We've already been creating sentences, but now that we're getting into slightly harder ones, let's take a look at sentence structure.
We'll use examples from last chapter.
"We run and laugh."
This one is quite simple. Do you know it? Just reflect for a sec here: do you think you know what this one looks like?
Is it: "Sumus currimus* et ridemus"?
Because that is wrong. Because latin verbs contain their pronouns, we DO NOT need to include 'sumus' or 'est' everything we want to say 'we are' or 'it is'. Those verbs are only included in sentences about being- He is happy, There are trees. If a sentence already includes another verb, those verbs imply that during translation, we need to add the pronouns.
(The answer is just "Currimus et ridemus")
The sentence above, yes, does technically translate to "We run and we laugh". Translation often includes making your own stylistic choices.
(*Currere is a weird word- you would've have been able to guess this on your own, but it gains an i instead of keeping the e in present tense. Latin gets weird.)
"The annoying boy doesn't have friends"
"puer molestus amici non habet"
What have you noticed about my translations? I haven't mentioned it yet, but I've been following the same format for all my translations: The verb goes at the end.
In english, we of course say "Everyone loves the woods." I don't know hell about english grammar, but it makes more sense to us than "Everyone the woods loves" which frankly sounds a bit creepy.
But in latin, the verb goes at the end of a sentence block. The subject of the sentence goes first, followed by the object, and then the verb. (We'll get more into subjects and direct objects later).
IT IS OF NOTE, though, that latin is very loose on word order. Most things can generally be in any order.
Here's a slightly weird sentence I'll use to make further points:
"The happy girl sees the sad wolves and runs out of the woods"
Note: ex= out of, from, away from
I'd love for you to try this one. It's clunky, but probably good practice.
"Puella laeta lupi miseri videt et currit ex silva."
Notes to be noted here:
"ET", as the word for and, helps sort sentences into what I call 'blocks'. When translating, it is good to take sentences one block at a time- look for 'et', commas, and other punctuation. You can nearly consider each sentence part past et to be a new sentence.
If you were given just the latin sentence above to translate, you might first be confused as to what is happening. This is where singles and plurals are quite handy- 'videt' is a singular verb, so we know the singular noun 'puella' is the one preforming the action of seeing.
Next time: Really, a translation?