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Learn Hardcore Latin: Servi aedes nocte custodiunt. - The slaves guard the house at night.

Hardcore Latin
/Preparing a Roman wedding
/Servi aedes nocte custodiunt.

Servi aedes nocte custodiunt.

Word

Servi aedes nocte custodiunt.

Meaning

The slaves guard the house at night.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Preparing a Roman wedding

Breakdown of Servi aedes nocte custodiunt.

the building; house

Questions & Answers about Servi aedes nocte custodiunt.

How do I know servi is the subject?

Because servi is nominative plural, the form you expect for the slaves / the servants as the subject of the sentence.

It also matches the verb custodiunt, which is third person plural: they guard.

So:

servi = the slaves as subject
custodiunt = they guard

Those two naturally go together.

What case is aedes here, and why?

Here aedes is the direct object, so it is in the accusative.

The verb custodiunt means guard and takes a direct object: you guard something.

So in this sentence:

servi = subject
aedes = object
custodiunt = verb

A tricky point is that aedes is a form that can look ambiguous, because this noun has some forms that are spelled the same in different cases and numbers. In this sentence, the syntax shows that aedes is the thing being guarded.

Is aedes singular or plural?

This is one of the confusing things about the word.

Aedes can be tricky because:

it can appear as a singular form in some uses

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it can also appear as a plural form

and in some contexts it is often translated as a singular English word such as house

So a learner often has to rely on context and vocabulary information.

In this sentence, the exact English translation you were given will tell you whether it is being understood as house, building, or buildings. The important grammar point here is that it is the object of custodiunt.

Why is nocte translated as at night even though there is no preposition?

Because Latin often uses the ablative case to express time when, without a preposition.

So nocte is an ablative form meaning:

at night
by night

This is a very common Latin pattern. English usually needs a preposition like at, but Latin often does not.

What kind of ablative is nocte?

It is an ablative of time when.

That means it tells you when the action happens:

nocte = at night
compare other time expressions like prima luce = at first light

So nocte answers the question when do they guard?

What form is custodiunt?

Custodiunt is:

present tense
active voice
indicative mood
third person plural

So it means they guard or they are guarding, depending on context.

It comes from the verb custodire, meaning to guard, to watch, or to protect.

Why is the verb at the end?

Because that is very common in Latin.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because the endings show the grammatical function of the words. A Latin sentence often places the verb at or near the end.

So:

Servi aedes nocte custodiunt
literally something like The slaves the house at night guard

That sounds strange in English, but it is perfectly normal in Latin.

Could the words be in a different order and still mean the same thing?

Yes, often they could.

For example, Latin could also say things like:

Nocte servi aedes custodiunt
Aedes servi nocte custodiunt
Custodiunt servi aedes nocte

The basic meaning would stay similar because the endings help show who is doing what.

However, different word orders can create different emphasis. For example:

putting nocte earlier might emphasize when
putting aedes earlier might emphasize what is being guarded

Why is there no word for the or a?

Because Latin does not have articles like English the and a/an.

So a Latin noun like servi can mean:

slaves
the slaves

And aedes can mean:

a house / a building
the house / the building
or a plural meaning, depending on context

You decide from context and from the translation being used.

Does custodiunt mean are guarding or guard?

It can mean either, depending on context.

The Latin present tense often covers both:

they guard
they are guarding

It can also sometimes describe a habitual action:

they guard at night
they guard the house at night

So the best English translation depends on the wider context.

Does servi always mean slaves?

Most basically, servus means slave, and servi is the plural.

In some learning materials or some contexts, it may be translated more loosely as servants, but slave is usually the more direct historical meaning.

So if your textbook gives servants, that may be for smoother English, but the Latin word itself normally refers to enslaved people.

Why doesn’t aedes have a preposition before it?

Because it is a direct object, and direct objects in Latin normally do not need a preposition.

The verb custodire is transitive: you guard something.

So Latin simply says:

servi aedes custodiunt = the slaves guard the house/building

No extra word like to or at is needed before the object.

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