Miles pontem rumpit.

The soldier breaks the bridge.

Breakdown of Miles pontem rumpit.

• miles: the soldier
• pons: the bridge
• rumpere: to break; rupture

Questions & Answers about Miles pontem rumpit.

Why is miles the subject of the sentence?

Because miles is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject.

Its dictionary form is miles, militis (soldier). In this sentence, miles is the person doing the action.

Latin often shows a word’s job by its ending, not mainly by word order.

Why is pontem the object?

Because pontem is in the accusative singular, the case normally used for the direct object.

The noun is pons, pontis (bridge). Its accusative singular form is pontem, so it is the thing being broken.

So:

• miles = subject
• pontem = direct object
• rumpit = verb

Why does pons become pontem instead of something like ponsem?

This happens because pons is a third-declension noun.

With many third-declension nouns, the nominative singular does not show the full stem clearly. To find the stem, you usually look at the genitive singular:

• pons
• pontis

That shows the stem is pont-, not pons-.

Then the accusative singular ending -em is added:

• pont- + em = pontem

What form is exactly?