The "English-into-Latin" Section now has a Question all of its own!

Here we will explore how to maximise your chances of doing well on this crucial question:

First Rule: DON'T PANIC!

Follow these tips and you'll be fine...
 

A lot of people seem to throw up their hands in horror at the thought of translating into Latin. Quite why they suppose it to be so difficult - or at least, so much more difficult than Latin into English - I can never understand. Even at the top Level 3 of the CE paper it is very "do-able".

It is also worth a large number of marks!

   If you can cope well with the 4 sentences you are asked to translate, you will earn yourself a hefty proportion of the overall marks for the whole paper!

    HERE'S THE PROOF!

 

A Latin CE paper is marked out of 75, which it is then possible to convert to a percentage (although schools which simply award grades don't always bother).

Generally, the  Eng-Latin sentences are worth an average of 5 marks each. This isn't a 'Teach yourself Maths' website, but most of us can work out that this adds up to 20 out of 75, making, er... well, somewhere getting close to 30% of the total marks. After the main translation passage in Qu. 2, this is the 2nd-highest scorer.


 
   PLENTY OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO TRY TO DO IT WELL, THEN!

 

    On top of which, they couldn't really make it much easier for you : you always know exactly what to expect, and provided you have learned the vocab and grammar needed for each level, there will be no surprises.

So, pluck up your courage and here we go....

 

 

             

This question actually deserves some TOP TIPS of its own:

 

English into Latin: TOP TIPS

 1. MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHICH OF THE VOCAB WORDS FOR EACH LEVEL YOU ALSO NEED FOR USE IN ENGLISH INTO LATIN

        It's generally about a third of the words in each level.

 2. KNOW YOUR BASIC GRAMMAR 

     ....which isn't by any means as much as you need for the Latin into English questions!

 3. BE SYSTEMATIC

         I recommend a process of "marking out" the sentences in advance so that you know what endings to use before you start (see below)

 4.  REMEMBER TO PUT THE VERB AT THE END

       Here's a free mark for no subject knowledge whatsoever - don't throw it away!

 

 

 

         The "MARKING OUT" METHOD 

       I recommend that you practise this question by actually writing down the English sentence separately first, and then showing below each word its job in the sentence - a sort of 'instruction manual' to follow when you come to put the words into Latin.

      This involves locating the verb before anything else, and highlighting it somehow (underline it, circle it, colour it in...). This then gives you lots of help about the nouns in the sentence: just remember that a noun in front of the verb will be the SUBJECT (NOM case), and a noun directly after the verb will be the OBJECT (ACC case). 

   LET'S LOOK AT A LEVEL 1 SENTENCE IN STAGES (first be sure that you do know the required vocab): 

     SENTENCE:      The slave-girl is preparing the food.

     HIGHLIGHT THE VERB:   The slave-girl is preparing the food.

     NOW MARK NOM & ACC:     The slave girl is preparing the food.
                                                          NOM                                  ACC

     ANSWER (with the VERB AT THE END!):     ANCILLA CIBUM PARAT.


         I even used to advise my old pupils to do this "marking out" actually on their exam paper - why not give yourself as much of a chance as possible? 


    GRAMMAR NEEDED FOR EACH LEVEL

  •     For LEVEL 1 you only have to know 1st & 2nd declension nouns in the Nom & Acc singular & plural, and 1st & 2nd conjugation verbs in the Present & Imperfect tenses, along with the Present tense of 'SUM'.  
  •    Extras for LEVEL 2: as well as the above, now you also need Abl singular & plural of the same nouns (this level may now include phrases with prepositions), and the Imperfect tense of 'SUM'; you may also have a basic (-US -A -UM) adjective to put with a noun.
  •    LEVEL 3: now you need ALL the cases of declensions 1,2 & 3; adjectives of -US and -IS declension in all cases, to agree with the nouns; Present, Imperfect & Perfect tenses of all 4 conjugations and 'SUM'; use of prepositions; and the singular and plural Imperatives of the regular conjugations.
  •    In all 3 Levels, you may possibly be asked to include an adverb - these of course do not change their endings, and can just be bunged in, probably just before the verb.


   HERE'S AN EXAMPLE OF A LEVEL 2 SENTENCE using the "marking out" method:

       SENTENCE: The slaves were watching the tired women in the temple. 

       HIGHLIGHT THE VERB: The slaves were watching the tired women...

       MARK NOM & ACC: The slaves were watching the tired women in the temple.
                                            NOM pl      Imperfect               ACC pl

          MARK THE CORRECT CASE NEEDED FOR ANY NOUN AFTER A PREPOSITION: ...in the temple.
                                                                                                                                                                                                    in + ABL sing

       ANSWER (VERB AT THE END!):  SERVI  FEMINAS  FESSAS  IN TEMPLO  SPECTABANT.

 

 

 

           ADJECTIVE AGREEMENT

                  Even at Level 2, this used to be what I would call "the easiest exercise in the book"! Nearly every time you have to make an adjective agree, you only need to put the same ending on the adjective that you have already put on the noun it agrees with (as in the sentence above: FEMINAS FESSAS).

   The only times this doesn't work are if you have EITHER an -ER noun in the Nom Singular (in which case the adjective just keeps its -US ending) OR a 1st declension noun which is masculine (such as nauta or agricola). Here the adjective needs 2nd declension endings to match up with the masculine gender.

e.g.  The little boy was afraid of the angry sailors.

      PUER  PARVUS  NAUTAS  IRATOS  TIMEBAT.

   It doesn't matter whether you put the adjective before or after the noun, although, by convention, they are usually written after it unless they have the idea of quantity (many, the rest of, sixteen.. etc.) which should go first.


        HERE'S A LEVEL 3 EXAMPLE WITH "MARKING OUT":

         SENTENCE:  Hurry, boys! The enemy have killed the brave sailors in the market-place. 

        HIGHLIGHT THE VERB(S):  Hurry, boys! The enemy have killed the brave sailors in the market-place. 

        ADD IN CASES etc.:  Hurry, boys!   The enemy have killed the brave sailors in the market-place.
                                  Imperative (pl) Voc pl   Nom plur     Perfect             ACC Plur          IN +  ABL sing 

        ANSWER (MAIN VERB AT THE END!):  FESTINATE, PUERI! HOSTES NAUTAS FORTES  IN  FORO  NECAVERUNT.

That was actually a rather harder sentence than you are really likely to get - it was chosen just to give you as many 'examples' as possible.

 


    Making 3rd declension adjectives agree with 1st or 2nd declension nouns (or vice versa) can be a bit trickier: you can't use the "easiest exercise in the book" method, because the endings are of different types. Here you have to match case, number & gender more carefully:

                  e.g.    Many soldiers were hurrying into the town.

                            MULTI  MILITES.......    (both words nom plur masc) 

            or:           The sad girls are standing in the road.

                            PUELLAE  TRISTES.........  (both words nom plur fem)

                 or (the example above)  ... the brave sailors...

                                         NAUTAS  FORTES.........   (both words acc plur masc)

 

         I suggest you re-read these examples several times, as well as the TOP TIPS.

AND, IF I HAVEN'T REMINDED YOU ENOUGH ALREADY:
 

PUT THE MAIN VERB AT THE END!