A companion to Bloomsbury's popular two-volume Greek to GCSE, this is the first course for Latin students that directly reflects the curriculum in a clear, concise and accessible way. Enhanced by colour artwork and text features, the books support the new OCR specification for Latin (first teaching 2016) as well as meeting the needs of later students, both at university and beyond.

Written by two experienced school teachers, one also an examiner, the course is based on a keen understanding of what pupils find difficult, concentrating on the essentials and on the explanation of principles in both accidence and syntax: minor irregularities are postponed and subordinated so that the need for rote learning is reduced. User-friendly, it also gives pupils a firm foundation for further study.

Part 1 covers the basics and is self-contained, with its own reference section. It outlines the main declensions, a range of active tenses and a vocabulary of 275 Latin words to be learned. Pupil confidence is built up by constant consolidation of the material covered. After the preliminaries, each chapter concentrates on stories with one source or subject: the Fall of Troy, the journeys of Aeneas, the founding of Rome and the early kings, providing an excellent introduction to Roman culture alongside the language study.

Contents

Chapter One

The Latin alphabet
Capital letters
Punctuation
Pronunciation
Latin in English
Abbreviations and phrases
Inflection (1): word order and endings
Inflection (2): modern languages
Inflection (3): what the endings tell us
Verbs: first conjugation
Nouns: first and second declensions
Working out the subject
Word order
'the' or 'a'?
Three important conjunctions
The verb to be
Prepositions (1): with the accusative
Summary of grammar covered in Chapter One
Chapter One vocabulary

Chapter Two

Genitive, dative and ablative cases
Noun cases: a summary table
First and second declensions in full
Translating with the ablative
Prepositions (2): with the ablative
Second declension neuter
Verbs: second, third and fourth conjugations
New verbs
The infinitive
Background: the Trojan War and the origins of Rome
Using wordlists
The Judgement of Paris
To, from and in cities
Time phrases (1): 'time how long'
The wrath of Achilles
The death of Patroclus
The death of Hector
The Trojan Horse and the fall of Troy
Chapter Two vocabulary

Chapter Three

Chapters One & Two grammar revision summary
Imperfect tense
Translating the imperfect tense
sum - imperfect tense
Aeneas and Creusa
The verb possum
Adjectives (1): laetus -a -um
The Trojans head for Crete
Noun anomalies (1): nauta
Noun anomalies (2): vir, puer, liber
Adjectives (2): miser -era -erum
Vocative case
The Imperative
The Trojans depart from Crete
Time adverbs
Two contrasting receptions
Scylla and Charybdis
Chapter Three vocabulary

Chapter Four

Perfect tense: first conjugation
Perfect tense: second, third and fourth conjugations
Perfect tense: summary table
Third declension nouns
In the land of the Cyclopes
Storm and Rescue
Background: Aeneas' epic quest
Questions (1)
Dido and Aeneas (1)
Third declension neuter
Mixed conjugation verbs
Dido and Aeneas (2)
Pronouns and possessives (1)
Time phrases (2): 'time when'
Dido and Aeneas (3)
Dido and Aeneas (4)
Chapter Four vocabulary
Chapter Five

Verbs: future tense
Time adverbs (2)
sum & possum: future tense
Time adverbs (3)
The Sibyl and the Underworld
Personal pronouns and possessive adjectives (2): nos, vos, noster, vester
The eating of tables
Adjectives (3): third declension
The future site of Rome
The victory of Aeneas
Adverbs from adjectives
Background: From Aeneas to Romulus
Romulus and Remus
The foundation of Rome
The relative pronoun (qui, quae, quod) and the relative clause
The Sabine women
The Deification of Romulus
Chapter Five vocabulary

Chapter Six

tbc

Reference Grammar

English to Latin vocabulary

Latin to English vocabulary