"I am at home."
Translation:Ego domi sum.
9 Comments
479
I'm confused. I thought the word order was somewhat flexible in a simple sentence like this.
- 2043
This is an early beta release. It's up to us to flag things in-lesson and report "My answer should be accepted."
- 2043
No. Latin is a pro-drop language. All of the following are perfectly correct, but in descending order of preference:
Domi sum.
Ego domi sum.
Ego sum domi.
Latin is an SOV language with reasonably flexible syntax, meaning other permutations of that order are perfectly acceptable. However, because "esse" (to be) is a verb of state and especially since the 3rd person pronouns is/ea/id are somewhat weak and are also used as demonstratives, when you're saying "...is [NOUN]", it's better to use SVC (C for complement) to avoid misinterpretation.
In other words, "She is a sister" can certainly be "Soror est" or "Ea soror est", but it's too easy to interpret that as "A/the sister is" or "This sister is" and therefore "Ea est soror" would be preferable to ensure clarity. You could say "Soror ea est", but that shifts the focus, a bit like the difference between "SHE is a sister" and "She is a SISTER."
Thank you, that's what I thought, but I didn't want to complain about my "Ego sum" not being accepted without being sure.
- 2043
Yes, next time this happens, please flag it in-lesson and report "My answer should be accepted."
