Declensions (Questions About Your Target Languages) Language Learning Forum

Declensions
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Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages

15 messages over 2 pages: 1 2 Next >>

renegade5005
Triglot
Newbie
United States
xanga.com/philoaleth
Joined 5128 days ago
18 posts - 21 votes
Speaks: Persian, English*, Spanish
Studies: Latin, Modern Hebrew, Arabic (Levantine), French, Tzeltal, Arabic (classical), Sanskrit, Ancient Greek

Message 1 of 15

28 July 2010 at 6:12pm | IP Logged

Hello all,

I am already familiar which grammatical cases as I have dealt with them in German, Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, etc., however, for some strange reason I am having some problems with Latin cases. Can anyone recommend a good way of memorizing them?!?!

thanks!

Edited by renegade5005 on 29 July 2010 at 4:57pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Cabaire
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 5394 days ago
725 posts - 1352 votes

Message 2 of 15

28 July 2010 at 8:04pm | IP Logged

Is do not quite grasp, what your problem is. After having gone through the torture chamber of Sanskrit grammar (ups, I meant after having tasted from its treasures), Latin declensions are simply a trifle, are't they?

I mean, after having mastered as, a, am, eny, āya, āt, asya, e, au, ābhyam, ayos, ās, ān, ais, ebhyas, ānām, esu and its various transformations in sandhi, the analogous stable us, i, o, um, o, i, orum, is, os, is declension does not pose a thread. You have to get used to the endings, that is all.
After all those other highly inflected languages, function of cases should not be a problem any more.

How did you memorize the endings in the other languages, by learning endings or by learning whole declinated words?

Edited by Cabaire on 28 July 2010 at 8:05pm
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johntm93
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5122 days ago
587 posts - 746 votes

2 sounds
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish

Message 3 of 15

28 July 2010 at 8:17pm | IP Logged

I just memorized them, which probably isn't the best way, but I still remember them after 3 years. One of the few things I learned from Latin class...well I know 2 declensions anyway.
-a     -ae
-ae    -arum
-ae    -is
-am    -a
-a     -is

-us    -i
-i     -orum
-i     -os
-um    -i
-o     -os

I have no clue if it's completely right, but it's mostly right.
1 person has voted this message useful

egill
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5491 days ago
418 posts - 791 votes

Speaks: Mandarin, English*
Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch

Message 4 of 15

28 July 2010 at 8:46pm | IP Logged

I think the word you're looking for was declensions. Alas, I have nothing useful
to add beside that.
1 person has voted this message useful

Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6498 days ago
9078 posts - 16473 votes

Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan
Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian
Personal Language Map

Message 5 of 15

29 July 2010 at 3:15pm | IP Logged

I normally think through how I can represent the main regular morphological features of some language in a concentrated form, and then I write the system on thick green sheets which I then keep within easy reach - not really to memorize the content, but to be able to do a quick check if I need it while reading or writing. And if you just note down the endings (not using example words) then the whole regular morphology of the Latin verbs can be written on one single sheet of paper. And the most relevant exceptions can be on the reverse side.

Of course planning and writing down the tables is a memorization method in itself, and much better than just copying the system from some other source. Exceptions should be dealt with separately, but essentially in the same way. Grammar should not be treated as something you learn passively from a book, but as a constructive task.

Edited by Iversen on 29 July 2010 at 5:26pm
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Message 6 of 15

29 July 2010 at 4:53pm | IP Logged

egill wrote:

I think the word you're looking for was declensions. Alas, I have nothing useful
to add beside that.

YES lool sorry I make that mistake all the time.
1 person has voted this message useful

Message 7 of 15

29 July 2010 at 4:54pm | IP Logged

Cabaire wrote:

Trust me I know. Ancient Greek and Sanskrit are actually more complex but I don't know why Am not too comfortable with Latin declensions.
1 person has voted this message useful

Message 8 of 15

29 July 2010 at 4:56pm | IP Logged

Iversen wrote:

I normally think through how I can represent the main regular morphological features of some language in a concentrated form, and then I write the system on thick green sheets which I then keep within easy reach - not really to memorize the content, but to be able to do a quick check if I need it while reading or writing. And if you just note down the endings (not using example words) then the whole regular morphology of the Latin verbs can be written on one single sheet of paper. And the most relevant exceptions can be on the reverse side.

Of course planning and writing down the tables is a memorization method in itself, and much better than just copying the system from some other source. Exceptions should be dealt with seperately, but essentially in the same way. Grammar should not be treated as something you learn passively from a book, but as a constructive task.

yeah that's very true. I don't usually just try to memorize the declensions like am memorizing mathematical formulas. Maybe the reason am having problems with latin is because of the method i am using.

thanks!

1 person has voted this message useful

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