A place to start

The place to start with verbs:  what are they, actually?  Without going into too much detail, a verb  shows an event in time.  This event may be an obvious action (like my favorite example verb, kill) or something not-obvious (like the hiding verbs of be or have).  Either way, verbs say that something happened (event) at some time (tense), and they relate it to someone/something (the subject).  To go too much farther right now is to risk muddying the water with nuances and caveats.  Let’s just agree with what I have written and move on.

Verbs also have some standard forms we need to know.  An infinitive (to kill, to be, to have) is the basic form, often used in dictionaries, and states the basic activity.  It has no subject.  A finite verb (I kill, you were, he will have...) is any form of the verb + subject.  A subject is a must, and the verb can be in any tense.  An imperative (kill!, be!, have!) uses the basic activity as a command.  Technically it has no subject (though you is implied).  Participles and gerunds, while related to verbs, are beyond our scope right now.  Forget I said anything about them.

So far this has been in English about English.  I’ll connect it to Latin starting in the next couple of posts.

Some Ground Rules

What is in a verb?  Well, more than you might think.  And when learning how to use verbs, knowing their inner parts should be very helpful.  So some ground rules for our upcoming posts on verbs:

1.  We get no brownie points for knowing the ins and outs of verbs if we can’t then actually use them.

2.  We only get some brownie points for knowing how to use verbs but not knowing how they work.

3.  What verbs do in Latin, they also do in English (and French, and Spanish, and...), so a grasp of what verbs do is helpful beyond just one language--but you have to make the connection.

The first couple of posts will be background.  Then I will launch into the current verb tenses/moods we are using in class.  If you think you need a refresher, stay tuned; if your English grammar is solid, wait till the current class topics come up.  

Either way it should be a good time.

To you readers, a quick note explaining purpose and format:
Catullus, the patron Roman writer of this blog, was a neoteric, and as such sought brevity over exhaustive detail.  To that point, I endeavor to be concise.  Please ask questions (via comments) as you have them and, should I know the answers, I will provide them.
Should I err (either in fact or omission), I invite you to correct.  But unlike my patron writer, let's keep the gutter out of this blog--it is, after all, pointed in part to my work in a public high school.
And with that, legamus, meos lectores, atque scribamus!

Meas Nugas

Why is it that Latin teachers are always straining to tuck small, nerdling allusions into what they do?  I am no different, as the title of the blog indicates.  Those who know don't need me to spell it out, but for those of you not up on your Catullus (a first century BC Roman poet), "meas...nugas" comes from his first poem, his dedicatory poem wherein he thanks his benefactor, Cornelius, for considering "[his] triflings (nugas) to be something of note."
Well, this blog is dedicated to my nugas, my triflings.  As I will use this blog in conjunction with my Latin classes, the topics will be somehow related to what we are covering--be that grammar, vocabulary, history, art/architecture, or any other topic I think will be useful for me to think more about and students to know.
And as Catullus was grateful to Cornelius for considering his slight poems to be of some value, I hope you will likewise find value.  And I thank you in advance.