Avia capillos longos et oculos claros habet.

Grandmother has long hair and bright eyes.

Breakdown of Avia capillos longos et oculos claros habet.

• et: and
• longus: long
• clarus: bright
• habere: to have
• avia: the grandmother
• capillus: the hair
• oculus: the eye

Questions & Answers about Avia capillos longos et oculos claros habet.

What does avia mean, and what is its grammatical role in the sentence?

Avia means grandmother.

Grammatically:

• avia is nominative singular, feminine
• it’s the subject of the verb habet
• so the core meaning is: “The grandmother has …”

Why doesn’t the Latin sentence use a word for “she”? Where is the subject pronoun?

Latin normally leaves out subject pronouns like ego (I), tu (you), ea (she), unless you want to emphasize them.

The subject is understood from the verb ending:

• habet = he/she/it has (3rd person singular)

Since avia (grandmother) is the noun in the nominative, we understand it as:

• Avia habet … = She (the grandmother) has …

Latin does not need a separate “she” here.

What does habet mean exactly, and how is it formed?

Habet means “has”.

It is the 3rd person singular present tense of habēre (to have):

• habeō – I have
• habēs – you (sing.) have
• habet – he/she/it has
• habēmus – we have
• habētis – you (pl.) have
• habent – they have

So avia … habet = the grandmother has …

Why are capillos and oculos in that form? What case are they, and why?

Capillos (hair) and oculos (eyes) are both in the accusative plural.

Reason: they are the direct objects of habet (has). In Latin, the thing that is had, seen, loved, etc. usually goes into the accusative case.

• capillus (a hair) → accusative singular: capillum, plural: capillos
• oculus (an eye) → accusative singular: oculum, plural: oculos

So:

• avia capillos … habet = the grandmother has hair
• avia … oculos … habet = the grandmother has eyes

Why is capillos plural if in English we usually just say “hair”, not “hairs”?

Latin normally treats hair as countable hairs:

• capillus = a single hair
• capilli (plural) = hair in general (the hairs on your head)

So capillos longos literally means “long hairs”, but idiomatically it just means “long hair” in English.

This is a common difference:

• Latin: pl. (capillos longos)
• English: mass noun (long hair)

Why do the adjectives come after the nouns (capillos longos, oculos claros) instead of before them like in English?

In Latin, adjectives can come before or after the noun, but they often come after in simple descriptions.

Here:

• capillos longos = long hair (literally “hair long”)
• oculos claros = bright/clear eyes (literally “eyes bright/clear”)

The order is normal Latin style and doesn’t change the basic meaning. Moving the adjective before the noun can add emphasis or a slightly different feel, but post‑position (after the noun) is very common.

Why are the adjectives longos and claros, not something like longus and clarus?

Adjectives in Latin must agree with the noun they describe in:

• gender (masculine/feminine/neuter)
• number (singular/plural)
• case (nominative/accusative/etc.)

Both capillos and oculos are:

• masculine
• plural
• accusative

So the adjectives must also be masculine plural accusative:

• longos (matching capillos)
• claros (matching oculos)

That’s why they are longos, claros, not longus, clarus (which would be nominative singular masculine).

Note: they agree with their own noun, not with avia. The subject avia is feminine, but that does not affect the forms of adjectives describing capillos and oculos.

What exactly does claros mean for eyes? Is it “clear”, “bright”, or “light‑colored”?

The adjective clarus, -a, -um has several related meanings:

• clear
• bright, shining
• distinct
• famous, renowned (in other contexts)

For eyes, oculos claros usually suggests bright / clear / shining eyes, often implying that they stand out or are striking in some way.

Depending on context, you might translate it as:

• “bright eyes”
• “clear eyes”
• “light-colored eyes”

All are reasonable; the Latin alone doesn’t force one precise English choice.

Why is there only one et: capillos longos et oculos claros habet, not capillos longos et oculos claros et habet?

Et means “and” and is used here to join two objects of the same verb:

• capillos longos et oculos claros = long hair and bright eyes

Latin (like English) uses one “and” to join two items in a list. It would be wrong to put et right before the verb here.

You could see, with a slightly different emphasis:

• et capillos longos et oculos claros habet = she has both long hair and bright eyes

Here the doubled et … et … means “both … and …”. That’s acceptable but a bit more marked in style.

Could we say the same idea using “are” instead of “has”, like “her hair is long and her eyes are bright”?

Yes, Latin can also express this using “to be” (esse) and the nominative case. For example:

• Aviae capilli longi et oculi clari sunt.
  
  • Aviae – of the grandmother (genitive singular)
  • capilli longi – long hair (literally “long hairs”, nominative pl.)
  • oculi clari – bright eyes (nominative pl.)
  • sunt – are

This means: “The grandmother’s hair is long and (her) eyes are bright.”

Your original sentence instead uses habet + accusative objects:

• Avia capillos longos et oculos claros habet.
  
  • The grandmother has long hair and bright eyes.

Both structures are common; they just organize the idea differently.

Is the word order fixed, or can we rearrange this sentence?

Latin word order is relatively flexible. All of these are grammatically correct and would normally mean the same thing:

• Avia capillos longos et oculos claros habet.
• Avia habet capillos longos et oculos claros.
• Capillos longos et oculos claros avia habet.

The endings (cases and verb forms), not the position, show who is doing what to whom. The given order is very natural and clear, but changing order is often used for emphasis or style, not basic meaning.