General Grammar

The Eight Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech Activity Index:

This section is designed to help you learn the eight parts of speech in Latin. Read the following important information below, then select an activity from above.

The Eight Parts of Speech - Definitions

1. Noun - a name word that can be the name of a person (Caesar), a fictional figure (Zeus), an animal (Cerberus), a place (Roma), a thing (forum), an event (Saturnalia), or an idea (pax).
2. Pronoun - a word that replaces one or more nouns. Like a noun, it may represent a person, place or thing: The king of the Gods is named Jupiter; he is also called Jove.
   • Personal pronouns are: I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they, him, her, them
   • Reflexive pronouns are: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. They refer back to the subject of a sentence: Narcissus saw himself in the stream.
   • Interrogative pronouns ask questions: who? whom? what? which? of whom? to whom? To whom are you sending that letter?
   • Demonstrative pronouns point out persons or things. - this, these, that, those. We are happy to be visiting Rome because this is a beautiful city.
   • Possessive pronouns show possession: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs. Whose toga are you wearing? It is yours.
   • Relative pronouns introduce a subordinate clause and relate back to a word in the main clause. Cornelia's friend is Flavia, who lives in a nearby house.
   • Indefinite pronouns indicate certain people or things that are not evident at first glance. Someone will be able to help you.
3. Adjective - a word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun. There are descriptive adjectives such as large, bright, or green; possessive adjectives such as his, her, my, your, their; interrogative adjectives such as which book? what goddess?; demonstrative adjectives such as this book, that goddess; and indefinite adjectives such as some books, any goddess.
4. Preposition - a word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and another word in a sentence. Prepositions can indicate direction (I went into the town), position (she sits under a tree), accompaniment (let's go with a friend), or agency (the message was carried by the god Mercury).
5. Verb - a word that expresses an action, state, or condition. It can be a physical action such as 'run', 'jump', 'sit', 'sing', or 'carry' or a mental action such as 'think' 'hope' 'believe'. It can be transitive, meaning it can have a direct object: I see my friend, I carry a book. It can be intransitive, meaning it cannot be followed by a direct object: I sit under a tree (one cannot sit a thing). One can usually pick out the verb in a Latin sentence by the ending.
6. Adverb - a word that modifies or describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb. In English, an adverb is frequently recognized by '-ly' at the end of the word. Adverbs tell the manner (diligently), time (then), place (here), or degree (greatly) of an action: I worked vigorously.
7. Conjunction - a word that joins two words or groups of words. Examples in English are: and, but, or, until, nor.
8. Interjection or Exclamation - a cry or expression of emotion: Alas, Woe, By Hercules, Aha, Good grief!

Noun, Verb and Adjective Endings

I. Memorize these noun endings!

II. Memorize these verb endings!

III. Memorize these adjective endings!

Adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in number, gender, and case. There are two types of adjectives:

1. 1st and 2nd pattern adjectives (-us, -a, um) laetus, laeta, laetum, happy
2. 3rd pattern adjectives (-is, -is, -e) fortis, fortis, forte, brave, strong

1st Declension

2nd Declension

3rd Declension

Parts of Speech Activity Index: