Basic Latin Word Order

Latin sentences tend to have an order different from what most English speakers are familiar with. Latin likes a touch of suspense by placing the verb at the end of the sentence. But it's not so strange, since more languages have Latin's word order (Subject-Object-Verb) than English's (Subject-Verb-Object).

[@memereview9803]

" oh. he's greeting him. oH HE'S BEATING HIM UP- "

[@latintutorial]

Thanks! Yes, I have another video on imperatives. Just search "imperative Latin" and it should be the first video on the list.

[@latintutorial]

Yes, the subjunctive.

[@copyplanter]

I loved the mystery novel thing hahaha, it wil help me out. Thanks a lot!!

[@tejaswinigautam1366]

I am an Indian and in my language also the word order is the same, so I can easily relate

[@pfridell8424]

so basically I do whatever order I like??

[@Dalsir1]

What`s so surprising ? The same is with bunch of Slavic languages, it`s just shows limitations of English. That`s why you need to use those goddamn articles ! I found it hard to write some poetry for that reason. BTW, good vid.

[@latintutorial]

Good points, but I would argue that it's flawed to think of a Latin word like "amīcō" based on how it's defined in English, or even by its case and reason (e.g., ablative of means).

[@latintutorial]

That would be interesting, but it would require a lot of research on my part. Maybe over a school vacation. When I read Latin, I don't differentiate types of ablatives. In practice, there are really only three classes of ablatives, essentially governed by our prepositions "from", "in/on", and "with". Determining which one to follow is relatively straightforward. The difficulty comes in trying to identify which specific use of the ablative there is. So comprehension is easy, grammar is difficult. I try to tell my students to think like a Roman! And ablative absolutes (really, just an instrumental, i.e., the "with", ablative) are relatively easy to read.

[@Dalsir1]

***** I assume you`re linguist of some kind. Our teacher once told that English is very mathematical, strict one. You see, as for person who speaks 3 languages fluently, I have my opinion on word order and such. Did you ever try to write poetry ? In Slavic languages is relatively easy to make a rhymes, just change the word order. Of course it`s not always that simple. Not to mention that by doing this you change expression or an object you want to point to. But in English it`s obviously impossible.

[@legaleagle46]

But the Romance languages DO still retain SOV word order when it comes to direct and indirect object pronouns. Those are ALWAYS placed between the subject and the conjugated verb (with a few minor exceptions in Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, and Italian).

[@legaleagle46]

I don't think of the ablative absolute as an ablative of means (or "instrumental," as you put it). To me, it's more an ablative of attendant circumstances or an ablative of manner, depending on the context.

[@MusicalMine]

"oh he's beating him up" lol. great channel, love these vids!

[@woser.p]

🤣🤣

[@bushranger71]

your diction is sublime...thank you for these wonderful, and pleasing to the ear tutorials

[@Mac2point1]

totally agree

[@keepingitclassy443]

I *love* this this channel! If my Latin teacher from 20 years ago had been half as engaging, I wouldn't have forgotten 90% of what he taught me.

[@latintutorial]

Thanks!

[@devinm.6149]

Beata K practice is also an essential part of remembering any language and a linguist I know suggests saying what you are doing in any language in which you are or have learned on a daily basis so you do not fall out of practice with it.

[@waynewestlake5924]

Had mine been as engaging I wouldn't have RUN from Latin after just that first year!)

[@SomethingtoappeaseGoogle-1024]

You weren't joking when you said this was a *basic* tutorial.

[@betterhealthbetterlife4912]

You have explained this superbly. Other have not. Thank you. You are a natural teacher :) Peace.

[@bobbymorelli9763]

i took latin for 4 years and learned next to nothing. i just started getting back into learning it and you're a huge help!

[@totto5765]

I'm currently in my second year of latin and I never really understood a thing, but now I do thanks to you!

[@SamoriahGames]

Latin word order is especially interesting in sacred music. The fact that it is sung really does stress the "suspense", as it takes longer to reveal the message in this manner than simply reading. A personal favorite is the line "quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est" from the Magnificat prayer. Beautiful when sung, because the clause "fecit mihi magna" is satisfying just enough on its own, and the revelation of its subject, "qui potens est et sanctum nomen eius" is just.. wow :)

[@fiorelaakciu3536]

I know it sounds weird, but I looove this language, I wish it would still be spoken somewhere besides church, so that I could easily learn and use it to communicate with other people, it sounds so powerful and mysterious.

[@matthewlaurence3121]

It was the learned language in most of the schools and universities until about 70 tears ago (after 1945), it was still compulsory in most prestigious schools until about 40-50 years ago, in the British Model of education, and many universities made it a prerequisite for studying Jurisprudence, Law and Medicine until fairly recently. Its disappearance from most syllabi (a Latin plural), came down to a lack of popularity, as sentiment issuing from Latin's lack of practical purpose in a modern world that used English and French (the latter for business, initially) as a common tongue for communication, as well as a perception that it was elitist and not progressive. It is still an option in many high schools in Europe: France, Italy, Germany, et cetera. (another Latin phase)

[@iberius9937]

Agree with you 100%.

[@klerzerwind1208]

Agree, but you might accidentally summon demon in the process of saying " hello, how are you". Lol

[@juanme555]

"Fiorela" Doesn't sound weird at all.

[@c-bass9968]

Salvē! Quid agit?

[@EnglishAziz]

A great videos. Thanks for the hard work.

[@김경운-l8f]

The grammar sounds similar as Korean or Japanese. They are basically S-O-V and they have post positional particle which is attached to nouns to show what the noun's rule in the sentences

[@ryanw8509]

2015년에 1해 동안 라틴말 공부했어요. 근데 지금은 한국어를 공부하고 있어요.| (I studied Latin for one year, but now I'm studying Korean) Latin was helpful when I started Korean because It helped me understand the particles better. The first thing I thought when I learned about the basic Korean particles was "oh, so it's like Latin then."

[@cactusmanofdestiny3708]

“Iocus” Ah, a joke. I was feeling bored, anyways. Perhaps this will make my day! “es” Oh, he’s just calling me a joke. **Sigh**

[@queendiva1073]

These video teach me more than my online lessons.

[@ceciliatombellilatinteache2673]

Yes, you are like the math teacher of the Khan Academy fame. Thank you for sharing your natural gift of teachjng with us Latin students.

[@allieb4082]

Thank you so much! This is really helpful in teaching my son - great little suplement to Latina Christiana or any beginner Latin program Very nice that the videos are short videos, for short attention spans.

[@latintutorial]

Thanks, and good luck to your son!

[@Igor-ug1uo]

Now, every time any of my English speaking friends asks me why in Russian I say literally "I you love", I'll send them to this video. :)

[@NiCaNaMex]

😊Or, point them to Yoda...or older English!!! People need to read old stuff and they'll get it!

[@valeriyaaslanov3254]

Я тебя люблю

[@yeralmuzika]

Oh my god, so the main sentence structure in Latin is S+O+V. It's just like the Korean sentence structure lol, this made life much easier :p

[@ChrisSmith-um8uj]

It's olso the same with Japanese

[@yeralmuzika]

+Chris Smith Do you study Japanese...? :D

[@thomasjansen5921]

Chris Smith it's the most common word order

[@DanksterPaws]

Me crying as a native V S O speaker

[@DanksterPaws]

@@ss-jz5xk Filipino

[@isaachiew676]

so if you know japanese, chances are you are easier learning in latin because japanese also puts verb at behind.

[@joshwimber6147]

OMG thanks. Life Saver.

[@gentryhaney4713]

I like S-O-V better now Because ppl can't interrupt u bc they have no clue of wat ur about to say as in wat action the subject did to the object lol it's like there's a (cat and dog- and now theres no disruption bc nobody understands yet lol

[@gregmarra9457]

Gentry Haney That's true, however if the sentence is long and complicated it can be a challenge to find the verb! I know this from experience with Armenian, another Indo-European language

[@unflexian]

My language has every ordering _except_ for S-O-V, so it seems really unnatural to me.

[@yuvneesh]

I your comment like

[@HughvanZyl]

IDK if the last statement about it being mysterious is right. My family speak Afrikaans, which uses s-o-v and they say they don't think about the difference. I think it depends on your native language, if you are used to s-v-o then s-o-v will be mysterious otherwise you may not even notice it.

[@Vanessa-bu1mk]

These tutorials are AWESOME...! My cousin introduced me to LatinTutorial videos. Since a couple of weeks ago, this has been my only go to tutrial for Latin!I am currently taking Elementary Latin online and these tutorials are a lifesaver! They are very thorough and has helped me understand everything i need to know so far! Keep up the awesome work latintutorial!!!

[@jeremyramirez5465]

+Vanessa Alicea what website do you use for elementary latin? do you have to pay?

[@codytheawe5omeizawe5ome33]

+Jeremy Ramirez if you want to learn Latin, that's great! I recommend a book called Wheelocks Latin. It is able to be used by yourself, and there are plenty of resources to go with it. It starts out with very basic Latin and goes on to teach very difficult Latin.

[@pathfinder_strider]

It's so strange that Latin looks so much closer to German than to actual Romance Languages.

[@der_ober0n]

What Brutus is doing? I don't know, maybe killing his father.

[@isaachiew676]

he is the one who stabbed caesar

[@NiCaNaMex]

oh, yeah, that...

[@rhythmharmony2923]

The advantage of being German is, that this feels familiar: The slave | greets | the mistress. = Der Sklave | grüßt | die Herrin. Die Herrin | grüßt | der Sklave. Es grüßt | der Sklave | die Herrin. Es grüßt | die Herrin | der Sklave. ( Die Herrin | der Sklave | grüßt. Der Sklave | die Herrin | grüßt. ) In main sentences, we prefer having the verb in the middle. The verb at the beginning needs an the pronoun ‘es’ (=it) before it. That is even more common than a sentence beginning with the direct object, I believe. The verb at the end of main sentences is rarely found. Therefore, those examples are in brackets. In German, subordered sentences can be recognised by looking at its verb: it always stands at its end. One wants to prevent confusion.

[@galegocossia5506]

Deus meu, que aula interessante!

[@jennyharris8050]

At 4:54 what about O-S-V “Him I greet” Cross of Groot and Yoda: “Groot I am” 😋 Lol

[@angelhcsn]

lmao

[@pqbdwmnu]

Work like this does it?

[@ashwinswaminathan6738]

Extremely beautifully put! Arguably, the best aspect of Latin is its flexible word order which enables us to easily transfer the emphasis in a sentence. Moreover, composing a poem would be incredibly facile as individual lines could be rearranged so as to rhyme with one another.

I'm brazilian, a translator, I speak portuguese, english and spanish Latin just kind of showed up as a requirement in my college and the teacher's methods are not intresting because not only is ther not a review of the basic grammar, but they already expect you to know all the noun forms in latin just because there are variations in portuguese and it made a huge mess in my mind and I couldn't understand a thing my friends would argue that it'd be easier to focus on learning it from portuguese, but I like to take things slow and I appreciate your rythm so, so much. it all finally makes sence to me. thank you for uploading these videos. I have an exam today and before watching your videos, I knew nothing. gratias

[@atahanonacan415]

1:13 Master Yoda be like

[@saparbekbalkibekov3956]

I f you wanna learn Latin, when u come across a "v", say it like a "w"

[@BloodRider1914]

Brutus beats the friend in the study (hall).

[@particleonazock2246]

Thumbnail gave me all the information I needed, thanks.

[@KeithMakank3]

Ironic the people who tried to bring the world to order the hardest didn't have a strict word order for their language lol and as a result it actually created other languages for lack if of it one could say. Deep irony.

[@Monkeywe]

The word order in most romance languages now is mostly SVO with SOV being used to simplify sentences. Ironic since the romans probably preferred it the other way around.

[@trondjrgensen686]

The best Latin videos online great job man appreciate it.

[@johnthebull]

Verbs could also be used as punctuation to end a sentence since Romans did not have periods :)

[@asdf90asdf90]

Thanks so much - haven't looked at Latin for over 35 years but this was exactly what I was looking for. Clear, enganging and made me subscribe to your channel immediately. Will use these with my kids (10-11).

[@rienzitrento8397]

Yes is he “Beating him up?” Otherwise really good

[@smallypuppy22]

Everyone: Brutus NOOO Brutus: Brutus yes!

[@tspark1071]

in that sense, Korean Hangeul has such flexibility similar to Latin. Servus salutat dominam, Dominam servus salutat. It uses particles for nominative and accusative etc. SOV order is seen in french, spanish, and Korean, and Japanese etc

[@josephpaolelli6849]

This is excellent. Thanks!

[@analuizasilva5191]

This idea of suspense is a lovely way to understand Latin

[@denifnaf5874]

Hungarian works in a simular way

[@misssiddle5023]

Latin is fascinating especially if you know French or other languages and want to know where languages come from. I love this channel. I’m doing a lesson plan as I speak to primary kids.

[@watching5892]

Guys Latin is hard 😢

[@jayvoe7275]

I just feel in love with Latin

[@shadowknight2431]

There is no word order in Latin, the endings show each word's function

[@latintutorial]

But the words aren't put in the sentence in random order - there IS a somewhat standard way even if the endings allow for a much greater flexibility of placement of words.

[@davidbussey5191]

Ego conatur discere latinam

[@ldmtag]

I'M SHOCKED how Latin inflections are ALMOST THE SAME as Russian! I mean, ok, not the same, but super intuitive and tracable, like our "ish"/"esh" is really a funny way to say "is"/"es", and both are 2nd singular, Latin "et" is the same as our "yot"/"it" - SOOO SIMILAR!!!

[@aditya2805]

Indian languages (includingSANSKRIT) ... Use same sentense pattern SOV .... Same noun context... But sanskrit having ... 36 Vowels & 16 Consonents.. Each or any LETTER have 10 upper cases + 1 signature Lower CASE ... WORD cases Are .... Gender+tense (past ,present ,future)+ plural/singular Features of SANSKRIT based languages .... *All sounds of human are covered ....even fart..sound can be. Expressed *word fallows human sound ..what we sound ...thats we write ...NO hidden TC(terms & conditions like english) *SOV FORMAT ....full liquidity ..sentense never lose its meaning...what ever you change ... *compact # i heard ...europians ...facing difficulty to learn ...50 LAPHABETS of sanskrit ...

[@ButacuPpucatuB]

Thank you for the excellent explanation. I have subscribed and rung the bell!!

[@austinhunter1586]

Damn.. The end though.. That was a beautiful explanation. You truly are one of the few with a real mastery of english.

[@fluorescentblack4336]

You have a really nice way of speaking and explaining the subject clearly and with humour. Can't wait to learn more! Subscribed

[@latintutorial]

Thanks!

[@KDJi399s9cd0]

I really like the way you sound, you should be a professional narrator :)

[@Nikhil-P-R]

"SUSPENSE."

[@EdwardM-t8p]

When the direct object has a different form of the word from its corresponding subject form you don't need the SVO sentence structure.

[@FlamingAnimation]

Interesting, in Finnish you do the exact same thing. As in "Servus dominam salutat" is "Orja tervehtii emäntää" and in Finnish the subject stays the same, but the object of the action changes by receiving an extra vowel as in 'emäntä' becomes 'emäntää'. You can even change the order of the words and still would be comprehensible. "Tervehtii orja emäntää" or "Emäntää orja tervehtii" are just as viable as "Orja tervehtii emäntää" although this may sound a bit silly for a native speaker. Only real difference is that the verb changes as well, depending on who did what to whom, where, how and when...

[@TeamMojamRo]

The Ghastly Varangian most languages have the SOV system.

[@atouloupas]

The Ghastly Varangian Same in Greek! You can say "Ο υπηρέτης χαιρετά την δεσποινίδα" (SVO - main word order in mod. Greek) or "Ο υπηρέτης την δεσποινίδα χαιρετά" (SOV) or "Χαιρετά ο υπηρέτης την δεσποινίδα" (VSO), iit makes sense however you say it. That's why grammatical cases are awesome.

[@vztezcreenrij8910]

finnish is extremely synthetic. lots of declensions for one word.

[@user-ge4uk9ui8y]

perkele

[@antivirusantivirus3139]

Thanks. You are teaching classical pronunciation. There is a medieval pronunciation. Does it matter what pronunciation to learn?

[@jakubolszewski8284]

Pulchrum. I dont envy You. Im Polish, so cases are natural to me, but for You it must be the black magick xD.

[@josephpostma1787]

It may make ye wonder if speakers of suspense/S-O-V languages read more because you must keep reading to find out what happened.

[@majkus]

Why am I reminded of Twain's quote about long German sentences ending with a verb: "Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that in the last you are going to see of him until he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth."

[@britneyditocco5476]

SO helpful thank you so much!!!!!

[@latintutorial]

Glad it was helpful!

[@MonuKim-h4i]

its order is quite similar with Korean , i guess. it could nice, like very nice

[@vid3160]

Very well done video, amazingly helpful

[@harold1009]

Not me forgetting that in my mother tongue it's subject object verb lol. It makes so much sense in my mother tongue, just not in latin😅

[@Esfrwms_diary]

How should say sodium hydrocitrate for injections in Latin? Also mint pepper leaves.

[@MrMirville]

Word order in Latin is not free. There is a topic, or a series of interlocked topics starting with the background, and then there is the focus : in latin the first word of the focus is the most enhanced one. In general the focus is the object complement or another complement being a de facto object, not the verb that comes after.

[@kerryhill9749]

& I thought I was going to be having trouble with reading Latin and 1 word order looks more like German ,,

[@languagelover5469]

Magna video!

[@ryanjohnson9442]

əi

[@charlesmartin1121]

Putting the verb at the end of the sentence is SWO (Stupid Word Order).

[@tainge2117]

I am so glad I found these tutorials.

[@ultrad-rex1389]

I much prefer that 42% because it feels and sounds easier.

[@mconger54]

If you want verb suspense at the end of a sentence, try German lol

[@schiarazula]

« Puto Petrum Paulum victurum esse. » Who will vanquish whom?

[@KayleeKapital]

This is amazing so glad to find your channel

[@Katharsis540]

Servus. V is a v but in Salvete is a w. Do explain this rule?

[@woolly9468]

perfect guide for how to speak minecraft cow

[@waynewestlake5924]

There was a joke I ran across the other day and it was supposedly some Latin senator speaking before the other senators, having gone on and on, one listener saying to the other, "he's been going on like that for several minutes and we're STILL waiting for the verb!".

[@latintutorial]

😂

[@c-bass9968]

Brūtus amīcum verberat qia amīcum iam nōn eat. Sed inamīcus.

[@saparbekbalkibekov3956]

-it's doing some sitting.

[@DiracComb.7585]

Latin word order is some serious bull sh*t

[@francisgarcia3314]

The one thats flipped is like filipino

[@amauroalva2081]

I am writing a short academic essay in which I will describe the various components/aspects of my primary project &c. Can anyone who is knowledgeable in Latin/romance languages please assist me in ensuring that I use the proper title for my essay? What would the title “REVOLUTION STADIUM” translate to in Latin? And how is it written in English? I used iTranslate to get a translation, but the translation simply reads the same. Please help, I would very much appreciate any & all the feedback &c. Thank you for your consideration

[@marinaarmas221]

I am not against you personally but since my mom is making me watch your videos I don't like it...sry

[@latintutorial]

No offense taken! Good luck with Latin...

[@theowang1940]

I like your latin pronunciation

[@TheDocfri]

"Köle (slave/servus) efendiyi (dominam/mistress) selamlıyor (greets/salutat)" Turkish too follows the Subject-Object-Verb so i quess it will be relatively easier.

[@aparadox6303]

"'salutat' oh he's greeting him.. wait no 'verberat' oh, [the h is pronounced] he's beating him up"

[@NiCaNaMex]

WOW. Biggest help in any format; textual, auditory, visual. Thank you, big thank you!! Danke!! ¡Gracias!

[@अजिङ्क्यगोखले]

Wow. In Indian languages, we follow a similar format. The nominative, followed by the accusative, followed by the verb.

[@la-civetta]

I said it before, and I'll say it again: This is pure bliss. Dare I say: Pure bliss this is. ;) (O-S-V?) PS: One has to admire Brūtus, being so busy in the study...

[@arjunverma963]

how do we discern these two sentences in Latin, 1.the mistress is greeting the slave. 2.the slave is greeting the mistress. they have different meaning yet they can be written in the same way in Latin.

[@latintutorial]

In fact they should look different in Latin, because the one doing the action will be in the nominative case (domina, servus), while the one being greeted is in the accusative case (dominam, servum).