Learn Hardcore Latin: Dum magister fabulam narrat, discipuli libros non legunt sed vocem eius audiunt. - While the teacher tells a story, the students do not read books but listen to his voice.

In Classical Latin, when dum means “while”, it is normally followed by the present indicative, even if in English we might use a past continuous:

Dum magister fabulam narrat, discipuli libros non legunt…
= “While the teacher is telling the story, the students are not reading books…”

If the main clause were in the past, Latin could still keep dum + present:

Dum magister fabulam narrat, discipuli libros non legebant.
= “While the teacher was telling the story, the students were not reading books.”

So: dum + present gives a “while (someone is) doing X” idea.

Why is magister in one form and discipuli in another? What cases are they?

Both magister and discipuli are in the nominative case, which is the case used for subjects of verbs.

magister = nominative singular (“the teacher”)
discipuli = nominative plural (“the students”)

They are subjects of their verbs:

magister … narrat – the teacher tells / is telling
discipuli … legunt, audiunt – the students read / listen

English shows subjects mostly by word order; Latin shows them by endings (case and number).

Why are fabulam, libros, and vocem in different forms from magister and discipuli?

fabulam, libros, and vocem are all in the accusative case, which is the normal case for the direct object of a verb (the thing being acted on).

fabulam (acc. sg.) – “a/the story”
→ object of narrat (tells a story)
libros (acc. pl.) – “books”
→ object of legunt (read books)
vocem (acc. sg.) – “(the) voice”
→ object of audiunt (hear the voice)

So:

magister / discipuli = nominative (subjects)
fabulam / libros / vocem = accusative (objects)

All the verbs (narrat, legunt, audiunt) are in the present tense. Does Latin distinguish “tell” vs “is telling,” “read” vs “are reading”?

Latin has one present tense for both:

narrat = “he tells” or “he is telling”
legunt = “they read” or “they are reading”
audiunt = “they hear” or “they are listening (to)”

Latin does not have a special “-ing” form like English. Context decides whether we translate with a simple present (“they read”) or a continuous form (“they are reading”).

In this sentence, English naturally uses the progressive:

“While the teacher is telling the story, the students are not reading books but are listening to his voice.”

Why does non come before legunt instead of before libros?

The basic Latin pattern is:

non + verb = not [verb]

So:

discipuli libros non legunt would naturally be understood as “the students do not read books.”

Putting non directly before libros (e.g. discipuli non libros legunt) is possible but tends to stress “not books (but something else)”:

discipuli non libros legunt sed epistulas
“the students read not books but letters.”

Here the intended idea is that they do not read (at all), they listen instead, so non legunt (with non before the verb) is the normal, neutral negation.

Can the word order be changed? For example, could I say: Magister dum fabulam narrat, discipuli libros non legunt sed eius vocem audiunt?

Yes. Latin word order is fairly flexible, especially compared to English. Your example:

Magister dum fabulam narrat, discipuli libros non legunt sed eius vocem audiunt

is grammatically correct and means the same thing.

Other possible orders:

Dum magister fabulam narrat, discipuli non libros legunt sed vocem eius audiunt.
(Here non libros legunt would emphasize “not books.”)
Dum magister fabulam narrat, discipuli vocem eius audiunt sed libros non legunt.
(Here we foreground listening first, then add the negation of reading.)

The endings (cases, verb endings) show who does what, so changing order usually changes emphasis, not basic meaning.

Why is it vocem eius, not vocem suam? What is the difference between eius and suus/suam?

Latin has two ways to say “his/her/its/their”:

eius (genitive singular of is, ea, id)
- Means “his/her/its” referring to someone else, not the subject.
- It is not reflexive.
suus, -a, -um (reflexive possessive adjective)
- Means “his own / her own / its own / their own”, referring back to the subject of the clause.
- It is reflexive.

In:

Dum magister fabulam narrat, discipuli libros non legunt sed vocem eius audiunt.

the subject of the main clause is discipuli (“the students”).
If we said vocem suam, it would normally mean:

“they listen to their own voice.”

But we want “the teacher’s voice”, belonging to magister, not to the students. So Latin uses vocem eius = “his voice” (the voice of that man, the teacher).

Why is it vocem eius, with eius after vocem? Could it also be eius vocem?

Both orders are possible:

vocem eius audiunt
eius vocem audiunt

Latin is quite flexible about genitives and possessives. However, a common, fairly neutral pattern is:

noun + possessor
→ vocem eius = “his voice”

Putting eius before the noun (eius vocem) can sound a bit more emphatic on whose voice it is, or slightly less normal in prose, but it is still correct.

So the order in the sentence is the default, natural one, but not the only possible one.

Does audiunt mean “hear” or “listen to”? How do I know which English verb to choose?

The basic meaning of audire is “to hear” (perceive with the ears):

vocem magistri audiunt – “they hear the teacher’s voice.”

But often, especially when the object is speech, story, teaching, etc., English prefers “listen (to)”:

“While the teacher is telling the story, the students… listen to his voice.”

Latin does have a more explicitly “listen attentively” verb, auscultare (“to listen to, to pay heed to”), but audire frequently covers both “hear” and “listen (to)”. You choose the smoother English depending on context; the Latin itself doesn’t always draw a sharp line.

Why is there a comma after narrat? Does Latin punctuation work like English punctuation?

Classical Latin, as written in antiquity, originally had little or no punctuation. Modern editors add punctuation marks to help readers.

In modern printed Latin, punctuation is used in a way similar to English:

The comma after narrat marks the end of the subordinate clause:
- Dum magister fabulam narrat, = “While the teacher is telling the story,”
Then comes the main clause:
- discipuli libros non legunt sed vocem eius audiunt.

So the comma is an editorial aid, not a grammatical marker in the original language, but it lines up well with how English would punctuate the same structure.

Does magister always mean “teacher,” and is it always masculine?

magister, magistri is a masculine noun. Its core meanings include:

“teacher, schoolmaster”
“master, chief, director, leader”

In a school context, it usually means “teacher” (male). The common feminine counterpart is:

magistra, -ae – “female teacher, mistress”

In your sentence, magister is presumed to be male (“the teacher, he”) unless some wider context says otherwise.

Why is there no word for “the” in magister, discipuli, libros, etc.? How do I know when to translate with “the” vs “a/some”?

Latin has no articles at all—no “the”, no “a/an”.

Words like:

magister – “teacher”
discipuli – “students”
libros – “books”

can be translated as “the teacher / a teacher,” “the students / some students,” “the books / books” depending on context.

Here, the context suggests specific people in a class situation:

magister → “the teacher”
discipuli → “the students”

So we naturally say:

“While the teacher is telling the story, the students are not reading books but are listening to his voice.”

In Latin, the definiteness or indefiniteness is understood from the situation, not from a separate word like “the.”

Why is sed used for “but” here? Could Latin also use autem or at?

Latin has several words often translated as “but”, with slightly different flavors:

sed – the most neutral and common “but”, often simply contrasts or replaces what came before.
autem – a weaker “but / however”; it usually stands second in its clause and often marks a new point rather than a sharp contrast.
at – a stronger, more emotional “but / on the other hand / whereas.”

In:

discipuli libros non legunt sed vocem eius audiunt

sed fits perfectly: it sets up a simple contrast:

not this → but that
“they do not read books but (instead) they listen to his voice.”

Using autem here would sound less like “instead” and more like a mild “however”; at would be too strong for this straightforward contrast. So sed is the natural choice.