Re: [tied] Latin

Hi Pete, I asked you a question a little while ago about
Latin, which I'm just beginning, and there's a few other things I'm
confused about, if you don't mind me asking.

In one of the sentences I'm supposed to translate, I came across the word
"de" without the macron over the e. Now I know that "de" with the macron
over the e means "down from, from , about, etc," and it's always had the
macron over the e in sentences so far. I can't understand why there's no
macron.

The other thing is that the vocabulary in the book gives the word
littera, -ae, f., " a letter of the alphabet"; litterae, -arum, pl.,"a
letter (epistle), literature." Is the latter definition always
written in the plural form, the former always in the singular form? If
not, how do I distinguish between "letters of the alphabet" and "a letter
(in the mail)" if they're both in say, the nominative case? Or what would
be the difference in "a letter (in the mail)" and "letters (mail)" if
they're both written in the same case? In other words, if "litterae (a
letter in the mail" is always written in plural form, than it would be
indistinguishable from "letters (in the mail) " ?

Would love to know, sorry if I don't explain well-
Adeus

Michael



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