Limitatio agrum limitatum dividit.

The laying out of boundaries divides the surveyed land.

Breakdown of Limitatio agrum limitatum dividit.

• dividere: to divide
• limitatio: the laying out of land boundaries
• ager limitatus: land laid out by surveyed boundaries

Questions & Answers about Limitatio agrum limitatum dividit.

How can I tell which word is the subject and which word is the object?

You tell mainly by the case endings, not by word order.

• limitatio is nominative singular, so it is the subject
• agrum is accusative singular, so it is the direct object
• dividit is 3rd person singular, so it goes with the singular subject limitatio

So the basic structure is:

• limitatio = the thing doing the action
• agrum limitatum = the thing receiving the action
• dividit = does/divides

Latin often uses endings this way instead of relying on English-style word order.

Why is it agrum and not ager?

Because agrum is the accusative singular form of ager.

The noun is:

• ager = nominative singular, field
• agrum = accusative singular, field as a direct object

Since the field is what is being divided, Latin puts it in the accusative.

This is a very common pattern with 2nd-declension masculine nouns:

• nominative: often -us or sometimes -er
• accusative: -um

With ager, the stem is agr-, so the accusative is agrum.

Why does limitatum also end in -um?