Lesson #5

In the previous lesson, you had an opportunity to read about some monsters. Some of those monsters had a few extra body parts. Weird, right? Monstruous, even.

Well, let’s take a closer look at numbers in Latin. In Latin, the numbers 1-3 are a bit tricky, but the rest of the numbers are actually quite easy.

one	two	three
hic est unus oculus.	hi sunt duo oculi.	hi sunt tres oculi.
haec est una magistra.	hae sunt duae magistrae.	hae sunt tres magistrae.
hoc est unum caput.	haec sunt duo capita.	haec sunt tria capita.
unus, una, unum	duo, duae, duo	tres, tres, tria

The numbers 1-3 have a different spelling which depends on the gender of the item being counted. [As a side note, notice that the hic, haec, hoc, hae, hi also change spelling. They do so for the same reason the number changes.]

All Latin nouns have a gender. Sometimes the gender makes sense (boy = puer, masculine, wife = uxor, feminine, floor = pavimentum, neuter) and sometimes it doesn’t make sense at all (ball = pila, feminine, wall = murus, masculine). In the chart above, oculus is masculine, magistra is feminine, and caput is neuter.

Do you remember what each of these words mean? (Answer Key)

The dictionary entry of a Latin word (i.e. the way the words appears listed in a dictionary) includes the gender information of a Latin word (m. = masculine, f. = feminine, n. = neuter). Here are some dictionary entries for recent words you’ve seen:

• lupus, lupi, m. – wolf
• homo, homines, m. – person, human
• discipulus, discipuli, m. – male student
• animal, animalis, n. – animal
• monstrum, monstri, n. – monster
• herba, herbae, f. – grass
• caro, carnis, f. – meat, flesh
• deserta, desertae, f. – desert
• canis, canis, m/f. – dog

The three different spellings of numbers 1-3 are written in this order: the masculine spelling, the feminine spelling, the neuter spelling. Depending on the gender of the item being counted, you’d choose the spelling you need.

Now, let’s take a look at the rest of the numbers. These numbers don’t change spelling, no matter what the gender of the item counted is.

	sunt quattuor dinosauri.
	sunt quinque dinosauri.
	sunt sex dinosauri.
	sunt septem dinosauri.
	sunt octo dinosauri.
	sunt novem dinosauri.
	sunt decem dinosauri.

Finally, let’s see if you can match the pictures with the Latin captions. (Answer Key)

A.	B.	C.
D.	E.	F.
G.	H.	I.

1. duo animalia
2. quinque animalia
3. octo animalia
4. tria animalia
5. sex animalia
6. novem animal
7. quattuor animalia
8. septem animalia
9. unum animal
10. decem animal