Learn Hardcore Latin: Filia respondet: "Librum lego, quia foris dies frigidus est." - The daughter answers: "I am reading a book, because outside the day is cold."

Liber is the dictionary (nominative) form meaning book.
In the sentence, librum is the direct object of lego (I read / I am reading), so it must be in the accusative case.

nominative (subject): liber – the book (does something)
accusative (object): librum – I read the book

Latin marks the role in the sentence with endings, not with word order.

Where is the word I in librum lego?

Latin usually leaves out subject pronouns if the verb ending already shows the person.

lego = I read / I am reading (1st person singular)
The -o ending tells us the subject is I (ego), so ego is understood and not written.

So librum lego literally means [I] read a/the book.

What tense are respondet and lego, and how do they translate into English?

Both respondet and lego are present tense.

respondet = she responds / she is responding
lego = I read / I am reading

Latin has only one present tense form, which can cover both English simple present and present continuous depending on context.

Why does filia mean the daughter if there is no word for “the”?

Latin does not have separate words for the or a/an.

Filia just means daughter, and context decides whether we translate it as the daughter, a daughter, or simply daughter in English. Here, English naturally uses the daughter.

How do we know filia is the subject of respondet?

The subject is shown mainly by case endings:

filia ends in -a, which is the nominative singular ending for a typical first-declension noun. Nominative is normally the subject case.
respondet is a 3rd person singular verb (he/she/it responds). Filia matches that as the one doing the action.

So filia respondet = the daughter responds / answers.

What exactly does quia mean, and is it the only word for “because”?

Quia is a conjunction meaning because. It introduces the reason for something:

Librum lego, quia foris dies frigidus est.
I am reading a book because it is a cold day outside.

Latin also uses quod to mean because in many contexts. In classical prose, quia often has a slightly stronger sense of a real, objective reason, while quod can sometimes be more subjective or reported—but in beginner Latin, you can usually treat both as because.

What is foris? Is it a noun like “door” or is it “outside”?

In this sentence, foris is an adverb meaning outside / outdoors.

Historically, foris can be:

a noun (usually plural fores) meaning door(s), and
an adverb meaning outside, out of doors.

Here, it clearly works as an adverb: foris dies frigidus est = outside, the day is cold or more naturally it’s a cold day outside.

Why dies frigidus and not frigida dies?

Latin adjectives usually agree with their nouns in:

gender
number
case

Dies (day) is masculine here, so the adjective must also be masculine: frigidus.

masculine: frigidus dies – a cold day
feminine: frigida puella – a cold (chilly) girl (grammatically feminine)
neuter: frigidum tempus – cold weather

You can say dies frigidus or frigidus dies; both are grammatical. The adjective’s position slightly affects emphasis or style, but agreement by ending is what really matters.

Why is dies masculine, and how can I tell?

Dies, diei (day) is a 5th-declension noun. In classical Latin it is usually masculine, though sometimes feminine in poetic or special uses.

You can tell the gender from the dictionary form:

dies, diei (m.) – the (m.) marks it as masculine.

Because it’s masculine, any adjective that describes it must also be masculine: dies frigidus (not frigida).

Why is frigidus in the form it is? What is its function in the sentence?

Frigidus is a masculine nominative singular adjective agreeing with dies.

Functionally, it’s a predicate adjective with est (to be):

dies frigidus est = the day is cold

So frigidus is not just a descriptive adjective stuck onto a noun; it forms part of the is + adjective structure (is cold).

Why is it foris dies frigidus est and not est dies frigidus foris? Does the word order matter?

Latin word order is much freer than English. The basic sense comes from endings, not position.

foris dies frigidus est
dies frigidus foris est
dies frigidus est foris

All of these can mean roughly the same: it is a cold day outside.
The starting foris slightly emphasizes the location (outside, it’s a cold day), but the core grammar doesn’t change.

Could we translate dies frigidus est as it is a cold day? Where is “it” in Latin?

Yes, dies frigidus est is naturally translated as it is a cold day.

Latin doesn’t use an empty “it” the way English does. The real subject is dies (day). English adds a dummy it to sound natural:

Latin: dies frigidus est – literally the day is cold
English: it is a cold day (where it doesn’t refer to anything specific)

Why is there a colon after respondet and quotation marks around Librum lego, quia foris dies frigidus est? Did Romans use that?

Modern editors use punctuation and quotation marks to make Latin easier to read, especially for learners.

Classical Roman texts were originally written with:

little or no punctuation
no quotation marks
often no spaces between words

The colon here simply marks the start of direct speech, and the quotation marks show the exact words spoken by the filia. It’s a helpful modern convention, not an ancient rule.

Could lego mean “I gather” or “I choose” here? How do I know it means “read”?

The verb lego, legere, legi, lectum has several meanings depending on context:

to read
to gather, collect
to pick out, choose

In a context with librum (book), lego almost always means to read.
I gather a book or I choose a book is possible but much less natural without extra context, so I am reading a book is the obvious meaning here.

Why is it respondet and not respondit?

respondet is present tense: she responds / she is responding / she answers.
respondit is perfect tense: she answered / she has answered.

In the given sentence, respondet presents the action as happening now in narrative time: The daughter answers: “I am reading a book…”. If we wrote respondit, it would sound more like a completed, past event: The daughter answered: “I was reading / I read…”.