"Nomen tibi est Marcus."

Translation: Your name is Marcus.

[SuddenFlameDB4]

"Tibi" = "of you". The name of you is Marcus. Am I understanding this correctly?

[davidvdb]

Tibi = "to you." The easiest for now is to remember the construction "Nomen mihi/tibi est."

The longer explanation is that tibi is in the dative case (to/for ...), and "dative + esse (to be)" is a special construction, denoting possession. Literally, the sentence would mean "The name / to you / is / Marcus.", or more fluently "Your name is Marcus.".

[SuddenFlameDB4]

That makes sense, I just now remembered the declension of "tu". Thanks!

[YuriZoria]

"Of you" is tui (genitive), tibi is dative (for/to you).

[J.C.M.H.]

I think that "the name of you" is litterally nomen tui.

[PERCE_NEIGE]

Would it make sense in Latin?

[elsabejb]

Why is it "Marcus" in this sentence, but "Marce" in others? Is this not in the vocative case? How do I tell the difference?

[clemc0]

A / The / My / His / Your: name is Marcus • Copula Verb • Subject Complement:

Your hair is curly
Your cheeks are rosy
Your dog is friendly
Your enemy is devious
Your presence is unwelcome

[MarmotMan]

As I understand it you use "Marce" when directly addressing Marcus, like in "Salve, Marce!". Whereas "Marcus" here is not "Marcus" as in you addressing him, but rather "Marcus" the name. The person in this sentence is "you" ("your").

If you're referring to Marcus in the 3rd person, though, I believe you say "Marcus", like in "Marcus in urbe est".

[MinorProphet1]

I have the same question

[PERCE_NEIGE]

If I don't use a sentence with a verb, what would be the most common form? Tibi nomen, or nomen tibi?

[Tibbs49]

Why is 'est' used for "your"? Isn't that the 3rd person construction? I used the 'Her' option because there wasn't a 'He' option, and I got marked incorrect.

[PERCE_NEIGE]

Est is used because the subject is "Nomen tibi", like in English "it's "your name" is....
It's a 3rd person singular construction.

[t20f7gYt]

"Tibi est" = "you own", so the English translation would be something like "You have a name Marcus".
Souldn't the correct Latin version of "Your name is Marcus" be "Nomen tuum est Marcus"?

[Jenhil0809]

I was taught habere = to have (habet = you have). Also, isn't esse to be?

[t20f7gYt]

Yes, "esse" means to be. But "est" and "deest" with the dative is a commonly used idiom meaning "to have" and "to lack" , respectively.
(I just noticed this is already explained in davidvdb's post.)

[J.C.M.H.]

Nomen tuum est Marcus would be a litteral translation; apparently the Romans did not say like that.

[ingmar65536]

in the Romance languages one says "you call yourself Marcus" , tu t'appelles Marc or Te llamas Marco, etc. Didn't the ancient Romans say it like that as well?

[J.C.M.H.]

That would be (Tu) te vocas Marcus. I think that the Romans did not say like that.

[PERCE_NEIGE]

So, they could "vocare" someone else, but not themselves.