Verbs: Which conjugation is it in? Part 1

I've recently been fielding some questions about verb conjugation. As in: how do I know what conjugation any given verb is in. No problem.

Since you are memorizing the principal parts of verbs (and you should), you will probably have noticed the patterns in the chart.

	1st Conj	2nd Conj	3rd Conj	3io	4th Conj
1st and 2nd principal part endings	-ō/-āre	-eō/-ēre	-ō/-ere	-iō/-ere	-iō/īre

And really, that's about all there is to it. If your verb has the -ō/-āre pattern, it's first conjugation. Very, very simple. There are no tricks. You can even ignore the macrons!

Next up: a quiz.

Catullus project

I'm starting to work on a project that will help students working on their own be able to read Catullus's poetry. Now, I'll be the first to admit that Catullus may have had a bit of, well, questionable content in his poetry. However his poetry can really resonate with young people—I know it did for me.

It is grossly incomplete and in the beginning stages of work, but I'm working in sort of a greatest hits order—the stuff students are likely to read anyway. If you want, you can check out the first one that I've got complete in both Latin and English.

If you were a student studying this poetry, what else would you like to see?

Free book

Well, not perfectly free. Let me explain.

Here's the story. I've got this book I published. Now, naturally I'd like for you to buy it. Preferably lots of copies so I can go on vacation with my family in Bora Bora—or somewhere else equally ridiculous. No actually, the money would go to more mundane stuff like groceries. I digress.

I've got 8 copies. One of them is free for you if you meet the following criteria:
   • Teach Latin to young kids (or have done so)
   • Homeschool
   • Have an active blog that gets more than 300 hits per month
   • Will write a review of the book (and link to the Amazon page)

If this is you, and you want a free book—drop me an e-mail. Or, if you want, check out the free eBook version I keep at my website. 

Reading out loud

Here is me reciting Catullus 101.

Do you see what I did? Yes, I read it out loud.

This is really key to making progress with Latin. Or any other language really, but especially with Latin since you won't be hearing much of it.

So here's a New Year's resolution for the silent Latin readers: read out loud. It will help.