Complementary Infinitives and Infinitives with Impersonal Verbs - Notes

Complementary Infinitives and Infinitives with Impersonal Verbs - Notes

 An infinitive is a verb form that ends in -re in Latin and is translated "to verb" in English. 
errare = to wander
sedere = to sit
dicere = to say
audire = to hear


  • In chapter 5 we met Complementary Infinitives. These complete the meaning of the verb:


Sextus arborem ascendere vult.  Sextus wants to climb the tree.

Sextus descendere timet.  Sextus is afraid to come down.

Note: In Latin the complementary infinitive comes before the verb it completes. In English it comes afterwards.

More examples:

  • Davum vexare volo.  I want to annoy Davus.
  • In rivum cadere nolo.  I don't want to fall into the river.
  • Prope rivum errare paras.  You are getting ready to wander near the river.
  • Servus lupum repellere non potest.  The slave/servant was not able to drive away the wolf.
  • Sextus ex arbore descendere non vult.  Sextus does not want to climb down from the tree.
  • Magnam arborem ascendere timeo.  I am afraid to climb the large tree.
  • Lupus Sextum conspicere non potest.  The wolf was not able to catch sight of Sextus.
  • Marcus lupum repellere parat.  Marcus prepares to drive off the wolf.
  • Cornelia vult ambulare in silvam.  Cornelia wants to walk in the forest.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  • In chapter 6 we meet Infinitives with Impersonal Verbs.

Certain verbal phrases are called "impersonal" because when translating we may supply an "it,"
and so we translate necesse est "it is necessary" and licet "it is allowed."

 Nobis necesse est statim discedere: It is necessary for us to leave immediately. Or we must leave immediately.

Vobis licet hic cenare.  It is allowed for you to dine here. You may dine here.

Licetne mihi ad latrinam ire? Is it allowed for me to go to the restroom? May I go to the restroom.

Note:  In sentences that use the impersonal verb + infinitive construction, the infinitives are the grammatical subjects.  So a very literal translation of the sentences above would be:

To leave immediately is necessary for me.
To dine here is allowed for you.
To go to the restroom is permitted for you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nouns and their Cases

Image
Latin nouns have various endings.  The endings are determined by what DECLENSION (noun family) they belong to. There are five declensions.   The endings signal the role of the noun in a sentence: subject, possessive, indirect object, direct object and object of a preposition.  These roles and their forms are called CASES. There are other roles too, but you don't need to worry about those yet.    The dictionary form of a noun appears with the nominative, the genitive and the gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) of the noun.  E.g. puella, puellae, f.
Read more

Latin Insults: Make Nouns and Adjectives Agree

Latin Insults It is a well-known fact that everyone sounds smarter in Latin.  Even your insults will carry greater weight if you say them in Latin.  Simply pick one adjective from column A, one from B, and add to noun of your choice in Column C. Insults may be phrased as Tu es… (You are)                                             Tua mater est  (Your mother is...) Note: : Latin adjectives take the same gender as the noun they describe.  If someone is a big pig, then that person is a magnus porcus but if they are a big beast then they are a magna bestia but if they are a big turnip, then use magnum rapum.  Some animal words can be either masculine or feminine.  In that case, use the gender of the person being insulted to determine th...
Read more