The Foundation: Declensions and Conjugations
Latin grammar is organized around inflection — the systematic changing of word endings to signal grammatical function. For nouns and adjectives, this means the five declensions, each with its own set of endings for the six cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, vocative) in both singular and plural. Certamen questions at the Novice level often ask students to identify or produce a specific form — "give the genitive plural of rex, regis" — so rote mastery of all five declension paradigms is non-negotiable.
For verbs, the four conjugations (and the irregular third-io subtype) govern the active and passive forms across six tenses (present, imperfect, future, perfect, pluperfect, future perfect) in the indicative, subjunctive, and imperative moods. A student who has internalized all tense-mood combinations for a regular verb — and who can conjugate them instantly from memory — will recognize most grammar questions before the moderator finishes reading. Invest the most time here: conjugation mastery unlocks both the language category and the translation category simultaneously.
Irregular Verbs: The High-Yield Priority List
Certamen writers consistently target the principal irregular verbs because they appear throughout classical Latin texts and their forms diverge dramatically from regular patterns. The five you must know completely are:
- esse (to be) — foundational; appears in compound verbs and periphrastic constructions
- posse (to be able) — a compound of esse; know how the stem changes with vowels vs. consonants
- ire (to go) — irregular throughout, especially in compound forms like adire, exire, transire
- ferre (to carry, bear) — two separate stems in perfect system; passive forms of the present system are heavily tested
- velle (to wish) and its relatives nolle (to be unwilling) and malle (to prefer) — all three share an irregular present system and lack passive forms
Deponent verbs — those with passive forms but active meanings — are another perennial Certamen topic. Common deponents like loqui (to speak), sequi (to follow), pati (to suffer), and moriri (to die) appear in translation questions and in explicit grammar questions asking students to identify the form of a deponent.
Key Syntactic Constructions
Beyond individual forms, Certamen tests the ability to recognize and analyze syntactic structures — the "bigger picture" of how Latin clauses work. The most heavily tested constructions at Intermediate and Advanced levels are:
- Ablative Absolute: A participial phrase in the ablative case that operates independently from the main clause, e.g., hostibus victis, Romani domum redierunt (the enemies having been defeated, the Romans returned home). Questions may ask you to identify the construction by name, translate the phrase, or explain its grammatical relationship to the main verb.
- Indirect Statement (Accusative + Infinitive): Latin reports speech indirectly using an accusative subject and an infinitive in the appropriate tense. The tense of the infinitive is relative to the main verb — present infinitive for simultaneous action, perfect for prior action, future for subsequent action. This construction is ubiquitous in Caesar and Cicero.
- Purpose and Result Clauses: Purpose clauses use ut (or ne for negative) with the subjunctive to express why something is done. Result clauses also use ut with the subjunctive but are signaled by intensifying words (tam, ita, talis) in the main clause. Knowing the distinction and being able to translate both correctly is a standard Intermediate and Advanced question type.
- Conditional Sentences: Latin has six conditional types, ranging from simple fact (si hoc facis, erras) to contrary-to-fact in past time (si hoc fecisses, erravisses). Certamen writers ask both for translation and for identification of the type by name.
- Gerunds and Gerundives: The gerund is a verbal noun (amandi — of loving); the gerundive is a verbal adjective expressing obligation or necessity (liber legendus est — the book must be read). The gerundive construction with esse forms the passive periphrastic, which is heavily tested at Advanced level.
Translation Questions and Author Styles
At Intermediate and especially Advanced Certamen, translation questions present a Latin sentence or short passage and ask for an accurate English rendering. The four authors whose prose and poetry appear most frequently are Cicero (complex periodic sentences with elaborate subordination), Caesar (direct, military prose with frequent ablative absolutes and indirect statement), Vergil (dactylic hexameter with inverted word order and poetic vocabulary), and Ovid (elegiac couplets with wit, mythological allusions, and wordplay). If you know the characteristic style of each author — and have read at least selections from each — you will often recognize the source before you finish parsing the sentence, which speeds up translation dramatically.
The Best Study Resources
Several resources stand out for Certamen grammar preparation. Wheelock's Latin remains the most widely used introductory textbook in the United States, and working through its grammar chapters and vocabulary lists provides a solid Novice-to-Intermediate foundation. Allen & Greenough's New Latin Grammar (freely available online) is the authoritative reference for advanced constructions and is worth consulting whenever you encounter a grammatical term you cannot fully define. For competition-specific practice, the DLCV (Digital Latin Certamen Vault) and archived tournament packets from major invitationals are the most targeted resources available — reading explanations for questions you answer incorrectly will accelerate your mastery of both grammar and content faster than any textbook alone.