Lesson 2

 In this lesson you'll learn:
- How to ask or say what something is
- The three nominatuve forms of the definite article (the)
- The other forms of the masc. A-stem and the neuter A-stem

 

Lesson 2

The definite article

The definite article (the) in Gothic is translated with the same word for "thus" and "that".
 In Gothic "the" is translated with "sa" (masc.) "þata" (neut.) and "so" (fem.).
These are the forms for the singular form, so "sa" can be used for "the king", but not for "the kings".

"the" however is only translated if a word was used before. So for example:
"The king is with a soldier, the king is on the road."
"Þiudans ist miþ gadrauhta, sa þiudans ist ana wiga."


How to ask or say what something is

It is very important to be able to say what something is, or to ask what something is. For this we need to know the word for "what". The Gothic word for what is hwa.
Hwa is declined like a neut. word.

As we learned in the previous lesson, "is" is ist in Gothic. "What is ..." can now be translated as "Hwa ist ....". As we saw above, sa, þata and so can also mean "this" or "that". If you want to say "that" in Gothic in a general sense, like in "I see that", you use the neuter form, þata.
What is that can now be translated as "Hwa ist þata ...".

If you want to say what something is, you have to translate the English "That is ...", in Gothic this would be "Þata ist ...", or a shortened form "Þatist ...".

The other forms of the masc. A-stem

We already learned the singular forms:

  • Nom. = þiudans
  • Gen. = þiudanis
  • Dat. = þiudana
  • Acc. = þiudan

The plural forms of "king" are like this:

  • Kings, nom. = þiudanos
  • Kings, gen. = þiudane
  • Kings, dat. = þiudanam
  • Kings, acc. = þiudanans 
 there is one form which we didn't discuss yet, the vocative. This form is used when talking to someone, examples: "O God, listen to my prayer" or "My friend, I ...".

This form is the same as the accusative for A-stems.

Now there is one A-stem left, the neuter form. The only difference is that the nominative and accusative are the same, there is no final -s for the nominative singular and the plural nominative and accusative are -a instead of -os and -ans.
Let's take a look at the declension of "word", which is "waurd" in Gothic:

  • Word, nom. = waurd
  • Word, gen. = waurdis
  • Word, dat. = waurda
  • Word, acc. = waurd
  • Words, nom. = waurda
  • Words, gen. = waurde
  • Words, dat. = waurdam
  • Words, acc. = waurda

The word God (guþ) maintains the þ in these declensions, but in most other words "þ" changes to "d" in the genitive sing. and plur., dative sing. and plur., and the nominative and accusative plural, so þ stays þ in the nominative and accusative singular.

Vocabulary

and = jah
without = inuh + acc. 
where = hwar (in questions)
not = ni
bread = hlaifs (m. A)
why = duhwe
because = unte

servant = skalks (m. A)
wine = wein (n. A)
well = waila
together = samana 
house = razn (n. A)
close, near = nehwa + dat.
there = jainar (that place)
a lot, much = filu + gen.
later = biþe


Reading text:

Hwa ist þata? Þata ist þiudans. Sa þiudans ist samana miþ skalka in razna. Hwar ist þata razn? Þata razn ist nehwa wiga jah akra. Duhwe eis sind jainar? Jainar sind, unte hlaifs ist jah jainar. Hlaifs ist þamma (for the) þiudana. Wein ist jah jainar, filu weinis! Nu sa þiudans ist inuh wein, iþ biþe is ist miþ weina.

Translate:
1. Where is the servant? There isn't bread!
2. We are (plural) in the house together.
3. Why are you there? Because there is wine?
4. There are a lot of birds.

 Answers:
1. Hwar ist skalks? Nist hlaifs/Hlaifs nist!
2. (Weis) sijum in razna samana.
3. Duhwe þu is jainar? Unte ist wein?
4. Sind filu fugle.



Do the test

 

Reacties

Een reactie posten

Populaire posts van deze blog

Lesson 1

In this lesson you'll learn: - How to start a conversation - The present tense of the verb "to be" and personal pronouns - A few important words  Lesson 1 The verb "to be" (wisan) Just like Spanish, Gothic uses personal pronouns (I, you, he etc.) which are often left out. Personal pronouns in Gothic are used for emphasis and for clarification. An example is: " Who did it? He! " The personal pronouns in Gothic look a bit like a mix of Dutch, German and English, let's take a look: I = ik You (sing) =  þu He = is She = si It = ita We (dual) = wit We = weis You (dual) = jut You (plural) = jus They (masc.) = eis They (fem.) = ijos They (neut.) = ija The dual is used to express that two persons are involved, so "wit" = we two, "jut" = you two. You use they (neuter) for mixed groups of both men and women. One of the most important verbs to know is "to be", while we look at this verb we'll re...
Meer lezen

Introduction

  Learn Gothic - Introduction Have you ever wondered, if you'd travel back in time with a time machine to the time when Rome was invaded by northern tribes, how you'd ask a Visigoth where to find the toilet? You might be surprised to hear that Latin and Greek aren't the only languages from antiquity which are well preserved, in eastern Europe there was a bishop with a Greek mother and a Gothic father with the name Wulfila, which translated the Bible into their language. He did this because most of them weren't that good at speaking Greek or Latin. Quite a lot is preserved of the language in this way, and in these lessons you'll learn how to speak and read Gothic. Gothic is an East-Germanic language. Learning it is a process, but interactive tests are added to each lesson to help you to learn to master what you've learnt. There will also be reading texts at the end of each lesson which you should be able to read if you know the grammar and vocabulary. Later...
Meer lezen