Writing Latin — A2 Level

By the end of this lesson, you will translate ten English sentences into Latin using A2 structures — passive voice, the perfect system, ablative absolute, and purpose clauses — with full grammatical justification for each answer.

How to Approach Latin Composition

Latin composition is the reverse of translation: instead of decoding, you encode. The key discipline is precision about form:

• Every noun needs a case
• Every verb needs a tense, voice, mood, person, and number
• Every adjective must agree with its noun in case, gender, and number

Work through each sentence methodically:

1. Identify the main verb and its subject
2. Determine tenses and voices needed
3. Assign cases to all nouns
4. Check agreement on adjectives and participles

Reference Table: A2 Structures

Perfect Passive System

Tense	Formula	Example
Perfect passive	PPP + sum forms	amatus est (he was loved)
Pluperfect passive	PPP + eram forms	amatus erat (he had been loved)
Fut. perfect passive	PPP + ero forms	amatus erit (he will have been loved)

PPP = perfect passive participle (4th principal part).

Ablative Absolute

Noun (ablative) + participle (ablative), grammatically separate from the main clause.

urbe capta — "the city having been captured" / "after the city was captured" duce mortuo — "the leader having died" / "after the leader died"

Purpose Clauses

Affirmative: ut + present/imperfect subjunctive Negative: ne + present/imperfect subjunctive

Primary sequence (main verb present/future): ut + present subjunctive Secondary sequence (main verb past): ut + imperfect subjunctive

Exercise Set — Translate into Latin

Work through each sentence. The answer with full grammatical justification follows.

1. The city was captured by the soldiers.

Urbs a militibus capta est. — urbs (nom. f.) = subject | a militibus = agent (ablative + preposition) | capta = PPP of capere, nominative feminine to agree with | = linking verb for perfect passive