501 Latin Verbs (501 Verbs)

First of all, the book is written by a professor from Freeman University in South Carolina and another from the City College of the City University of New York. I just wanted to write that in the event you are like me and want to know a little about the author of these reference books. I'm am just now beginning to learn Latin, so I do not know how well this book translates the verbs, but I believe it does a well job as a reference to a very intimidating verb system (Latin's verbs are used in many many different forms). It also has an introductory part that helps you make sense of the different way these verbs are used, the different tenses, phrases, verbs, verbal nouns, verbal adjectives, and just plain verbs. Inside the book, the verbs each have their own page, split into two columns for active and passive, and five rows (indicative, subjunctive, imperative, infinitive, and participle) and gives a model sentence. Well, I hope that gives you some insight into what this book contains, just know that it IS a helpful reference guide.

TU QUIDEM NON ES QUI HOC CREDERES.

I'm a beginner in latin and I bought this book without expecting anything great about it. I like it very much. It has many exercices, concise conjugaison, it is clear and "complete"

Perhaps I have been spoiled by Christopher Kendris' "501 French Verbs, 4th edition", a very lush edition in the 501 verbs series. Prior and Wohlberg's "501 Latin Verbs" seems rather bare bones. Compare the front cover listing of each of these book's contents.

Helpful features I find missing from the Prior-Wohlberg text are:

- the rules of formation for the verb stems, verb tenses, noun cases, etc.
- common expressions showing each verb's usage in various meanings.
- the translation of these and other phrases.
- summary of when the various tenses and moods should be used, again hopefully with translations.
- helpful grammar (when to use the subjunctive, sequencing verbs, orthographic changes, which prepositions are appropriate and how they impact the verb meaning, etc.).

In the "501 Latin Verbs" I would also like to see some explanation of deponent verbs. Pronunciation would be helpful. How does the long mark over a vowel change the pronunciation? Why do we care if a vowel is long or short?

The high frequency verb "sum" (to be) has I believe (I am in the early stages of learning Latin) an error in its conjugation table, p. 441. The active, present, indicative, first person, plural is given as "eramus." I believe this ahould be "fueramus."

I also cannot confirm one Prior - Wohlberg definition of "precor" as "pay" in any of the Latin dictionaries I have access to. Most likely a typographical error of "pray" but my confidence in the text is diminished by these two errors.

Prior and Wohlberg do provide "compounds and related words" for most verbs, and show some alternate orthographic forms (without explanation).

I found the Betts and Franklin "The Big Gold Book of Latin Verbs" a more useful verb text, and a dollar cheaper. For example, high frequency verbs get lengthened usage explanations with examples of various meanings. All quotations are translated, with an explicit citation reference. There are 5 translated example sentences for each verb. A lengthy introduction examines each tense, its formation, and if/how it differs in meaning from English language parallels. Additionally, Betts and Franklin provide detailed discussions of moods and tenses, and three pages or so on the subtleties of the subjunctive.

I purchased this book after borrowing it from interlibrary loan with its usual limited lending time for our emerging 14-year-old classicist. He uses it day in, day out! A must for any Latin student.

This is a great resource to help beginning Latin Students get a grasp on the many verb forms of Latin.