A few sentences that I tried to write in Latin about Hannibal

[Darren Nayar]

Hello everyone.
I've had a good amount of free time lately and I attempted to write a few sentences about Hannibal in Latin. My Latin still has a very long way to go, so I hope that you will be able to help me by pointing out where I've gone wrong. Thanks!

[1] In Carthagine Hannibal habitavit. [Hannibal lived in Carthage]

[2] Carthago Romae hostis erat. [Carthage was an enemy of Rome]

[3] Fortis pater Hannibalis contra Roma bellum agavit. [The brave father of Hannibal waged war against Rome]

[4] Territoria Romae et Carthaginis magna erunt. [The territories of both Rome and Carthage were great.]

[5] Oppidus Romae in Hispania erat. [There was a town of Rome in Spain.]

[6] Milites Hannibalis in Hispania oppidum pugnaverunt.
[The soldiers of Hannibal in Spain attacked this city.]

[7] Carthago oppidum Romae pugnavit, et nunc, Roma Carthagini bellum agavit.
[Carthage attacked the town of Rome, and now, Rome waged war on Carthage.]

[8] Miles Hannibalis in Hispania erunt, sed miles Romae in Italia erunt.
[The soldiers of Hannibal were in Spain, but the soldiers of Rome were in Italy.]

[9] Senatus Romae Hannibalem timevit. [The senators of Rome feared Hannibal]

[10] "Exercitus Hannibalis trans oceanum adducet", senatores cognaverunt.
["The army of Hannibal will come across the ocean", the senators thought.]
(This line certainly has problems. I'm not sure if Latin ever uses quotation marks, and even if they do, I'm unsure of how the grammar would be changed. Please let me know if these needs to be re-framed.)

[11] Sed exercitus Hannibalis trans oceanum non adduxit. [But the army of Hannibal did not come across the ocean]

[12] Hannibal cum exercitus trans alpem adducerunt. [Hannibal with his army came across the alps]

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[Bitmap]

Hello everyone.
I've had a good amount of free time lately and I attempted to write a few sentences about Hannibal in Latin. My Latin still has a very long way to go, so I hope that you will be able to help me by pointing out where I've gone wrong. Thanks!

[1] In Carthagine Hannibal habitavit. [Hannibal lived in Carthage]

No in, just Carthagine ... with towns and small islands you just use the locative.

[2] Carthago Romae hostis erat. [Carthage was an enemy of Rome]

That's grammatically correct.

[3] Fortis pater Hannibalis contra Roma bellum agavit. [The brave father of Hannibal waged war against Rome]

*contra Romam
The perfect of agere is egisse.
For 'to wage war', I would suggest bellum gerere (cum aliquo), though.

[4] Territoria Romae et Carthaginis magna erunt. [The territories of both Rome and Carthage were great.]

*erant
territorium might not be the most likely word in that context, but the sentence is grammatically correct.

[5] Oppidus Romae in Hispania erat. [There was a town of Rome in Spain.]

It would have to be oppidum, but that would sound like there was a town called Rome in Spain.
If you mean a town that was allied to Rome, then oppidum Romae amicum/socium/sociatum would be better.

[6] Milites Hannibalis in Hispania oppidum pugnaverunt.
[The soldiers of Hannibal in Spain attacked this city.]

*oppugnaverunt

[7] Carthago oppidum Romae pugnavit, et nunc, Roma Carthagini bellum agavit.
[Carthage attacked the town of Rome, and now, Rome waged war on Carthage.]

See above:
to attack = oppugnare
to wage war on someone = bellum cum aliquo gerere

[8] Miles Hannibalis in Hispania erunt, sed miles Romae in Italia erunt.
[The soldiers of Hannibal were in Spain, but the soldiers of Rome were in Italy.]

*milites (2x)
*erant (2x)

[9] Senatus Romae Hannibalem timevit. [The senators of Rome feared Hannibal]

*timuit

[10] "Exercitus Hannibalis trans oceanum adducet", senatores cognaverunt.
["The army of Hannibal will come across the ocean", the senators thought.]
(This line certainly has problems. I'm not sure if Latin ever uses quotation marks, and even if they do, I'm unsure of how the grammar would be changed. Please let me know if these needs to be re-framed.)

You can use direct quotations in Latin of course. The sentence should be passive, though: trans oceanum ducetur... or trans oveanum veniet. Probably mare would fit better than oceanus... but your English has ocean as well, so ...

[11] Sed exercitus Hannibalis trans oceanum non adduxit. [But the army of Hannibal did not come across the ocean]

Here, too, passive: ductus est... or venit.

[12] Hannibal cum exercitus trans alpem adducerunt. [Hannibal with his army came across the alps]

Thanks a lot in advance!

Hannibal cum exercitu trans Alpes venit.

 

[Bitmap]

[10] "Exercitus Hannibalis trans oceanum adducet", senatores cognaverunt.
["The army of Hannibal will come across the ocean", the senators thought.]
(This line certainly has problems. I'm not sure if Latin ever uses quotation marks, and even if they do, I'm unsure of how the grammar would be changed. Please let me know if these needs to be re-framed.)

I've just noticed that this should be cogitaverunt. Sorry for not pointing this out earlier!

 

[Darren Nayar]

Thank you so much! I'm noting all of this down and I hope it'll help me improve in the future!

Just one question about,

[11] Sed exercitus Hannibalis trans oceanum non adduxit. [But the army of Hannibal did not come across the ocean]​

Here, too, passive: ductus est... or venit.​

​

May I ask why we use passive here? Isn't the verb in the Active form? ​

​

Thank you.​

​

 

[Bitmap]

ducere or adducere are transitive verbs meaning 'to lead' (I suggested ducere there because using adducere with the preposition trans seemed a bit strange).

So you'd either have to say 'the army was lead', which would be 'exercitus ductus est' or you would need an intransitive verb meaning 'to come', which would be venire (-> exercitus vênit).

 

[Darren Nayar]

Okay! Thanks a lot. So if I were to use an intransitive verb like venire, I should be able to use the Active form. Right?

Thank you.

 

[Bitmap]

It depends on the verb, but with venire, yes.