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- "Hello, Marcus."
"Hello, Marcus."
Translation:Salve, Marce.
26 Comments
When using direct address, (such as calling someones name) the vocative noun case is used. This changes names that end in "-us" to end in an "-e". I.e. Marcus to Marce, Stephanus to Stephane.
The -ius names (Iūlius, Cornēlius; and nouns like nūntius, messenger, or raedārius, carriage-driver) replace the "ius" with a long -ī: Iūlī, Cornēlī, nūntī, raedārī. Another example is the word fīlius , son: ō fīlī , "o my son."
1193
Wow. That just sounds like "-us" nouns becoming "-i" in the plural form in English, like "radius/radii" and "alumnus"/"alumni".
Those are Latin nouns; you've got the nominative singular (radius) and the nominative plural (radii).
No; if we were to ADDRESS the "beam; spoke of a wheel; shuttle (in weaving); radius ( = semi-diameter of a circle); beam of sunlight" (these are the definitions of radius given by my little Cassell's dictionary), in the VOCATIVE case, it would be radi . The distinctive ONE "i", versus the two "i"'s that you see in nomin. plur. and genitive sing.
I just wish Duolingo had a course on language terminology! Things like nominative forms and cases don't mean anything to someone like me because I don't know most of those words! Took too long to even fully get how conjugating works, and Im only talking about conjugating in the present tense! I did find an interesting entry level college book about grammar and I'm trying to find these certain needles amongst this whole stack of hay! There's all the more info that Im not looking for too. But if Duolingo had, instead of a tree they could use a flowering plant or a shrub, something smaller than a language tree, that still haf circles to learn thru but we were learning all these grammar terms and how they are used. That would be so cool!
Thank you. Duolingo should have these tips/notes on the course. I know it's in beta, but, it should have at least a note.
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Doesnt change the fact that the 'correct' answer is still wrong since the man is adressing Marcus directly
Marce is a vocative form. You used the vocative when you are talking directly to someone. All 2nd declension nouns (Marcus is a 2nd declension noun) take "e" as the ending in the vocative.
The vocative in -e is for 2nd decl. masc. nouns and adjectives that end in -us. (Rare exceptions: deus, god, uses "deus" as vocative; meus, my, uses "mī" (with long i).) . So, if we have an adjective like scelestus, "wicked," we would call someone "You wicked guy!" to his face by using the vocative sceleste (with the -us, subject form, to -e, "vocative" form, change).
This is a problem this course has, to take it, one gotta have previous knowledge about it. It turns impossible for someone to learn the basics (I think the goal of Duo is that) by just taking the course. Of course it is still a beta, then we can relate.
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I am starting the course with no previous exposure to Latin, and would tend to agree. Still, it's free and it's interesting to learn some things nonetheless. There is a lot about the grammar that is left unexplained, so the bit that I have learned so far tends to be more through rote memorization of phrases and recognizing words.
Everyone should feel free to ask questions. Lots of people are willing to give explanations on these discussion boards.
Yes, I must say I have no idea what it's like to take this course with no knowledge of Latin in advance.
What's the difference between "Salve" and "Salvete?"
I have gotten questions wrong by using both forms before.
Salvete is used when talking to multiple people, while salve is used for 1 person.
You use Marce when you are talking to him. You use Marcus when you are talking about him.
Stress falls on the first syllable of each disyllabic word here (the rule is better given as: words of 2 syllables are stressed on the syllable that's "second from the end"). SAL-vē, MAR-ce.
An easy Latin stress-accent rule: a word is NEVER stressed on the final syllable.
(Only the 2nd-from-the-end, or penultimate, or the 3rd-from-the-end, or antepenultimate, can receive the stress, under very clear, cut-and-dried rules:
if the penultimate syllable is LONG, it is stressed. if the penultimate syllable is SHORT, the antepenultimate is stressed.
LONG = it has a long vowel (marked with a macron, or long mark); it consists of a diphthong (ae, au, oe, ei, ui); it consists of a short vowel followed by 2 consonants: such as, the e in puella , the first i in vēnistī , the o in respondeō . )
As explained in other comments on this page, it's the difference between nominative and vocative.
Here is a plain-English overview of what the cases are and how they work:
Latin cases, in English
Here are the noun and adjective declension charts:
declensions 1-3
declensions 4&5
Adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the nouns they modify, but they have their own declensions. Sometimes you get lucky and the adjective just happens to follow the same declension as the noun, but that is not a guarantee.
For good measure, here are the verb conjugation charts:
1st Conjugation
2nd Conjugation
3rd Conjugation
3rd i-stem Conjugation
4th Conjugation
I appreciate the community help. Seriously, I thought there were two different guys, Marce and Marcus. They're in a band with Livia and Corinna. Livia plays the drums. Stephanus is their manager. They've got some good tunes.
By the way, if you want to catch them live, the band's name is "2150." (Marce, Marcus, Corinna, Livia = MMCL). :-)
