Questions & Answers about Hodie caelum clarum est.
What does each word in Hodie caelum clarum est literally mean?
- Hodie = today
- caelum = sky (also heaven in some contexts)
- clarum = clear, bright (here describing the sky)
- est = is
So a very literal translation is: “Today sky clear is.”
Why is the word order Hodie caelum clarum est and not “Hodie caelum est clarum”?
Latin word order is flexible. Hodie caelum clarum est and Hodie caelum est clarum mean the same thing.
Some points:
- Hodie usually comes early, like English today.
- The verb est often appears at the end of the sentence, but it doesn’t have to.
- Adjectives like clarum can come either before or after the noun they describe (caelum clarum or clarum caelum).
Here the sentence ends with est, which is very natural Latin.
Why is caelum and clarum ending in -um?
Because they are both neuter singular nominative:
- caelum is a neuter noun, 2nd declension, nominative singular.
- clarum is the neuter nominative singular form of the adjective (“clear, bright, famous”).