Nonne examen in apiario considit?

Nonne introduces a yes/no question, but not a neutral one. It usually suggests that the speaker expects the answer yes.

So Nonne examen in apiario considit? is not just a plain question like Does a swarm settle in the apiary? It has more the feel of:

• Surely the swarm is settling in the apiary?
• Isn’t the swarm settling in the apiary?

A learner should compare:

• -ne = neutral question
• nonne = question expecting yes
• num = question expecting no

No. Here examen does not mean a school test.

In Latin, examen can have several meanings. In this sentence, because of apiario (in the apiary), it clearly means a swarm, especially a swarm of bees.

So this is a good example of a false friend for English speakers. Even though exam looks familiar, the Latin word here is being used in a different sense.

Examen is nominative singular, and it is the subject of considit.

Its dictionary form is examen, examinis, a third-declension neuter noun.

You can tell it is the subject because:

• the verb considit is third person singular
• examen is a singular noun that fits naturally as the thing doing the action

So the structure is:

• examen = the swarm
• considit = settles / alights

That gives the swarm settles/alights.

Because it is a third-declension neuter noun. Not all nominative singular nouns end in -us, -a, or -um.

The full pattern starts from:

• examen, examinis

So examen is just the normal nominative singular form of that noun.

This is one of the things English speakers have to get used to in Latin: the nominative singular can have many different endings, especially in the third declension.

Apiario is ablative singular.

It comes from apiarium, meaning apiary or bee-yard.

Here it is used after in to show location:

• in apiario = in the apiary

So the sentence is asking whether the swarm is settling in that place.

Because in with the ablative usually means in / on / at a place where something already is.

So:

• in apiario = in the apiary → location

But in with the accusative usually means movement into a place:

• in apiarium = into the apiary

That is a very important Latin distinction:

• in + ablative = location
• in + accusative = motion toward/into

Here considit is present active indicative, third person singular.

It comes from:

• consido, considere, consedi, consessum

In this sentence it means something like:

• settles
• alights
• comes to rest

So examen ... considit means the swarm settles/alights.

This form can be tricky because learners may confuse it with the perfect. But the perfect of this verb is consedit, not considit.

Because examen is grammatically singular.

A swarm is a collective noun: it refers to many bees, but as one group. Latin treats that group as a single subject, just as English often does:

• The swarm settles
• not The swarm settle

So the singular verb is exactly what you would expect.

Because Latin has no articles.

That means a noun like examen can mean either:

• a swarm
• the swarm

And apiario can mean either:

• in an apiary
• in the apiary

The translator chooses a or the from context. Latin simply does not mark that distinction with separate words.

Yes. The word order is perfectly natural Latin.

A few points:

• nonne often comes first, because it signals the kind of question
• in apiario sits next to the rest of the clause naturally
• the verb considit appears at the end, which is very common in Latin

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order, because endings show the grammatical roles. So Latin can move words around for emphasis more freely.

You would look it up under the first-person singular present form:

• consido

A full dictionary entry would usually give something like:

• consido, considere, consedi, consessum

That tells you:

• the present stem
• the infinitive
• the perfect stem
• the supine / fourth principal part

So if you see considit, you should learn to connect it back to consido.

Yes. English apiary is directly related to Latin apiarium.

Both come from apis, the Latin word for bee.

So this is a nice example where knowing an English derivative can help you recognize a Latin word family:

• apis = bee
• apiarium = apiary, bee-yard
• apiario = in the apiary (ablative singular)