Читать книгу Latin for Beginners - BENJAMIN L. D’OOGE - Страница 52

[Special Vocabulary]

NOUNS

«auxilium, auxi´lī», n., help, aid (auxiliary) «castrum, -ī», n., fort (castle); plur., camp (lit. forts) «cibus, -ī», m., food «cōnsilium, cōnsi´lī», n., plan (counsel) «dīligentia, -ae», f.. diligence, industry magister, magistrī, m., master, teacher[A]

ADJECTIVES

«aeger, aegra, aegrum», sick «crēber, crēbra, crēbrum», frequent «miser, misera, miserum», wretched, unfortunate (miser)

[Footnote A: Observe that «dominus», as distinguished from

«magister», means master in the sense of owner.]

«97.» Observe the sentences

This is my shield This shield is mine

In the first sentence my is a possessive adjective; in the second mine is a possessive pronoun, for it takes the place of a noun, this shield is mine being equivalent to this shield is my shield. Similarly, in Latin the possessives are sometimes adjectives and sometimes pronouns.

«98.» The possessives my, mine, your, yours, etc. are declined like adjectives of the first and second declensions.

SINGULAR

1st Pers. meus, mea, meum my, mine 2d Pers. tuus, tua, tuum your, yours 3d Pers. suus, sua, suum his (own), her (own), its (own) PLURAL 1st Pers. noster, nostra, nostrum our, ours 2d Pers. vester, vestra, vestrum your, yours 3d Pers. suus, sua, suum their (own), theirs

NOTE. «Meus» has the irregular vocative singular masculine «mī», as «mī fīlī», O my son.

a. The possessives agree with the name of the thing possessed in gender, number, and case. Compare the English and Latin in

Sextus is calling «his» boy «Sextus» } «suum puerum vocat» Julia is calling «her» boy «Iūlia» }

Observe that «suum» agrees with «puerum», and is unaffected by the

gender of Sextus or Julia.

b. When your, yours, refers to one person, use «tuus»; when to more than one, «vester»; as,

Lesbia, your wreaths are pretty «Corōnae tuae, Lesbia, sunt pulchrae» Girls, your wreaths are pretty «Corōnae vestrae, puellae, sunt pulchrae»

c. «Suus» is a reflexive possessive, that is, it usually stands in the predicate and regularly refers back to the subject. Thus, «Vir suōs servōs vocat» means The man calls his (own) slaves. Here his («suōs») refers to man («vir»), and could not refer to any one else.

d. Possessives are used much less frequently than in English, being omitted whenever the meaning is clear without them. (Cf. §22.a.) This is especially true of «suus, -a, -um», which, when inserted, is more or less emphatic, like our his own, her own, etc.