Latin language
Cases: what does a word do in the sentence?
In Latin the ending gives away what a word does: subject, owner, receiver, direct object or means. These are the cases, from nominative to ablative.
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Choose a topic. Every topic starts from a real question, shows a picture to play with, explains the rule and lets you practise.
18 topics
Latin language
The cases, the first three declensions, the present, imperfect and perfect, adjectives, prepositions and your first sentences to translate.
- Latin language
First and second declension: rosa and dominus
Most words in -a follow rosa; those in -us, -er and -um follow dominus, puer and templum. Stem plus ending gives every case, singular and plural.
- Latin language
Third declension: the hidden stem
With rēx, mīles and corpus the nominative hides the stem. The genitive in -is shows it: rēg-is. Then fixed endings follow.
- Latin language
Present tense: who does what, now?
A Latin verb says by itself who does it. The ending -ō, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt replaces I, you, he, we, you all, they. Four conjugations and esse.
- Latin language
Imperfect and perfect: telling about the past
The imperfect with -ba- tells what was going on or happened often. The perfect on the perfect stem (vocāv-ī) tells what is finished. Esse becomes eram and fuī.
- Latin language
Adjectives: agreement in case, number and gender
Bonus, bona, bonum agrees with its noun in case, number and gender. The same ending is not needed: agricola bonus, rēx bonus.
- Latin language
Prepositions: in the house or into the house?
After a Latin preposition comes an accusative or an ablative. Ad and per take the accusative, ex and cum the ablative. In takes both, with different meanings.
- Latin language
Translating sentences: reading by the endings
You do not translate a Latin sentence from left to right. Find the verb, then the subject and the direct object, and read the rest by the endings.
Greek
The alphabet and how to write Greek in our letters, Greek words in our language, the first nouns with the article and the present of λύω.
- Greek
The Greek alphabet
Twenty-four letters, many of which you already know from maths and physics. Learn their names, their sounds and how to write them in our letters.
- Greek
Greek words in our language
Democracy, physics, theatre: thousands of words come from Greek. Transliterate a Greek word and you recognise it. Know its parts and you understand its meaning.
- Greek
Greek nouns and the article
Greek has an article that declines with its noun: ὁ, ἡ, τό. Article and ending together show the gender, number and case of a word.
- Greek
The present of λύω
λύω, I loosen: the model verb of Greek. Six endings tell who does it, just as in Latin: -ω, -εις, -ει, -ομεν, -ετε, -ουσι(ν).
Words and roots
Latin and Greek roots in Dutch, French and English, and the Latin you meet every day.
- Words and roots
Roots: Latin and Greek in your words
Aquarium, telephone, biology: a short Latin or Greek root carries a meaning. Know the root and you understand words in four languages at once.
- Words and roots
Latin in everyday life
Etc., P.S., CV, a.m.: you use Latin every day without noticing. Learn what these words and abbreviations mean literally and where you meet them.
Culture and myths
Daily life in Rome, the gods and myths as the Greeks and Romans told them, Rome in our part of the world, democracy and theatre in Athens.
- Culture and myths
Daily life in Rome
A rich Roman lived in a domus with an atrium and a garden, most city people in an īnsula. Discover how a Roman day went, from salūtātiō to cēna.
- Culture and myths
Gods and myths
The ancient Greeks and Romans told stories about twelve great gods. Learn their Greek and Roman names, what people told about them, and their traces in our words.
- Culture and myths
Rome and the Low Countries
Caesar conquered Gaul and wrote about it. Discover the Belgae, Ambiorix and the Eburones, Roman towns like Tongeren, and why you read Caesar's account with a critical eye.
- Culture and myths
Democracy and theatre in Athens
In fifth-century BC Athens, citizens voted by a show of hands and watched plays together. Who could vote, and what did a theatre look like?