CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

Are we required to memorize names for each anionic and neutral ligands?

There are lots of possible ligands out there so I doubt he expects us to memorize the names for all of them, but it would be helpful for you to know the common ones like amine, chloride (and other halides), aqua, hydroxide, and cyanide.

I believe we will only be required to know of the exceptions mentioned in the book - H2O (aqua), NH3 (ammine), CO (carbonyl), NO (nitrosyl) - along with the general rule of dropping the -e at the end of -ide, -ite, and -ate and adding an -o.

What was he saying about the bis, tris and all when are we supposed to use that?

We use bis, tris, tetakis, or pentakis as prefix if the ligand's name starts with di, tri, tetra, or penta.