You will recall that the Latin verb has an ending that tells ‘who is doing the action.’
‘Amat.’ He (or she or it) loves.
This ending is on the verb even if you have a noun in the sentence that is the subject. Let’s look at another sentence in Latin:
Paris amat. Paris he loves.
This is confusing. The ‘he’ is there in the verb ending, but not needed in the translation because ‘Paris’ is the subject noun. To translate this in a way that shows you know what the verb ending means and you know what the subject noun is, you could translate ‘Paris amat.’ as ‘Paris (he) loves.’ If your teacher permits, you could also simply drop the pronoun, since it is not needed in the translation, and make the sentence ‘Paris loves.’ There is still a small problem. Look at this sentence:
Puer amat. Boy loves.
‘Boy loves’ does not sound right. In English we would begin a sentence like this with an article: a/an or the. Latin does not have articles, but often English sentences need them. To translate Latin sentences well, add whichever article seems best whenever needed. Going back to the sentence ‘Puer amat,’ [Boy (he) loves] Translate this sentence as ‘(The) boy (he) loves’ or as ‘(A) boy (he) loves.’
Here are a few more sentences translated for an example:
Sol lucet. (The) sun
(it) shines. The sun shines.
Equī currunt.
(The) horses (they) run. The
horses run.
Puella clamat. (The)
girl (she) shouts. The girl shouts.
3. Label the subject
nominatives by writing s-nom above them, then translate these sentence
into English:
NB You may require
your students to translate very literally first,as in ‘(The) sun (it) shines,’
then more naturally, as in ‘The sun shines’ or only one of the ways. Be sure to specify to your students how you
want themt o translate for the exercise
a) Rex venit.
b) feminae spectant.
c) hostēs fugiunt.
d) miles pugnat.
e) agricola arat.
f) puerī ambulant.
g) regina gaudet.
h) navēs navigant.
Hector
and Andromache
As the fighting continued, the Greeks began to push the Trojans back toward the walls of Troy. The might of Hector, even combined with the brave deeds of Aeneas, whom Apollo had healed and returned to the battle, availed nothing. As the Trojans gave ground, the prophet Helenus, Hector’s brother, approached Hector and Aeneas. ‘The outcome of this battle rests on you two,’ he said. “You must go up and down the ranks encourageing the men,. But you, Hector, go and instruct your mother and all the ladies of honor to pray to the gods and make sacrifices – thus will the tide of battle turn.’ So Hector obeyed, rallied the Trojans and returned to the city to seek out his mother, Hecuba. Queen Hecuba was not wont to watch the fighting from the walls, but was sitting in the Palace. ‘Why are you back from the battle, son?’ she asked, rising to greet him. ‘You must be worn out. Come with me to offer a libation to Jupiter, and then I will give you food and drink.’ “ I am afraid that I am far too grimy and sweaty to be praying and making offerings to Jupiter,’ said Hector. ‘But you, take all the ladies of honor and go pray to the gods and make sacrifices. Maybe then we will push back the Greeks.’
Hector then went to the magnificent house of Paris, where he found him sitting where Venus had left him in his chamber with Helen. ‘You shameful and cowardly man,’ cried Hector, ‘will you never join the fighting? Men are dying out there for their city while you sit here in leisure with Helen.’ Paris answered him, ‘You have scolded me rightly, brother. Let me put on my armor, then I will follow you.’ Hector did not wait, but sought out Andromache, his wife, to see her before he returned again to the battle.
Hector found her watching on the walls with their infant son, Skamandrius. They embraced, and then Andromache spoke, her eyes moist with tears and her voice faltering, ‘Dearest, do not return to the fighting to die. Have pity on me: do not leave me a widow and our child fatherless.’ Hector replied, ‘Beloved lady, I will die when the fates decree, whether I am fighting in the battle or hiding in Troy. But I could never stay in the city and watch my countrymen die. I would rather die fighting than live to see you taken captive to be the slave of a Greek if Troy falls.’ Speaking thus he reached for his son, to hold him. But the small boy cried out in terror because of the shining helmet with the horsehair crest, which Hector was still wearing. Hector laughed, removed the helmet, and caught up Skamandrius in his arms.
‘May this child one day rule over Troy, and may he be mightier even than his father.’ He spoke and returned the boy to his mother. He embraced his wife closely, then descended from the walls to return to the battle, leaving Andromache looking down from the walls, weeping.