• Look for the subject first. Remember, the subject will be in the nominative case, so look at the endings to see which words could be the subject. The subject will usually - but not always - be at the beginning of the sentence. If there is no subject, look for the main verb, which will usually be at the end of the sentence.

• After you find the subject, look for a verb that agrees with the subject. That means the ending for the subject will have the same number as the ending of the verb. (With perfect passive verbs, the ending of the subject should also have the same gender as the participle in the verb.)

 

• Look for any ablatives and translate those next. 

 

• Translate the little words - prepositions, conjunctions, and pronouns. These will help you piece together the rest of the sentence, as they connect words to one another.

 

• Remember that it's okay not to get it right the first time! Translating Latin usually takes several tries. One word in Latin can mean so many different things in English. Latin has many "twists and turns," and if you let them confuse you, they will. But if you don't, you will realize that figuring them all out can actually be fun!