Chapter 15

RULE 1: -ba- is the tense marker for the imperfect tense in all conjugations.

RULE 2: The ablative of time, used without a preposition, shows "point in time."

I. Grammar

Because we learned the imperfect tense in Chapter 5 and also reinforced it in later chapters (8 and 10), this chapter presents almost no new information. We'll use it to review and then move on quickly.

A. The Ablative of Time

Besides using no preposition, the ablative of time must employ a noun which denotes a unit of time, e.g. day, hour, minute, sunrise, bedtime, classtime, winter, yesterday, the Classical Age, etc. As of this lesson Wheelock has included only two vocabulary words which can be used in the ablative of time: hora and tempus. In the next lesson he will add aetas to this list.

The Romans viewed time as representing either continual or stopped action, a mode of thinking which is evidenced in verbs and nouns. In much the same way that the perfect tense shows single-event or stopped action in the past, the ablative of time relates the point in time "at/in/on/within" which an event took place. In contrast, the imperfect tense shows continuous or repeated action in the past and corresponds to the accusative of time—a construction Wheelock includes in Chapter 37—showing the duration of time "during/through/over/for" which something happened. Like the ablative of point in time, the accusative of duration of time uses no preposition. You are responsible for knowing both of these time constructions.

II. Vocabulary

pater: This word has a base which contracts!

miser: This word does not contract!

inter: Takes an accusative object.

itaque: Means literally "and so."

quoniam: Means literally "since now," with the implied sense "since, seeing that, whereas, because."

committo: Takes both an accusative direct object and a dative indirect object: "to entrust X (accusative) to Y (dative)."

timeo: There is no fourth principal part for timeo, because this verb has no true passive. To say "be feared," Latin must use another verb for "fear."

III. Sentences

Practice and Review

7. Here, ars has the sense of "technical craft, means."

8. In this sentence, se . . . gerere means "conduct oneself."

10. Facio here takes a double accusative, "to make X Y." The second accusative works like an appositive.

11. For "used to" in this sentence and in sentence 14, use the imperfect tense.

12. Similarly, use the imperfect tense to cover "kept" in this sentence.

13. If "we saved his life" only once, the verb "saved" should be in the perfect tense in Latin.

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