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- "Boston and New York are citi…
"Boston and New York are cities."
Translation:Bostonia et Novum Eboracum sunt urbes.
27 Comments
Agreed. I'm getting confused as to when the verb goes at the end and when it doesn't.
I believe they just haven't made all of the correct answers recognized yet. You can suggest that the answer be accepted (I've had 4 accepted in the past day).
It's not random. First the course contributors need to receive the reports. Then they have to decide if the report is valid. Then they go into the database and make the change. But they have no control over when the server rolls out the changes. Assuming good timing, it takes a bare minimum of two weeks to process.
What is the difference between 'Novi Eboraci' and 'Novum Eboracum'? They both mean 'New York'. Is there a rule for when to use one instead of the other?
Yes. Novi Eboraci is the locative and Novum Eboracum is the nominative.
Here is a plain-English overview of what the cases are and how they work:
Latin cases, in English
Here are the noun and adjective declension charts:
declensions 1-3
declensions 4&5
Adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the nouns they modify, but they have their own declensions. Sometimes you get lucky and the adjective just happens to follow the same declension as the noun, but that is not a guarantee.
For good measure, here are the verb conjugation charts:
1st Conjugation
2nd Conjugation
3rd Conjugation
3rd i-stem Conjugation
4th Conjugation
Latin syntax is somewhat flexible, but it is typically SOV (Subject Object Verb).
However, "esse (to be)" is a verb of state, not of action, and therefore takes a subject complement rather than a direct object. It is not uncommon in this case to have SVC (Subject Verb Complement) to better differentiate the subject from the complement, since they're all in the nominative case.
I see the French flag in your list of languages. The French 3rd person plural "sont" comes from the Latin 3rd person plural "sunt".
Latin word order is extremely flexible. Generally, the verb is at the end, but it can be elsewhere, for purposes of emphasis. In the Middle Ages, something closer to English or French word order was developing.
Why isn't both city names in the accusative case?
(I'm presuming that {-um} is the neuter singular accusative of the second class declination and {-a} is the singular nominative of the first class declination)
762
Bostonia and Novum Eboracum are nominative case, ubes is also nominative case Subject and predicate are in the same case. For example: Ego sum puella - I am a girl Tu es puer. - You are a boy. Novum Eboracum is singular, neuter, nominative.
Eboracum is also the old name of Viking Jorvik, modern York. So New York was rather stuck with the neuter gender, being named for old York.
Accusatives are for direct objects. "Esse/to be" is a stative verb, not an active verb. Transitivity doesn't even apply. It takes the subject complement, which is the nominative.
When do I use Novi Eboraci and when do I use Novum Eboracum? What is the rule?
Locative vs nominative. For more details, please find my other comment on this page with links to more information.
