Cuncta familia adest.

Here cuncta means the whole, the entire, or all of the family taken as one group.

It comes from cunctus, -a, -um, meaning all or entire. Because it is describing familia, it has to match familia in gender, number, and case.

So in this sentence, cuncta familia means something like:

• the whole family
• the entire household
• all the family

Not all families.

Because familia is singular.

In Latin, adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Since familia is:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

the adjective must also be feminine singular nominative, which gives cuncta.

A learner may first think cuncta looks plural, and it can be in other contexts, but here it is singular because it agrees with familia.

Familia is nominative singular.

We know this because it is the subject of the sentence — the one that is present.

The verb adest means is present / is here, so we ask: who is present?
Answer: cuncta familia.

That makes familia the subject, so it is nominative.

Because the grammatical subject is singular: familia.

Even though a family is made up of many people, Latin is treating it as one unit, not as several separate individuals. So the verb is singular:

• familia adest = the family is present

This is similar to English the family is here, where family is also grammatically singular.

Adest is the 3rd person singular present indicative active of adsum, adesse, meaning:

• to be present
• to be here
• to be at hand

So adest means:

• he/she/it is present
• is here

In this sentence, it means is present or is here.

Historically, it comes from ad + sum, but in practice you should treat adsum, adesse as a single verb meaning to be present or to be here.

So in the sentence, adest is not working like:

• a preposition ad
• plus a separate verb est

Instead, it is one verb with its own meaning.

Because Latin has no definite article and no indefinite article.

So Latin does not normally have separate words for:

• the
• a
• an

Whether you translate familia as the family, a family, or just family depends on context.

In a simple sentence like this, English usually wants the family.

Yes. Latin word order is much freer than English word order.

Because the endings show the grammatical relationships, the same basic idea could be expressed in other orders, such as:

• Familia cuncta adest
• Adest cuncta familia
• Cuncta adest familia

These can all mean essentially the same thing, though the emphasis may shift.

The version Cuncta familia adest is perfectly natural and puts the whole family first, with the verb at the end, which is very common in Latin.

They are very similar.

• tota familia = the whole family
• cuncta familia = the whole family / all the family

In many contexts, both would work.
However, cunctus can feel a little more like all together or the entirety of, and sometimes a bit more elevated or literary than totus.

So a learner should understand cuncta familia as a normal way to say the whole family, even if tota familia may feel more immediately familiar.

Not always.

In Roman Latin, familia can mean more than just parents and children. It can refer to a household, including:

• relatives
• servants
• enslaved people
• dependents

So depending on context, familia may mean:

• family
• household

In a basic learning sentence, family is a fine translation, but it is useful to know the Roman word can be broader than the modern English one.

Yes. Depending on context, adest can mean:

• is here
• is present
• is in attendance
• is at hand

So the sentence could suggest simple physical presence, or a more formal sense like the whole family is present.

In a beginner sentence, is here or is present is the safest understanding.

Because it is directly modifying familia and agrees with it.

The phrase works as a noun phrase:

• cuncta familia = the whole family

Here familia is the noun, and cuncta is the adjective describing it.

Latin often places adjectives before or after the noun, so seeing cuncta before familia is completely normal.