National Latin Exam

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Facilitatorës et Discipulï,

Optimë! I am happy that you are choosing to take the National Latin Exam. Enclosed you will find a syllabus for Level I as well as several sample tests and answer keys. When you take the test, you will find some questions on material you have not yet studied. Don't panic! Every student in the United States will have the same experience! You can, however, bone up on new topics that will help you to be better prepared.

Included in this packet are extra materials for working ahead if you choose to do so. Studying daily life, history, and myth sections will be fairly easy, but the grammar will be more of a challenge. Choose the topics you feel you need help with and use the pages in your textbook, as well as the suggested websites, to help you with review and practice. Don't overlook the indices of grammar and cultural information in the back of Ecce Romani text that also can help you locate topics. In the NLE index you will also find several pages that will assist you in review and practice.

Finally, please call if you have any questions or concerns.

Magistra Joan Jahnige

"This syllabus is designed to provide the Latin teacher with a general overview of content included in each level of the National Latin Exam. It is not intended to serve as a total curriculum for any level.

*The syllabus contains items usually taught by the first week of March in a given year of study.

*The exam comprises 40 questions covering grammar and syntax, culture, Latin in use, and reading comprehension.

*In general the exam is designed to test comprehension of Latin rather than production of forms.

*With the exception of those taking the Level V exam, students are not required to name grammatical constructions.

*Any level may contain questions based on the content of a lower level.

The National Latin Exam Committee reserves the right to add to and/or delete from this syllabus at any time."

Verbs

• Conjugations I - IV Principal parts of verbs and the 4 conjugations
• Present Tense Present tense conjugated
• Imperfect Tense Imperfect tense conjugated
• Future Tense Future tense conjugated
• Perfect Tense Perfect tense conjugated
• Present, Imperfect, Future & Perfect of Sum and Possum   (Ecce Romani pp. 272-3)
• Need practice in the 3rd conjugation? Review 3rd conj v. 3rd-io conj with practice activity
• Present active infinitive
• Present active imperative, sing & plural How to form an imperative verb
• Negative imperative, sing & plural -- nole, nolite   (Ecce Romani p. 74)

Nouns

• You can review here Principal parts of nouns and What is a case?
• Declensions I - III What is a declension? and What declension do I use?
• Nominative (subject and predicate nominative)  What case to use?
• Genitive (possession)  What case to use?
• Dative (indirect object) What case to use?
• Accusative (direct object and object of prep. ad, ante, circum, contra, in, per, post, prope, trans) What case to use? and Prepositions review and exercise
• Ablative obj. of prep. ab, cum, de, ex, in, pro, sine, sub) Uses of the ablative case and Prepositions review and exercise
• Vocative (direct address) formed same as the nominative except for 2nd declension nouns, those ending in -us change to -e and those ending in -ius change to -i.) What case to use?

Adjectives

• For review, see What are the principal parts of adjectives? and How can you tell the declension of an adjective?
• Declensions I and II
• Noun/adjective agreement; number, gender, and case

Interrogative - quot?

• Cardinal numbers 1 - 10, 100, and 1000 (Ecce Romani p. 116) Cardinal numbers
• Roman numerals - I=1, V=5, X=10, L=50, C=100, D=500, M=1000 (Ecce Romani p. 123-4) Roman numerals
• Know how to decipher a number such as DCLXIV (= 664)

Adverbs

• Positive forms from 1st and 2nd declension adjective (see Ecce Romani pp 100-01)
• Interrogative adverbs: cur, ubi, quomodo
• Irregulars: bene, male

Conjunctions

• aut, et, quod, sed, ubi, et...et, neque...neque

Enclitics

• -ne (introduces a question)
• -que (means "and" when placed on end of last connected word)

Pronouns

• Personals: ego, tu, nos, vos (nom., dat., acc., & abl.)    (Ecce Romani p. 269)
• interrogatives: quis, quid, qui (nom. only)    (Ecce Romani p. 270)

For further information and exercises on grammar ...

• Grammatica Index
• The links to other grammar sites on the internet.
• Don't overlook the paradigms found in Ecce Romani pp. 267-273; the grammar summaries on pp. 274-283; and the grammar index on pp. 313-314.

Geography

• Locate Roman provinces and important foreign cities, such as Britannia; Graecia; Germania; Hispania; Gallia; Carthage; Athens; Alexandria; Troy - start with the map preceding Ecce Romani Chapter 1
• Important features of Italy, such as major cities, seas, islands (e.g. Sicily), the Via Appia, and so on.
• If you feel up to a real test, try this 2d year geography quiz!

History - basic terms and general information associated with these topics

• Monarchy - know the 7 kings of Rome (Ecce Romani pp. 109-11) and see this early history of Rome and a table of her seven kings. You can consult the timeline at the back of Ecce Romani but there is one misprint: the first king of Rome is Romulus, of course, not Aeneas!
• Heroes of early Rome (Ecce Romani pp. 141-3)
• Republic - 2 co-equal consuls elected annually
• Empire - emperor
• Cursus honorum (Ecce Romani pp. 168-9)
• Important: check out this page of general vocabulary words that Ecce Romani skims over.

Mythology

• Olympians (both Greek and Roman names) and associated myths - this material is covered in class) Olympians as well as associated myths, such as Daphne & Apollo (love myth; Daphne turned into a laurel tree), and Arachne & Minerva (spinning/weaving contest with Arachne turned into spider)
• Major heroes and monsters - Creatures and Heroes
• Major figures in the Trojan War, including Achilles, Hector, Ulysses, Helen, Aeneas (see Ecce Romani pp. 28-31)
• Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Rhea Silva and Mars abandoned in Tiber river, nursed by she-wolf, found by Faustulus the shepherd; dispute over the boundary and rulership; Romulus spots more birds than Remus    (Ecce Romani pp. 85-7)

Roman Life

The urbs

• city of Rome (see your map of the city)
• Circus Maximus - chariot races around the spina
• Colosseum - amphitheater for gladiatorial combats
• Forum - market place w/basilicae (law courts), rostra (speaker's platform), curia (senate house), temples and arches.
• Roads: Via Appia, Via Sacra
• Tiber River
• Palatine Hill (first settlement of shepherds, the goddess Pales)
• architectural structures and their functions, including
• aqueducts (water supply from mountains)
• baths (public, different types of rooms) thermae
• circus (race courses for charioteers)
• amphitheater (gladiatorial combats)

Housing

• domus - rich persons' home in city
• insulae - apartment dwellings in city
• villa rustica - farmhouse (produce)
• villa urbana - elaborate dwellings closed to cities, etc.
• casa - house, general term
• atrium - reception room w/ opening in the ceiling
• cubiculum - bedroom
• triclinium - dining room, reclined on couches
• peristylium - elaborate garden family area
• culina - kitchen

Meals

• ientäculum - breakfast, chiefly of bread, wine, cheese
• prandium - lunch, cheese, cold cuts, vegetables, nuts
• cena - dinner or main meal

Clothing ( Ecce Romani p. 17)

• toga - toga praetexta, toga virilis, toga candida
• tunica
• stola

• Basic spoken phrases, such as Salve! Vale! Quid est nomen tibi? Adsum! Quota hora est? Quid novi? Gratias tibi ago! Ita! Minime!
• Derivatives: for example, ambulatory (from ambuläre = to walk) or fraternity (from frater = brother)   Latin derivatives from Ecce Romani readings and Latin prepositions become English prefixes
• Expressions, Mottoes, and Abbreviations in common use; e.g., semper fidelis (always faithful); semper paratus (always prepared); tempus fugit (time flies); anno domini (in the year of the Lord); N.B. or Nota Bene ("make careful note of") - you can find a list of common abbreviations here and mottoes here.
• Visit the Etymology index under the Latin I Links for several excellent sites