Fornax testacea est.

The furnace is made of brick or tile.

Breakdown of Fornax testacea est.

• esse: to be
• fornax: the furnace
• testaceus: made of brick or tile

Questions & Answers about Fornax testacea est.

What are the jobs of the three words in Fornax testacea est?

• fornax = the subject
• testacea = an adjective describing the subject
• est = the verb is

So the sentence has the pattern subject + predicate adjective + verb: The oven is earthenware.

What case, number, and gender is fornax?

Fornax is nominative singular feminine.

• nominative because it is the subject of the sentence
• singular because it refers to one oven
• feminine because fornax is a feminine noun in Latin

A learner would normally meet it in the dictionary as fornax, fornacis, f.

Why is testacea feminine singular?

Because Latin adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Since fornax is feminine nominative singular, the adjective must also be feminine nominative singular. That is why we get testacea.

Its dictionary form would usually be testaceus, testacea, testaceum.

Why is it testacea and not testaceam?