5d. Latin Accidence and Syntax - Accidence — OCR A-Level Latin

This row sets the accidence and syntax knowledge that underpins Component 01 (Latin Language) and Component 02 (Prose Composition or Comprehension). Accidence means the forms of words: noun and adjective declensions, pronoun forms, and verb conjugations across tenses, voices and moods. Learn paradigms systematically, then apply them in unseens for both components. For Component 01, accurate recognition of forms supports translation and comprehension; for Component 02, the same knowledge supports either prose composition or comprehension, depending on the route chosen. Test yourself by parsing forms in context rather than reciting lists alone, and check the official vocabulary and accidence list for the exact scope.

This item tests recognition of Latin noun declension across the standard types and four irregular or partly irregular nouns. A learner should be able to give the full paradigm of a first-declension noun such as puella, a second-declension noun such as dominus or bellum, third-declension nouns of both consonant and i-stem type, fourth-declension nouns such as manus and fifth-declension nouns such as dies. Beyond these, the learner must handle bos, bovis (ox), domus (house, with its locative domi), Iuppiter (Jupiter, with stem Iov- in oblique cases) and vis (force, with vis, vim, vi and plural vires, virium). A correct answer identifies the right case and number form and does not confuse the irregular stems with regular ones.

This item tests adjective declension across the standard types. A learner should handle first-and-second-declension adjectives such as bonus, bona, bonum, third-declension adjectives of three terminations such as acer, acris, acre, of two terminations such as fortis, forte, and of one termination such as ingens. The item also covers dives (rich), pauper (poor) and vetus (old), which are third-declension adjectives of one termination with their own patterns: dives has genitive divitis, pauper has genitive pauperis, and vetus has genitive veteris. A correct answer agrees the adjective with its noun in case, number and gender and uses the right stem.

Adverbs in Latin modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs, and OCR expects you to recognise their formation and translate them accurately. Most are formed from adjectives: first/second-declension adjectives add -ē to the stem (clārus → clārē, 'clearly'; laetus → laetē), while third-declension adjectives commonly add -iter (fortis → fortiter, 'bravely'; celer → celeriter). Some are irregular and must be learned as vocabulary: bene, male, magnopere, saepe, semper, nunc, tum. In an MCQ you may be asked to pick the correct adverb from an adjective, identify the adjective behind a given adverb, or choose the right English meaning in context. Check the adjective's declension before applying a suffix, and watch for adverbs that look like case forms, such as magnā cum laude or the ablative used adverbially.

Latin compares adjectives and adverbs in three degrees: positive, comparative and superlative. For adjectives, the comparative adds -ior (masc./fem.) and -ius (neut.) to the stem (clārus → clārior, clārius), and the superlative adds -issimus/-a/-um (clārissimus). Adjectives in -er form the superlative with -rimus (celer → celerrimus), and six -ilis adjectives use -limus (facilis → facillimus). Comparatives decline as third-declension adjectives; superlatives as first/second. Adverbs compare regularly with -ius (comparative) and -issimē (superlative): clārē → clārius → clārissimē. Irregulars include bonus → melior → optimus, malus → peior → pessimus, magnus → maior → maximus, and their adverb forms. Comparatives may take quam ('than') or the ablative of comparison.

This accidence item tests recognition and correct parsing of Latin pronouns and of adjectives that behave like pronouns. You need to identify the form, its case, number and gender where relevant, and the word it agrees with or stands for. Personal pronouns such as ego and tū, reflexive sē, demonstratives such as hic, ille and is, relatives such as quī, interrogatives such as quis, and pronominal adjectives such as alius, alter, ūllus, nūllus, tōtus and sōlus all belong here. A useful method is to ask three questions: what is the form's case and number, what gender does it carry, and what noun or antecedent does it point to? Watch for the genitive singular of is, ea, id, which is eius, and for the dative singular ending -ī in pronouns such as huic and illī.

This accidence item tests recognition and parsing of Latin verb forms across the full range. You must identify person, number, tense, mood and voice, and recognise the verb type. Standard verbs come from the four conjugations plus mixed forms such as capiō. Deponent verbs have passive forms with active meaning, as in sequor, secūtus sum. Semi-deponents are active in the present system but passive in the perfect, as in audeō, ausus sum. Defective verbs lack parts, as in inquam or ōdī. Irregular verbs include sum, possum, eō, ferō, volō and their compounds. Impersonal verbs appear only in the third-person singular, as in licet or oportet, and the impersonal passive of an intransitive verb uses the third-person singular passive, as in ventum est or pugnātum est. Parse by asking: person, number, tense, mood, voice, then verb type.

A compound verb is a simple verb base to which a prefix such as ad-, con-, in-, per-, prae-, re-, sub- or trans- is attached. Regular formation means the base behaves predictably, but the junction often triggers sound change: the final consonant of the prefix assimilates to the first consonant of the base, as when ad- plus ferre gives afferre, and con- plus legere gives colligere. Vowels may weaken or syncopate in the base, as when facere appears as -ficere in perficere. Learn each compound as prefix plus base, identify the prefix's normal meaning (ad- 'towards', re- 'back', per- 'through'), and check the dictionary headword for the compound rather than guessing. Note that intellegere derives from inter- plus legere, with the prefix's r assimilating to l, not from in- plus legere.

Cardinal numbers answer 'how many': unus, duo, tres, quattuor, quinque and so on up to mille (1000). The teens run undecim (11), duodecim (12), tredecim (13) through to septendecim (17), then reverse-compound forms duodeviginti (18, 'two from twenty') and undeviginti (19). Tens are viginti, triginta, quadraginta and so on; hundreds are centum (100) and the declinable hundreds ducenti (200), trecenti (300) up to nongenti (900). Declension is selective: unus, duo and tres decline, as do the hundreds from ducenti to nongenti; quattuor to centum are indeclinable. Ordinals answer 'which in order': primus, secundus, tertius, quartus, quintus, sextus, septimus, octavus, nonus, decimus. Ordinals decline like first-and-second-declension adjectives.

Prepositions in Latin are indeclinable words that signal the grammatical case of a following noun and add meaning such as place, direction, means or accompaniment. Most prepositions govern the accusative (for example ad, per, trans, contra), some govern the ablative (for example ab, cum, de, ex, sine, pro), and a few take either case with a change of sense: in with the ablative marks place where, but with the accusative marks motion into; sub with the ablative marks position under, with the accusative motion to beneath. Learn each preposition together with its case and its core meaning, then check the noun ending to confirm the case actually used. Watch for prepositions that also function as prefixes in compound verbs, where the same sense often survives.