Now that we’ve had quite a  bit of grammar under our belt, let’s construct some simple sentences. I promise this won’t be painful!

We’re going to start with the basics, which will be learning how to say, “I am a …”

The word “sum” means “I am”. In Latin, “sum” is not always necessary, but is sometimes used for emphasis.

Here is an example:

Sum nauta = I am a sailor.

Since you already know that sum = I am, you’ve probably guessed that nauta = sailor.

Now try interpreting these phrases using the hints that are provided :

(1) Sum fēmina. (fēmina = woman, female, wife)

(2) Sum homō. (homō = human being, man, mortal)

(3) Sum servus. (servus = slave, servant)

(4) Sum dictātor. (dictātor = dictator)

Couple of things to note is that in English, we use indefinite and definite articles like “the”, “a”, and “an”. In Latin, you won’t need to worry about inserting these articles. However, when you translate from Latin to English, the sentences may sound strange without these articles, so your discretion is needed to make these sentences sound normal in English. For example, the first sentence, “Sum fēmina” literally means “I am woman”. However, in English, this sounds a little weird, so we’ll insert an “a” so that it sounds like “I am a woman”.

In addition, the second sentence could mean, “I am a human being” or “I am a man”. The meaning depends on the context of the sentence. Right now, don’t worry about which interpretation is correct. Just be aware that there may be more than one meaning in a single Latin noun. The fourth sentence means, “I am a dictator”. However, it’s not the use of the word “dictator” that you might be familar with. For more on this subject, go here: https://blogs.transparent.com/latin?s=dictator&x=11&y=20. Also, with the third sentence, the subject of slaves occurs frequently in the context of ancient Roman times. In the coming weeks you may notice that some subjects like slaves, are not as used in modern English, but since this is Latin, we’ll just use these subjects as examples.