Sunday, December 11, 2005
Greek verbs (with some exceptions) contain six principal parts, which must be memorized when learning the vocabulary. As I have not bothered memorizing them, I have spent the past two hours staring at fifty-seven verbs I ought to have learned prior to this time, thirty-six hours before the final. Also, I missed two days of class last week and did therefore neither the homework nor reading of the last few chapters, which detail the use of participles. I nearly always encountered enough difficulties translating Latin participles, ich weiß nicht warum.
Last night, ellipticizing for half an hour, I at least memorized the present active and passive participle endings, which form the basis for the future and past participles that I did not take with me on similar flashcards. So having sweat on the machine for half an hour, listening to Rammstein's Reise, Reise as I squinted across the distance of my outstretched arms at the flashcards propped beside the calories burned/distance moved/time display, I can now with confidence recognize the Greek for "killing", "of killing", "to/for killing", "killing" as a direct object, and "killing" in the vocative.
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 12:41 PM]