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- Topic: Latin >
- "Liber non est discipulus."
26 Comments
It sounds like "LEE-ber" ( = a free-born man / the free-born man) is not a student.
If we want "the book" is not a student, audio should reflect the short i.
I'm glad I'm not the first to have spotted this. It seems to me that there is a problem with many of the audio recordings in this course that the speakers appear to assume the vowels in all stressed syllables should be pronounced long. I have reported this sentence as "The audio does not sound correct".
Good catch, but I doubt anyone will note that. I hope you reported "my answer should be accepted".
1048
Yes, and not even funny silly, but just strange silly. I kept thinking, am i translating this correctly??
Although the sentence is silly, having to translate something silly got you thinking more deeply about how the language works.
Just wondering if this could also mean "a student is not a book". Or is position important here?
- 1559
Why is it not "liber non est discipulum or discipulam'? isn't the student an accusative case?
No, nothing is accusative in this sentence.
Notice that the verb is "est." With forms of "to be," you only ever use nominative case.
If the book is (or isn't) something ("A book is not a student"), the whole point of the sentence is to equate the two (or deny that the equation is correct).
(Think of it this way: "The book hits the student." There's an accusative in that sentence, because the book (subject) hits him , the direct object. Liber discipulum ferit. (ferio, ferire, to strike) )
A better sentence for understanding "is" would be: The student is/is not tired. (adj. "tired" is describing the subject, "student") Discipulus est (non est) defessus.
The book is / is not big. Liber est (non est) magnus.
(With "to be," everything is in the nominative case.)
Omg thank you so much for the clarification. This is the exact comment I've been looking for!
The verb sum, of which est is the third person singular present tense, does not take the accusative case. Its English equivalent, the verb to be, in grammatically correct English, behaves in the same way, which is why it is correct to say "It is I" rather than "It is me".
- 1288
I was under the impression Discipulos was plural (from the exercise where I had Quattuor of the pesky rascals). But here it's "a student"?
Difference between ending -ōs (2nd decl accus plural masc) and ending -us (2nd decl nomin sing masc).
- 1288
I see here on the webpage it says Discipulus, but in the app I'm pretty sure I read Discipulos. Guess I'll see if it comes up again.
I agree with you Ben. I recall being mystified by it when I came across it - definitely os
I have had also this problem. I have heared "discipulos" and written "discipulos". "Discipulos" is accepted. But here it is "a student" into English.
