Practising Latin alongside the textbook
In short
At German secondary schools (Gymnasium), Latin is mostly taught today with textbooks such as Pontes, Campus, prima, Adeamus, Lumina or Salto. Disce ludens does not depend on any of these books: it practises the grammar they all share in 62 lessons that can be opened individually. If your book is currently covering the accusative and infinitive, the participle or the gerund, pick the matching lesson.
Which textbooks are common today
The textbooks named here are used in German schools. There is no nationwide statistic, but the same names keep appearing on schools’ textbook lists: Pontes, Campus, prima, Adeamus!, Lumina and Salto, plus others depending on the federal state. Which book a school uses is decided by its Latin department; some books come in editions for Latin as a first and as a second foreign language.
The books differ in texts, vocabulary and order. But the grammar of the language-acquisition phase is the same in all of them: cases and sentence elements, conjugation in all tenses, accusative and infinitive, participles, ablative absolute, subjunctive, gerund and gerundive. That is exactly what Disce ludens practises.
Because Disce ludens is independent of any textbook, it can also sit alongside English-language Latin courses. The app is in German: exercises, hints and meanings are German, as in the original.
Which lesson matches which topic
The lessons in Disce ludens follow their own well-thought-out order. If your book has a different one, simply open the lesson for the current topic:
| Topic in the textbook | Lesson in Disce ludens |
|---|---|
| Parts of speech and sentence elements | I · 1, 2, 7, 8, 21, 22 |
| Nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, ablative | I · 5, 6, 10, 13, 14, 15 |
| Accusative and infinitive | I · 9 and II · 24 |
| Present, imperfect, perfect, passive | I · 17–20, 23, 26, 29 |
| Declension and agreement in case, number and gender | I · 27, 28 |
| Interrogative and possessive pronouns | I · 16, 24, 25 |
| Subjunctive and sequence of tenses | II · 1–4 |
| Relative pronoun, is, ea, id | II · 5, 6 |
| Participles (perfect passive, present active) and ablative absolute | II · 7–9, 16–19 |
| Future and all tenses | II · 10, 14, 15 |
| Comparison of adjectives | II · 11–13 |
| Gerund and gerundive | II · 20–23 |
| Third-declension i-stem adjectives | II · 28, 29 |
| Principal parts | I · 30 and II · 30 |
I stands for Disce ludens I (beginners), II for Disce ludens II (advanced). After that, Verte ludens leads up to reading Caesar with seven translation exercises on sentences based on Caesar.
And the vocabulary from the book?
Every textbook has its own vocabulary to learn, chapter by chapter. These lists belong to the publishers, so Disce ludens does not take them over. Instead, the vocabulary trainer practises the 1,565 words that Thomas Wegener put together for his teaching – the core vocabulary that occurs in every book and carries you through to reading.
The book remains in charge of the vocabulary for the current chapter. Disce ludens makes sure the common words are not forgotten again: the box brings every word back after 1, 3–4, 7, 14, 30, 90 and 180 days.
How practice fits with lessons at school
- After the Latin lesson: open the lesson for the new grammar topic while it is still fresh.
- Before a test: go through the lessons for all topics of the test; the error points show where you are still stuck.
- A few minutes every day: the words that are due in the vocabulary trainer.
- At school: teachers can set the lesson for the current chapter as practice.
Try it
A real exercise from Disce ludens:
Disce ludens I · Lesson 9 · Accusative and infinitive, card 1
What is the infinitive of the finite verb cupiunt?
Hint 1: Third-conjugation verb in -io (capio type): the short -i of the stem becomes -e before -re.
Hint 2: cupe......
Error points: 0
© Disce ludensWhat Disce ludens does – and what it doesn’t
What Disce ludens does
- Practises the grammar that occurs in every Latin textbook.
- Each lesson can be opened on its own, to match the current chapter.
- Practises 1,565 core words with a box that plans the review.
What it doesn’t do
- Does not contain the texts and chapter vocabulary of a particular textbook.
- Is not a publisher’s companion material and is not connected to any publisher.
- Does not replace the textbook or the teaching.
Frequently asked questions
Does Disce ludens work with Pontes, Campus, prima or Adeamus?
Yes. Disce ludens is independent of any textbook and practises the grammar that occurs in all of these books. Each lesson can be opened on its own if the book has a different order.
Is the vocabulary from my textbook included?
Not chapter by chapter. The vocabulary trainer practises 1,565 core words that occur in every textbook. You keep learning the vocabulary of the current chapter with the book.
Which lesson matches my chapter?
That depends on the grammar topic of the chapter. The table on this page maps the topics to the lessons in Disce ludens I and II.
Is Disce ludens connected to a publisher?
No. Disce ludens was developed by Thomas Wegener at the Dillmann-Gymnasium in Stuttgart and is published by webideas.de, independently of all textbook publishers. Publishers interested in working together are welcome to contact us via our enquiry form.