Learn Hardcore Latin: Cras dies brevis erit, sed multi discipuli ad scholam venient. - Tomorrow the day will be short, but many students will come to the school.

It does not change its form (no cases, no singular/plural).
It usually goes near the verb, but word order is flexible: Cras venient, Venient cras, etc.
You do not add a preposition to it (you don’t say something like “in cras” in Latin).

What is dies exactly – what case, number, and gender is it, and why?

In Cras dies brevis erit, the word dies is:

Case: nominative (it is the subject of erit “will be”)
Number: singular
Gender: masculine

Most 5th-declension nouns in Latin are feminine (like res, “thing”), but dies, diei (day) is usually masculine. It can sometimes be feminine in poetry or certain special uses, but in ordinary prose you treat it as masculine, so adjectives agreeing with it (like brevis) use masculine forms.

What form is brevis, and why does it come after dies?

Brevis here is:

Case: nominative
Number: singular
Gender: masculine

It is a 3rd-declension adjective agreeing with dies:

dies (nominative singular masculine)
brevis (nominative singular masculine to match)

Latin word order is fairly flexible. Adjectives often follow the noun (especially descriptive ones), so dies brevis is very natural. You could also say brevis dies, which would still be “a short day,” with perhaps a slightly more emphatic feel on brevis.

What tense and person is erit, and why is the future used together with cras?

Erit is:

Verb: from sum, esse (to be)
Tense: future
Person: 3rd person
Number: singular
Meaning: he/she/it will be

Cras dies brevis erit literally: Tomorrow the day will be short.

Using cras (tomorrow) already points to the future in meaning, but Latin still normally uses the future tense in this case. The time adverb (cras) and the future form (erit) go together; they are not redundant, they simply reinforce each other, just like English “Tomorrow the day will be short.”

Why is there no word for “the” in dies brevis erit?

Classical Latin has no definite or indefinite articles (no words like the, a, an). Whether you translate dies as “day,” “a day,” or “the day” depends on context.

dies brevis erit can be:
- “The day will be short,” or
- “Tomorrow will be a short day.”

Context (like cras) tells you that a particular day is meant, so English naturally uses the or rephrases as “Tomorrow will be short.” Latin just says dies brevis erit without any article.

What does sed do in this sentence, and could it appear somewhere else?

Sed is a coordinating conjunction meaning “but”.

Here it connects two clauses:

Cras dies brevis erit – Tomorrow the day will be short
multi discipuli ad scholam venient – but many students will come to school

Sed normally comes at the start of the clause it introduces, just like “but” often does in English. You will almost always see it exactly where it is in the sentence: between the two clauses, at the beginning of the second.

How do multi and discipuli agree, and what case are they in?

Multi discipuli means many students. Grammatically:

discipuli
- Nominative plural
- Masculine
- 2nd declension
- Subject of venient
multi
- Nominative plural
- Masculine
- 1st/2nd-declension adjective

So multi agrees with discipuli in:

case (nominative),
number (plural),
gender (masculine).

Together they form the complete subject of the second clause: multi discipuli → many students (will come).

Why do we say ad scholam here? What case is scholam, and why not just schola?

Ad scholam literally means “to the school.”

scholam is accusative singular of schola (1st declension, feminine).
ad takes the accusative case and expresses motion toward a place.

So:

ad scholam venient = they will come *to the school*.

If you said just schola venient, that would be ungrammatical; Latin normally needs ad (or some other suitable preposition) to show direction toward a place like this.

Compare:

ad scholam – to the school (movement toward)
in schola – in the school (location)
in scholam – into the school (movement into, entering)

Here the idea is “come to school,” so ad scholam is the natural choice.

What tense and conjugation is venient, and how is it formed?

Venient is:

From venio, venire, veni, ventum (to come)
Conjugation: 4th
Tense: future
Person: 3rd person
Number: plural

So venient means they will come.

In the 4th conjugation, the future is formed with endings like:

veniam – I will come
venies – you (sg.) will come
veniet – he/she/it will come
veniemus – we will come
venietis – you (pl.) will come
venient – they will come

In the sentence, multi discipuli is the subject, so the verb is 3rd person plural: venient.

Can the word order be changed, for example to Cras brevis dies erit, sed ad scholam multi discipuli venient? Does the meaning change?

Yes, the word order in Latin is flexible, and both of these are correct:

Cras dies brevis erit, sed multi discipuli ad scholam venient.
Cras brevis dies erit, sed ad scholam multi discipuli venient.

The basic meaning does not change: Tomorrow the day will be short, but many students will come to school.

Changes in word order mainly affect emphasis and rhythm:

brevis dies puts a bit more emphasis on brevis (short).
ad scholam multi discipuli venient places ad scholam earlier, so “to school” may feel slightly more highlighted.

But for a learner, you can treat these as stylistic variations with the same translation in normal English.