UCJITBK126 Latin for Students of Italian 1

Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Summer 2026
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Karla Vymětalová, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Richard Psík, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Karla Vymětalová, Ph.D.
Institute of Foreign Languages – Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Prerequisites
Prerequisites are required within the knowledge of the secondary school, both language (Czech language or Latin) and cultural.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
  • Italian (programme FPF, ITAL-bpk)
Course objectives
The two-semester Latin course goes back to the roots of Italian and all the other Romance languages. Its aim is to bring the italian language system of classical Latin closer to the audience, focusing on the basics of morphology. The lesson relies on  comparing the morphology of Latin with the morphology of contemporary Italian. The seminars are dedicated to the shapes of the preseed system and the flexion of nouns, adjectives and pronouns. In addition to common grammatical exercises, an important element is also the interpretation of well-known Latin statements.
Learning outcomes

The student knows:

  • both restored and ecclesiastical Latin pronunciation
  • basic manuals, handbooks, and dictionaries
  • fundamental terminology
  • the system of Latin declensions and conjugations
  • all tenses of the present system 
  • pronoun typology (personal, demonstrative, relative, and indefinite)

The student is able to:

  • assign nouns and adjectives to their respective declensions and decline them
  • assign verbs to their respective conjugations and conjugate them
  • identify the comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives and adverbs
  • translate simple Latin sentences into Czech
Syllabus

Topics:

1. Fundamental Concepts - Basic terminology; Essential study tools, handbooks, and dictionaries and their practical use; Pronunciation, vowel length, and accentuation.

2. Nouns, Verbs, and Sentence Structure - The system of Latin declensions (nouns and adjectives) and conjugations (verbs); Personal endings; First declension nouns; prepositions; First and second conjugation verbs and the verb esse in the present indicative; Active to passive voice transformation (and vice versa); Methodology for translating Latin sentences.

3. Declension Rules and Agreement - General rules for noun declension; Second declension nouns; first and second declension adjectives; Noun-adjective agreement; Third and fourth conjugation verbs in the present indicative; The double accusative construction.

4. Third Declension and Past Tense - Third declension nouns and adjectives; The imperfect indicative.

5. Participles and Comparison - The present participle (formation, declension, and usage); Adverbs; Comparison of adjectives and adverbs (comparative and superlative).

6. Deponent Verbs and Pronouns - Deponent verbs; The future tense of all conjugations; Pronouns: personal, possessive, relative, interrogative, and indefinite; Substantive vs. adjective use of pronouns.

Literature
    required literature
  • Psík, R. Latinská morfologie. Ostrava 2007. info
  • Pražák, J.-Novotný, F.-Sedláček, J. Latinsko-český slovník. I, II. Praha 1980. info
    recommended literature
  • Barandovská-Frank, V. Latina jako mezinárodní jazyk. Praha 1995. info
  • Bartoněk, A. Latina pro posluchače filosofické fakulty. Brno 1991. info
  • Stroh, Wilfried. Latina je mrtvá, ať žije latina! Praha, 2016. ISBN 978-80-7298-508-. info
  • Mikulová, Jana. Základní kurz lainy I. Brno, 2014. ISBN 978-80-210-7039-4. info
Teaching methods
For each topic, presentations summarizing the key points are available, along with a course textbook (study guide) providing a more detailed explanation.

Student Requirements:

  • Regular and active participation in seminars.
  • Completion of continuous assignments and home preparation.

  • Independent study of the provided course materials.

Assessment methods
Writing test
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught in blocks.
Note related to how often the course is taught: 10h/s/sem.
Teacher's information
https://is.slu.cz/auth/el/fpf/leto2026/UCJITBK607/um/
The course is also listed under the following terms Summer 2021, Summer 2022, Summer 2023, Summer 2024, Summer 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.slu.cz/course/fpf/summer2026/UCJITBK126