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Solstices: Summer and Winter Etymologies

Latin has different words for the summer and winter solstice, solstitium and bruma. Each of these words has interesting origins, and this video goes through the etymology of each word, and why solstice isn't necessarily the best word to describe December 21. At least for those of us in the northern hemisphere!

culture minutiae

Rule 91: Clauses Depending on Subjunctive Clauses

The last of our 91 rules discusses the subjunctive of attraction. In short, when a subordinate clause depends on another subjunctive clause, the verb in that clause will likely be in the subjunctive as well. That said, this isn't a hard and fast rule, and you can easily find examples in Latin that don't follow this rule.

91 rules of grammar subjunctive mood

Rule 90: Subordinate Clauses with the Subjunctive

When does a subordinate use the subjunctive mood? This video looks at some examples that rely on the authority of the information presented. When the speaker or writer is the source, we use the indicative. But when someone else is the source of our information, well, that's when we use the subjunctive mood.

91 rules of grammar subjunctive mood

Rule 89: Commands in Indirect Speech

As we work through indirect speech, this video will focus on commands, both standard indirect commands and commands in extended indirect dialogue. The good news is that commands will always use the subjunctive when relayed indirectly. This video moves through several different examples of commands in indirect speech.

91 rules of grammar subjunctive mood

Ucalegon: From Minor Character to Modern English Word

Ucalegon is a small character in Vergil's Aeneid. He shows up once during the sack of Troy, simply because his house is on fire. And then that's it. Except that over the course of the last two thousand years, his name has become associated with his appearance in the Aeneid, and the term "Ucalegon" has come to mean someone who suffers the same fate: a neighbor whose house is on fire.

aeneid culture

Rule 88: Questions in Indirect Speech

The last few rules have been discussing indirect statements, and this video covers how questions are relayed in indirect speech. Unlike indirect statements which use an infinitive, indirect questions use a verb in the subjunctive mood, even when operating in extended indirect speech. But if the question is rhetorical and no real answer is expected? Then we use the standard accusative plus infinitive construction.

91 rules of grammar subjunctive mood

The Urine Tax: Vespasian's Great Legacy

Urine was a very precious commodity for the ancient Romans. So precious, in fact, that several emperors, including Nero and Vespasian, placed a tax on urine. In this video, you will learn about the legacy of one of these emperors, who gave his name to public urinals in some parts of the modern world.

culture minutiae

Deponent Verbs

Verbs in Latin come in two different voices, the active and the passive. But then there's this other set of verbs that don't seem to fit nicely into these categories. Deponent verbs are those that have passive forms, but we assign them active meanings in English: the look passive but are translated actively. This video discusses the concept of deponents with examples, and posits a possible explanation for the age old question: why do deponents even exist?

active voice passive voice verbs

Rule 87: Tenses in Indirect Statement

As we continue exploring indirect speech in Latin, it's important to think about the tense of the verb / infinitive in an indirect statement. Infinitives have only three tenses, and we need to think about these tenses as reflecting relative rather than absolute time. So a present infinitive shows an action happening at the same time as the head verb, a perfect infinitive an action has is already complete with the head verb occurs, and a future infinitive an action that has yet to happen.

91 rules of grammar infinitives

Rule 86: Indirect Statement

If you want to read ancient works of Latin, you need to understand the concept of indirect statement - when the author reports speech in an indirect way. Latin will put the subject of the indirect speech into the accusative case, and the action will be an infinitive. Any subordinate clause in indirect speech puts its verb in the subjunctive mood. This video explores this idea in a very basic way, and the videos that follow in the 91 Rules series will go more in depth with indirect discourse (oratio obliqua).

91 rules of grammar infinitives

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  • Latin doesn't have to be hard, and with the help of online descriptions of complicated grammatical topics, I hope it isn't. If you're a teacher, feel free to use these videos in your class, either to flip the learning, or for review. If you're a student, learn as much as you can. Check out the about page for more information.