IBDP Latin SL
The IB Diploma Programme Latin Standard Level course is a rigorous classical language and literature programme that develops students' ability to read, translate, and critically appreciate original Latin texts. The course is built around two pillars: unseen translation and the study of prescribed authors. In the unseen translation component, students encounter prose and verse passages they have never seen before and must deploy their full command of Latin morphology, syntax, and vocabulary to produce accurate, idiomatic English renderings under examination conditions. In the prescribed text component, students study set passages from one prose author (such as Caesar, Cicero, Livy, or Pliny) and one verse author (such as Virgil, Ovid, Catullus, or Horace) in depth, developing the ability to translate, analyse, and evaluate these texts with precision and insight.The course demands mastery of the entire Latin grammatical system — all five noun declensions, four verb conjugations, the full range of subordinate clause types, and the complex interplay of mood, tense, and sequence that characterises classical Latin prose and verse. Beyond grammar, students learn to scan dactylic hexameter and elegiac couplet, to identify and evaluate rhetorical and poetic devices, and to situate texts within their historical, cultural, and literary contexts. Literary analysis at SL requires students to construct justified arguments about authorial purpose, characterisation, and thematic meaning, integrating close linguistic observation with broader interpretive claims.Assessment is entirely external: Paper 1 (50%) tests unseen translation of prose and verse passages, while Paper 2 (50%) tests translation of and literary commentary on the prescribed texts. There is no internal assessment component at SL. This course is ideal for students who love language, literature, and the ancient world, and who want to develop the analytical precision and cultural literacy that Latin study uniquely provides. It also builds a powerful foundation for university study in classics, law, medicine, philosophy, theology, and any field where rigorous textual analysis and a deep understanding of Western intellectual heritage are valued.
210
Minutes
60
Questions
4/7
Passing Score
$173
Exam Cost
Who Should Take This
This course is designed for IB Diploma students who have completed three or more years of Latin study and are ready to engage with original classical texts at a sophisticated level. It suits students who enjoy close reading, grammatical analysis, and literary interpretation, and who are motivated by the challenge of unlocking meaning in a language that requires precision at every level. It is particularly valuable for those considering university study in classics, ancient history, philosophy, law, medicine, theology, or any humanities discipline, as well as for students who simply want to deepen their understanding of Western literature, language, and culture through direct engagement with its foundational texts.
What's Covered
1All five noun declensions, adjective agreement and comparison, pronoun paradigms, all verb conjugations (indicative, subjunctive, imperative, infinitive, participle, gerund, gerundive, supine), deponent and irregular verbs, adverbs, prepositions, and particles
2Case uses, ablative absolute, sequence of tenses, indirect statement (accusative and infinitive), indirect command, indirect question, purpose, result, causal, concessive, conditional, temporal, and relative clauses; gerundive of obligation
3Translation of unseen Latin prose and verse passages of approximately 100–130 words; strategies for parsing, vocabulary inference, and idiomatic English rendering
4Close translation and literary commentary on set passages from the prescribed prose and verse authors; understanding of narrative structure, argumentation, and authorial purpose
5Rules of Latin quantity, elision, dactylic hexameter, elegiac couplet; relationship between metre and meaning
6Identification and evaluation of rhetorical and poetic devices in prose and verse; characterisation; thematic analysis; comparative literary response across prescribed texts
7Roman political institutions, social structure, religion, mythology, authors' biographies, genre conventions, and intertextuality as they illuminate the prescribed texts
What's Included in AccelaStudy® AI
Adaptive Knowledge Graph
Practice Questions
Lesson Modules
Console Simulator Labs
Exam Tips & Strategy
13 Activity Formats
Course Outline
1Latin Morphology 3 topics
Noun and Adjective Declensions
- Identify and state the case, number, and gender of Latin nouns belonging to all five declensions, including irregular forms such as vis, domus, and iter, as they appear in prose and verse passages.
- Identify the declension class and full paradigm of first- and second-declension adjectives, third-declension adjectives (two and three termination), and irregular adjectives including alius, alter, nullus, solus, totus, and unus.
- Identify comparative and superlative adjective forms, including irregular comparatives and superlatives (e.g. bonus/melior/optimus, magnus/maior/maximus), and state their syntactic function within a Latin sentence.
- Identify all pronoun forms in Latin texts including personal, reflexive, demonstrative (hic, ille, iste, is), relative (qui), interrogative (quis), and indefinite pronouns, stating their case, number, and gender.
Verb Morphology
- Identify the conjugation class, tense, mood, voice, person, and number of any finite verb form from all four regular conjugations and the irregular verbs esse, posse, ire, velle, nolle, malle, ferre, and fieri.
- Identify participle forms (present active, perfect passive, future active, future passive/gerundive) by tense, voice, case, number, and gender, and state their role as verbal adjectives within a Latin clause.
- Identify infinitive forms (present, perfect, and future in both active and passive voices) and state their syntactic function, distinguishing complementary infinitives from those used in indirect statement constructions.
- Identify gerund, gerundive, and supine forms in Latin texts, state their morphological characteristics, and distinguish them from one another and from participles in context.
- Identify deponent and semi-deponent verb forms, state that they are passive in form but active in meaning, and list common deponent verbs encountered in IB prescribed texts (e.g. loquor, sequor, morior, patior, conor).
Adverbs, Prepositions, and Particles
- Identify and list common Latin adverbs, conjunctions, and particles (e.g. iam, tamen, autem, enim, igitur, nunc, saepe, semper, vero) and state their typical meaning and discourse function in prose and verse.
- Identify prepositions governing the accusative and those governing the ablative, state the case required by each, and list prepositions that can govern both cases with different meanings (e.g. in, sub).
2Latin Syntax 2 topics
Core Clause Structures
- Explain the function of each Latin case (nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, locative) in simple and complex sentences, applying this knowledge to determine the grammatical role of each noun phrase in a passage.
- Explain the uses of the ablative case (ablative absolute, ablative of means, manner, accompaniment, agent, separation, comparison, time when/within which, description) and apply this knowledge to parse and translate ablative constructions accurately.
- Explain the construction and translation of the ablative absolute, distinguishing it from other participial phrases, and apply this understanding to render ablative absolute constructions into idiomatic English using temporal, causal, concessive, or conditional nuances as context requires.
- Explain the sequence of tenses in Latin subjunctive clauses (primary and secondary sequence), applying the rule to determine the correct tense of a subjunctive verb in subordinate clauses and to verify the temporal relationship between main and subordinate verbs.
Subordinate Clause Types
- Explain the accusative and infinitive (indirect statement) construction, identifying the subject accusative and the tense of the infinitive relative to the main verb, and apply this to translate indirect statement clauses introduced by verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, and perceiving.
- Explain indirect command (ut/ne + subjunctive) and indirect question constructions, distinguishing them from purpose and fear clauses, and apply this knowledge to translate them accurately with appropriate English equivalents.
- Explain purpose clauses (ut/ne + subjunctive; relative purpose; supine in -um), result clauses (ut + subjunctive with antecedent word), and causal clauses (quod/quia/quoniam + indicative or subjunctive), applying each to translation tasks.
- Explain conditional sentence types in Latin (simple, future more vivid, future less vivid, past contrary-to-fact, present contrary-to-fact), identify the mood and tense pattern of each type, and apply this to translate conditional sentences from prescribed and unseen texts.
- Explain temporal, concessive, and relative clauses in Latin, identifying the conjunctions and moods associated with each (cum + indicative/subjunctive, dum, postquam, antequam/priusquam, quamquam, quamvis, qui + subjunctive), and apply this to parse and translate them.
- Explain the gerundive of obligation (passive periphrastic) construction, identifying the agent in the dative and the gerundive agreeing with the subject, and apply this to translate obligation constructions accurately in prose passages.
3Unseen Translation 2 topics
Prose Unseen Translation
- Apply morphosyntactic analysis to an unseen Latin prose passage of approximately 100–130 words, identifying all clause boundaries, subordinate constructions, and the grammatical function of each word group before producing a translation.
- Translate an unseen Latin prose passage into accurate and idiomatic English, conveying the precise meaning of each Latin construction, maintaining appropriate register, and avoiding both over-literal and paraphrastic renderings.
- Apply strategies for handling unknown vocabulary in unseen prose passages, including using context, cognates, word-family knowledge, and morphological analysis to infer meaning and produce a plausible translation without a dictionary.
Verse Unseen Translation
- Apply knowledge of poetic word order, elision, and metrical constraints to parse an unseen Latin verse passage, identifying subjects, verbs, and objects that may be widely separated or inverted relative to prose word order.
- Translate an unseen Latin verse passage into accurate English, capturing the meaning of poetic constructions including transferred epithets, apostrophe, and compressed syntax, while maintaining fidelity to the Latin rather than imitating English verse conventions.
4Prescribed Text Translation and Analysis 2 topics
Prescribed Prose Text
- Translate set passages from the prescribed Latin prose author accurately into English, demonstrating precise understanding of all morphosyntactic constructions and conveying the author's meaning and tone faithfully.
- Explain the rhetorical and stylistic choices made by the prescribed prose author in set passages, identifying devices such as tricolon, anaphora, chiasmus, and asyndeton, and commenting on their effect on the reader.
- Explain the narrative structure, argumentation, and authorial purpose of the prescribed prose text, situating individual passages within the broader work and demonstrating understanding of the author's literary and rhetorical aims.
Prescribed Verse Text
- Translate set passages from the prescribed Latin verse author accurately into English, demonstrating understanding of poetic syntax, compressed expression, and the interplay between metrical form and meaning.
- Explain the poetic and literary devices used by the prescribed verse author in set passages, including imagery, simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, enjambment, and golden-line word order, commenting on their contribution to meaning and effect.
- Explain the thematic concerns, characterisation, and narrative or lyric structure of the prescribed verse text, demonstrating how individual passages contribute to the work's overall meaning and the author's poetic programme.
5Metre and Scansion 2 topics
Dactylic Hexameter
- Describe the rules of Latin quantity (long and short syllables), elision, hiatus, and the distinction between ictus and accent, as foundational principles required for scanning dactylic hexameter and elegiac couplet verse.
- Construct a complete scansion of a line of dactylic hexameter, marking long and short syllables, identifying dactyls and spondees in each foot, locating the principal caesura, and noting any elisions, in lines drawn from the prescribed verse text.
- Construct a complete scansion of an elegiac couplet (hexameter followed by pentameter), correctly identifying the fixed spondee in the third foot of the pentameter and the diaeresis after the pentameter's second-and-a-half feet.
Metrical Effect and Interpretation
- Explain how the poet's choice of dactyls versus spondees in specific lines of the prescribed verse text creates effects of speed, weight, or emphasis, and apply this analysis to comment on the relationship between metre and meaning in a given passage.
6Literary and Stylistic Analysis 3 topics
Rhetorical Devices in Prose
- Analyse the use of anaphora, tricolon, and climax in prescribed prose passages, evaluating how these devices reinforce the author's rhetorical argument and create persuasive or emotional impact on the intended Roman audience.
- Analyse the use of chiasmus, antithesis, and parallelism in prescribed prose passages, evaluating how these structural devices create balance, contrast, or irony and contribute to the overall tone and purpose of the text.
- Analyse the use of direct speech, rhetorical questions, and apostrophe in prescribed prose texts, evaluating how these devices create immediacy, engage the reader or listener, and serve the author's persuasive or narrative purpose.
Poetic Devices in Verse
- Analyse the use of simile and metaphor in prescribed verse passages, evaluating how extended or compressed comparisons illuminate character, theme, or emotion and contribute to the poem's overall literary effect.
- Analyse the use of alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia in prescribed verse passages, evaluating how sound patterns reinforce meaning, create atmosphere, or characterise speakers and situations in the poem.
- Analyse the use of enjambment, caesura, and word placement at line-beginning or line-end in prescribed verse passages, evaluating how the poet exploits the tension between metrical unit and syntactic unit to create emphasis or surprise.
- Analyse the characterisation of major figures in the prescribed verse text, evaluating how the poet uses speech, action, epithet, and narrative perspective to construct complex or sympathetic portrayals and to advance thematic concerns.
Comparative and Evaluative Literary Response
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the prescribed prose author's rhetorical strategy in a given passage, constructing a justified argument that weighs the author's use of language, structure, and context against the intended persuasive or narrative goal.
- Evaluate the literary achievement of the prescribed verse author in a given passage, constructing a justified argument that integrates close linguistic analysis, metrical observation, and thematic interpretation to assess the poem's success in achieving its artistic aims.
- Compare the treatment of a shared theme (e.g. duty, love, fate, power, death) across the prescribed prose and verse texts, evaluating how genre, authorial purpose, and historical context shape each author's presentation of the theme.
7Historical and Cultural Context 3 topics
Roman Political and Social Institutions
- Describe the structure of the Roman Republic and early Empire, including the roles of the Senate, consuls, tribunes, and other magistracies, and identify how this political context informs the content and purpose of the prescribed prose texts.
- Describe key aspects of Roman social structure including the patron-client relationship, the role of slaves and freedmen, the cursus honorum, and the position of women, and explain how these social realities are reflected in the prescribed texts.
- Describe Roman religious beliefs and practices, including the role of the gods, augury, sacrifice, and the relationship between religio and Roman civic identity, and explain how religious themes and allusions function in the prescribed texts.
Authors' Lives and Literary Traditions
- Outline the biography, major works, and historical circumstances of the prescribed prose author, and explain how knowledge of the author's life and political context illuminates the purpose and perspective of the prescribed text.
- Outline the biography, major works, and literary influences of the prescribed verse author, and explain how the poet's personal circumstances, patronage relationships, and engagement with Greek and Roman literary traditions shape the prescribed text.
- Identify the genre conventions of the prescribed texts (e.g. epic, elegy, oratory, historiography, epistolary prose), describing the formal features and thematic expectations associated with each genre in the Roman literary tradition.
Mythology and Intertextuality
- Identify mythological figures, stories, and allusions in the prescribed texts, and explain how the author deploys mythological references to enrich meaning, establish precedent, or create irony in relation to the narrative or argument.
- Explain how the prescribed verse author engages with earlier Greek and Latin literary models (e.g. Homer, Hesiod, Callimachus, Ennius), identifying specific intertextual echoes and evaluating their effect on the meaning and prestige of the Latin text.
8Examination Skills and Assessment Strategies 3 topics
Paper 1 Unseen Translation Strategy
- Analyse a timed unseen Latin passage using a systematic approach: first reading for overall sense, second reading for clause identification and morphosyntactic parsing, and final drafting of an accurate and idiomatic English translation within examination time constraints.
- Evaluate the quality of a draft translation of an unseen Latin passage against IB marking criteria, identifying errors of morphology, syntax, and idiom, and revising the translation to improve accuracy and naturalness of expression.
Paper 2 Prescribed Text Response Strategy
- Analyse the demands of Paper 2 question types (translation of set passage, short-answer comprehension and language questions, and extended literary commentary), and apply appropriate response strategies to each question type within the allocated time.
- Construct a well-structured extended literary commentary on a prescribed text passage, integrating close linguistic analysis, identification and evaluation of stylistic devices, and contextual knowledge to produce a coherent and substantiated argument.
- Evaluate responses to Paper 2 literary commentary questions against IB assessment criteria (accuracy of translation, understanding of language, literary analysis, use of context), identifying strengths and areas for improvement in sample answers.
Vocabulary and Morphological Fluency
- Identify and state the meaning of high-frequency Latin vocabulary items (approximately 500 core words) drawn from the IB Latin word list and the prescribed texts, including principal parts of common irregular verbs.
- Apply knowledge of Latin prefixes, suffixes, and root words to determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary in unseen passages, and identify English derivatives that illuminate Latin word meanings and aid retention.
Scope
Included Topics
- Prescribed Latin authors and texts for the current syllabus cycle: prose authors (e.g. Caesar, Cicero, Livy, Pliny) and verse authors (e.g. Virgil, Ovid, Catullus, Horace) as specified in the current IB Latin Subject Guide
- Unseen translation: passages of Latin prose and verse not drawn from the prescribed texts, requiring accurate comprehension and idiomatic English rendering
- Prescribed text translation and analysis: close reading, literal and literary translation, and commentary on set passages from the prescribed authors
- Latin language competencies: morphology (noun declensions 1–5, adjective agreement, pronoun forms, verb conjugations including irregular verbs, participles, infinitives, gerunds, gerundives, supines), syntax (all major clause types including indirect statement, indirect command, indirect question, purpose, result, causal, concessive, conditional, relative, temporal, ablative absolute, accusative and infinitive)
- Literary and stylistic analysis: identification and evaluation of rhetorical devices (anaphora, chiasmus, tricolon, asyndeton, polysyndeton, alliteration, onomatopoeia, enjambment, caesura, elision), narrative technique, characterisation, tone, and authorial purpose
- Historical and cultural context: Roman political institutions, social structures, religion, mythology, geography, and the biographical and historical background of prescribed authors
- Scansion of dactylic hexameter and elegiac couplet for verse texts
- Two external assessment components: Paper 1 (unseen translation, 50%) and Paper 2 (prescribed texts — translation and literary commentary, 50%)
- Assessment objectives AO1 (knowledge and understanding of language and literature), AO2 (application and analysis of linguistic and literary features), AO3 (synthesis and evaluation of meaning, style, and context)
- IB command terms as applied to classical language assessment: translate, identify, explain, analyse, comment on, compare, discuss, evaluate, justify
Not Covered
- HL-only extended essay component on a classical topic beyond the SL prescribed texts
- Ancient Greek language content
- Post-classical or Medieval Latin texts beyond the scope of the current IB prescribed list
- Detailed papyrology, epigraphy, or palaeography beyond recognition of standard Latin script conventions
- Comparative Indo-European linguistics and historical phonology beyond what aids comprehension of Latin morphology
- Internal Assessment oral component (Latin SL does not include a spoken component)
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