Sol, qui mane lucet, discipulum laetum facit.

The sun, which shines in the morning, makes the student happy.

Breakdown of Sol, qui mane lucet, discipulum laetum facit.

• laetus: happy
• discipulus: the student
• facere: to make
• sol: the sun

Questions & Answers about Sol, qui mane lucet, discipulum laetum facit.

What does qui mean here, and what is its grammatical role?

Qui is a relative pronoun meaning “who” (or “which/that” depending on context).

Its job is:

• to refer back to Sol (the sun) — this is its antecedent
• to introduce the relative clause qui mane lucet (who shines in the morning)

So:

• Sol, qui mane lucet, …
  = The sun, who shines in the morning, …

Grammatically:

• qui is nominative (it’s the subject of lucet)
• masculine singular, because it agrees with Sol (masculine singular)

Why is it qui and not quod or quem?

Latin relative pronouns agree with their antecedent in gender and number, and take their case from their role in their own clause.

1. Gender & number

   • Antecedent: Sol → masculine, singular
   • So the relative pronoun must also be masculine singular → qui

2. Case

   • In the clause qui mane lucet, the pronoun is the subject of lucet.
   • Subjects are nominative, so qui is nominative.

So we get:

• qui (nom. masc. sg.) = who (subject)
• not quem (accusative: “whom”)
• not quod (neuter nominative/accusative: “which”)