question mark / turns a statement into a question | enclitic/particle | |
| nōn | not | ||
| nōnne | introduces a question expecting a “yes” answer | lit. “is it not so?” | |
| num | introduces a question expecting a “no” answer | ||
| prīdiē | the day before (used with acc.) | ||
| quandō | when, at what time | ||
| quō | where to, where, whither | ||
| quōmodo | how, in what way | ||
| ubi / ubī | where | ||
| vespere / vesperi (adv. or abl. s.) | in the evening, at evening time |
As in many languages, there is a certain amount of fluidity between adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions; and in Latin, some cases of nouns are essentially adverbial. Parsing this out completely for you is above my pay grade... just be aware that dictionaries and texts may occasionally vary on classifying these words, and some can be used in multiple ways. To make it more confusing, it is fairly common in Latin syntax for adjectives to be used where we would use adverbs in English, e.g. Tutus domum venit. = He comes home safely (literally- He comes home, safe).
Formation of adverbs is usually but not always related to the adjective form if there is one. 1st/2nd declension adjectives, like malus, a, um (bad) tend to have an adverbial form ending in –e: male = badly. 3rd declension adjectives like fortis, e (strong, brave) tend to have an adverbial form ending in –(i)ter: fortiter = strongly, bravely. But of course there are many, many adverbs that do not follow these “rules.”
| Latin | English | Audio (Classical) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| celeriter | quickly, swiftly, fast | ||
| diū | for a long time | ||
| fortiter | strongly, bravely | ||
| hic | here | ||
| ibi / ibī | there | also eo, illic, illuc | |
| jam / iam | already, now | ||
| longē | far, by far | ||
| numquam | never | ||
| nunc | now | ||
| saepe | often, frequently, usually | ||
| semper | always |
New Sentences
| Latin | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ubī Gāius habitat? Gāius ibī habitat. | Where does Gaius live? Gaius lives there. | |
| Ibī diēbus Veneris edimus. | We eat there on Fridays. | |
| Paula et Lūcia illic eunt. | Paula and Lucia go (over) there. | |
| Numquam illic eō. | I never go there. | |
| Nunc aut numquam. | Now or never. | |
| Hic et nunc. | Here and now. | |
| Nunc aestas (ad)est. | Now it is summer. | |
| Venisne hīc saepe? | Do you come here often? | |
| Pater saepe rīdet. | Dad often laughs. | |
| Nōn saepe fleō. | I don’t usually cry/ I seldom cry. | |
| Gāius semper ēsurit. | Gaius is always hungry. | |
| Cūr semper id agis? | Why do you always do that? | |
| Ubī es? Hīc adsum. | Where are you? I am here/ right here. | |
| Puerī puellaeque jam adveniunt. | The boys and girls are already arriving. | |
| Mārcus diū dormit. | Marcus sleeps for a long time. | |
| Mārcus longē currit. | Marcus runs far/ for a long way. | |
| Mārcus celeriter currit. | Marcus runs fast/ swiftly. | |
| Mīlitēs fortiter pugnant. | The soldiers fight bravely. | |
| Paula bene, sed Gāius male scrībit. | Paula writes well, but Gaius writes badly. | |
| Tempus celeriter fugit. | Time passes quickly/ Time swiftly flies. | |
| Jam nōvī. | I already know. | |
| Puerī jam in scholā sunt. | The boys are in school now/already. | |
| Vīnum nōn jam habēmus. | We no longer have wine/ We’re out of wine. | |
| Lūcia puella nōn jam est, sed fēmina. | Lucia is no longer a girl, but a woman. |
Practice
| Practice and learn the words and phrases in this lesson | |
|---|---|
| Step one | First learn the words using this lesson: |
| Step two | Next try learning and writing the sentencing using this: |
| Note that the Memrise stage covers the content for all lessons in each stage. If you are skipping previous stages you may need to manually "ignore" the words in previous levels (use the 'select all' function) | |
Here’s a fun song on Youtube that has some of these adverbs, plus animals and even onomatopoeias: Horatius villam habet I hope you enjoy it! I should be back next week with more adverbs.