It's been a long time since high-school Latin...?

Question

I'm trying to remember how this whole declension thing is supposed to work. "Food is life." = "Nutrimens vitam est." Yes? No? "Go away, you foolish little man"?

Answer 1

In the first sentence, you need the nominative case for both nouns: "Nutrimens vita est."  "Vita" is a predicate nominative, not an object.  (You could also say "Cibus vita est.")

For the second, it's "Abite, parvi viri fatui."  The vocative case (which you'd be using here) is identical to the nominative except for masculine singular nouns ending in  -us.  The "you" idea is implicit in the imperative verb form.

Answer 2

You can evise your declensions and Latin really easily using the free audio lessons on Latinum

http://latinum.mypodcast.com

Check out the link on the FAQ to a system for declension memorisation, using the method of loci.

Answer 3

Cibus vita est = Food is life

Abi homuncule stulte = Go away, you foolish little man - That's is you mean 'little' in size.

Abi despicate stulte - That's if you mean 'little' as mean, contemptible