Latin Help - In principio erat Verbum

In principio erat Verbum: "In the beginning was the Word"

Latin doesn't have a word for "a, an, the" and rarely uses "my, yours, his, theirs." Symbols such as dots and commas are not used. Personal pronouns ("I", "you", "we", "they" etc.) are usually omitted, because the verb indicates them.

Latin words change endings according to their duty. ACTORS have a basic spelling and ACTEEs change that spelling to end in the -m sound [-am, -um, or -em]. Nouns are grouped into classes ("declensions") by how they change their endings - "Deus" use the following paradigm (O-Declension):

Form	Case name	Translation
De-us	Nominative	God (as a subject - ACTORS)
De-i	Genitive	of God / God's
De-o	Dative	to God (as an indirect object or location)
De-um	Accusative	God (as a direct object or direction - ACTEEs)
De-o	Ablative	through God, with God, etc.

• in principio erat Deus.
  
• Deum laudamus (laudamus = we praise)
• in Deo vita est.
• Dei gloria (gloria = glory)
• a Deo salvatus erat (salvatus = saved)
• Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum ("The Word was with God and God was the Word").
• Fuit homo missus a Deo cui nomen erat Iohannes - "There was a man sent from God whose name was John".
  

Latin nouns have a gender assigned to them. "Lux"(light) is a feminine noun, "deus"(God) is masculine and "verbum"(word) is neuter. Et lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non conprehenderunt - "and light shineth in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it". [eam - "her" - is the Accusative form of ea ("she") referring to lux (feminine).]

In Latin the thought pattern is like: [ACTOR /ACTED-UPON] [ACTION]. For instance: [Femina/Marcum Brutum] [VID-et] - "A woman sees/spots Marcus Brutus.

ACTIONS (verbs) typically ends in -re in Infinitive form. For the conjugated form in Indicative take off the -re ending and add one of the verb endings (-t, -nt, etc.): laudare (to praise) - [lauda] - laudat ("he praises"). In Subjunctive (when verb conveys a wish or a goal, particularly if it follows the word ut - "so that, in order to") keep the -re and add the verb ending to the end of it: laudare (to praise) - laudaret "so that he praises".

Hic venit in testimonium ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine ut omnes crederent per illum - "This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him".

[Adapted from: http://www.learnlangs.com/biblelatin/lesson1.htm and http://www.cherryh.com/www/latin1.htm]