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Questions & Answers about Senex aquam petit.
Why is aquam in the accusative case?
In Latin, the direct object of a verb generally takes the accusative case. Since aquam (meaning water) is what the subject (the old man) is seeking, it appears in the accusative.
What is the role of petit in this sentence?
Petit is a third-person singular present active indicative verb from petere, meaning he seeks, he looks for, or he heads for. In this sentence, it tells us what the old man (the subject) is doing—he is seeking or looking for water.
Why doesn’t the word order match typical English subject-verb-object?
Latin has more flexible word order because endings on nouns and verbs indicate their grammatical function. Here, Senex (subject) comes first, aquam (object) follows, and petit (verb) ends the sentence. This is a common Latin pattern (Subject-Object-Verb), but word order can vary without changing the meaning.
What does senex mean and how is it declined?
Senex means old man. It belongs to the third declension, with the nominative singular form senex and the genitive singular form senis. As the subject in this sentence, it appears in the nominative case because it performs the action of seeking.
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