The Basic Structures of the Latin Language
Latin is a complex language, and its grammar is not intuitive to native speakers of English. And while there are many resources out there, learning it by yourself remains incredibly challenging, and fraught with peril of misunderstanding. An experienced teacher can greatly accelerate pace of learning, and insure accurate understanding.
This course will take the beginning Latin student through the fundamental structures of Latin grammar, providing time to ask questions and discuss the features of the language that are most counter-intuitive to native speakers of a language like English.
This course presupposes that one has a solid grasp on Latin morphology. Students who lack this should begin with the Latin Morphology course. This course forms the middle part of the three course Learning Latin Track.
Mondays and Thursdays, 7:00-8:30 pm CT
August 7 - October 2, 2025
$600 / student
part of the Learning Latin Track
Schedule:
Week 1: Unit Two
Perfect active system, subjunctive, conditionals
Week 3: Units Three and Four
Purpose clauses, indirect command, ablative of personal agent
Week 4: Unit Five
Participles, datives of agent and the possessor, the verb “possum,” complementary infinitive
Week 5: Unit Six
Infinitives, indirect statement
Week 6: Unit Seven
Demonstrative adjectives, personal pronouns, relative pronoun and clauses
Week 7: Unit Eight
Verb “eo, ire, ivi, itus” imperatives
Week 8: Unit Nine
Comparative and superlative, adverbs
Week 9: Unit Ten
Ablatives Absolute, adjectives with genitive in -ius, verb "fero, ferre, tuli, latus"
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Dr. Johnson’s personal, innovative, and engaging instruction has helped me, even as a longtime Latin teacher, to think about Latin in new and surprising ways, which has infused my teaching. I have been humbled and yet inspired anew to value the process more than the result and to share that vital perspective with my students.
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Junius Johnson is one of the best professors I have ever encountered. He is deeply knowledgeable and qualified, but also uses humor and a sense of play to foster a collaborative and engaging learning environment — all while pushing his students to do and be their best. He equipped me with the essential skills of nuanced Latin translation, and perhaps just as importantly instilled in me a love for the language and appreciation for its historical development and contexts. More than a decade after studying with him, I continue to benefit from Professor Johnson’s instruction and in fact am currently translating a ninth-century text for publication.
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With humor, intelligent discussion, and deep insights, Junius Johnson gives you more than an overview or introduction to Latin, he inspires you to keep learning hard things while giving you a vision and much fuller picture of Latin.
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Junius has such a robust understanding of the language, and his passion is contagious. His approach invites parents, educators, and students to re-imagine how they think about Latin, moving from merely transactional to experiential. He’s also not afraid to address many of the “why” questions that all too often go unanswered. Highly recommend!
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Simply put, Junius Johnson is the best Latin teacher I have ever experienced in my many years of supervising education. He is a true scholar of the Latin language from the classical period to the neo-Latin present; he has success teaching every age and skill level. Junius is compassionate with those who are less gifted than he, but still manages to stretch his students in a friendly and inviting manner. I wholeheartedly recommend him to you as your teacher. Trust me, the encounter will be memorable.