Femina timida ante templum stat et orat.

The fearful woman stands before the temple and prays.

Breakdown of Femina timida ante templum stat et orat.

• et: and
• stare: to stand
• femina: the woman
• ante: before

Questions & Answers about Femina timida ante templum stat et orat.

Why is there no word for the or a in this sentence?

Latin does not have articles like English the and a/an.

So femina can mean:

• a woman
• the woman
• sometimes simply woman, depending on context

Likewise, templum can mean a temple or the temple.
The context tells you which is most natural in translation.

How do I know that femina is the subject?

Femina is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of a sentence.

Also, the verbs stat and orat are both third person singular, so they match a singular subject: the woman.

Why is it femina timida and not timidam feminam or something else?

Because both words are describing the subject, they must both be in the nominative singular feminine:

• femina = nominative singular feminine
• timida = nominative singular feminine

This is called agreement: an adjective must agree with the noun it describes in gender, number, and case.

If the woman were a direct object instead of the subject, then you would expect forms like .