Latin Prep chapter 2 question

[rockala]

We are still in chapter 2 of latin Prep and the kids have to translate a passage. They did pretty well but in converting some words came though slightly different.

 

For instance, exercise 2.5, they came up with Cassia sings and Alus shouts, but the answer book says "Cassia is singing and Aulus is shouting."

 

Is this just normal translation from latin to English or are we off?

Thanks,

Kathy

[Penny]

Normal. Both are present tense and both OK. My kids translated that way for quite a while until they got used to the point that the 'ing' version is OK too.

 

Blessings,

 

Penny

[abbeyej]

It's totally fine. Latin just has one form of the present, but in English we have three: simple present, present progressive and present emphatic.

 

So in Latin, you would say:

"cantat."

But in English, you could say:

"He sings." (or she or it...)

"He is singing."

"He does sing."

 

All are equally appropriate translations (unless the context makes one clearly a better choice than another).

 

And, of course, the reverse is true:

He sings / He is singing / He does sing

would all be translated into Latin simply as

cantat.

 

(Sometimes that's tough for kids as well -- they want to translate the "is" and the "singing" separately, even when they've seen it and worked with it a jillion times...) ;)

[rockala]

Thank you all so much, we had almost dropped out of Latin Prep and are trying to give it another go, so I appreciate knowing what is acceptable as I have no Latin background.

 

thanks,

Kathy