Taken from the "QED" series of teach-yourself Latin articles, this book aims to give its readers a basic knowledge of Latin in a short space of time. It covers just enough to give a basic understanding of the ancient language at the heart of many modern European languages.

Preface Introduction 1. amo, a mas, amat . . . The world of Rome: From Romulus to Empire Word play: Romans in Britain 2. More verbs: moneo, rego, audio, capio The world of Rome: From rape to republic Word play: Anglo-Saxons and Normans 3. Nouns: Corinna and Delia Carmina Burana The world of Rome: The first Roman emperor Word play: The Norman influence 4. Nouns: William, Harold and the great 'I am' The world of Rome: The Roman Empire Word play: The 16th-20th centuries 5. Prepositions, prohibitions and possum The world of Rome: The rape of Lucretia Word play: prefixes and suffixes 6. Nouns: the third declension The world of Rome: the treacherous schoolmaster Word play: False derivations 7. Giving orders and learning plurals Bayeux Tapestry The world of Rome: Hannibal crosses the Alps Word play: Spelling conventions 8. The perfect active and vocatives Bayeux Tapestry, Carmina Burana The world of Rome: The grandest old Roman Word play: tense and aspect CONTENTS 9. Personal pronouns and the dative case Martial The world of Rome: The Ides of March Word play: Word order and case 10. More datives and eo StJohn 12, St Luke 6 The world of Rome: An emperor's legacy Word play: Augustus 11. The imperfect active StJohn 1, adeste fideles, St Luke 2 The world of Rome: Worshipping strange gods Word play: Gerundives 12. Perfects and participles StJohn 19 The world of Rome: Dealing with Christians Word play: '-ant' or '-ent'? 13. vola, nolo, malo: the ace. and inf. The world of Rome: Caesar in Britain Word play: Se-xy stuff 14. The perfect passive Catullus 85, 70 The world of Rome: Roman democracy Word play: Latin roots, modem meaning 15. The ablative and adjectives The world of Rome: Women's liberation Word play: Family mottoes and the ablative 16. The genitive Catullus The world of Rome: Citizenship Word play: pes, foot 17. The pluperfect active and more passives The world of Rome: Slavery Word play: Indo-European 18. The subjunctive The world of Rome: Slave makes good Word play: ancient concepts, modern language 19. The Bayeux Tapestry and Carmina Burana Word play: Doublets 20. Catullus 87 and StJohn 19-20 Word play: Zeus Grammatical Summary Verbs Nouns Adjectives Recorded Vocabulary Latin-English English-Latin Grammatical Index