Parsing Latin
This section is devoted to showing how to effective breakdown the Latin given, analyzing each piece, and understand full meaning. Parsing Latin at first may seem time consuming-- but the more you work with it, the more you begin to do subconsciously-- thus making you that much closer to mastery.
Passages
When reading passages, it is important to break down the paragraph into sentences, and if applicable, into its clauses, or smaller parts. Analyzing everything carefully grammatically, and finishing one thought, before going to the next.This is a skill you will need to master to effectively read latin, although it seems like a complicated process, it is very easy to translate when you make a habit of doing
e.g. Ecce! In pictura est puella, nomine Cornelia. Cornelia est puella Romana quae in Italia habitat. Etiam in pictura est villa rustica ubi Cornelia aestate habitat.
Now at first glance, they may seem like a mouth full, but lets break it down, sentence by sentence, clause by clause.
First, we see we have an interjection, Ecce! meaning look!, or behold!. okay, so that part was pretty easy
Next, we have a more complex sentence, the BEST thing to do, is translate BEFORE the comma, and then AFTER it.
this is my thought process
Ecce! In pictura est puella, nomine Cornelia
okay, in pictura I reconize as an ablative, "in the picture"
est = is, [obviously my verb]
Puella=girl, [nominative]
okay... the Girl is in the picture.. or in the picture is a girl...
next
nomine= ablative (assumed preposition) by name (called)
Cornelia, [obvious subject]
so, put it together.. Look, In the picture is a girl, called Cornelia.
moving on..
Cornelia est puella Romana quae in Italia habitat
Cornelia= Cornelia, subject [nom. sg]
est= is, [verb]
puella Romana = Roman girl, COMPLIMENT [remember these? Subject Verb Compliment, so its nom. sg as well]
quae= who [realtive pronoun]
in Italia= in Italy [ablative]
habitat= h/s/i lives, [verb]
Cornelia is a Roman girl who lives in Italy
Next sentence,
Etiam in pictura est villa rustica ubi Cornelia aestate habitat.
Etiam= also...
in picura= again ablative, in the picture
est=is
villa rustica= country house
ubi=where
Cornelia
aestate= in the summer
habitat= h/s/i lives
so, Also in the picture is a country house where Cornelia lives in the summer.
so, the final product is....
Look, In the picture is a girl, called Cornelia. Cornelia is a Roman girl who lives in Italy. Also in the picture is a country house where Cornelia lives in the summer.
Pretty simple when you get the hang of it
Also, we may not always have a subject stated within a sentence, here we rely on logic and context to know whom the subject is.
e.g. Eucleides est vir. est bonus servus.
Eucleides is a man. HE is a good slave. He, refers back to Eucleides, for he is the subject of the sentence prior.
you continue this process through your sentences, It all really boils down to recognition of words and cases as to how fast your able to translate. We'll work with this quite a bit, so feel no need to fret.
Translating
Although usually straight forward, translations can give us some hassle in converting them into English. We sometimes have to reword things in English so they seem less awkward, but we must keep the same meaning. The thought itself is not hard, it just takes time, and personal preference on how you do it.
e.g. In pictura est puella, nomine Cornelia.
analytically it is read "In the picture is a girl, by name Cornelia"
by name Cornelia? well that sounds pretty awkward in today's English right? so, how could we rephrase that, without changing the meaning?
"Called" right? she is CALLED Cornelia.
Another good example would be the following
licet mihi ire in horto
"it is permitted to me to go in the garden"
How odd is that? It is permitted to me? We would never say that in english, so how could we reword it?
well, if your permitted to do something, your allowed...
"I am allowed to go in the garden" sounds MUCH better, and doesnt change the meaning.
So as you can see, there is much room to create a concise and accurate translation, and still be able to reword things a little. We really won't be working with this too much, these are just good examples to show you how lenient Latin can be