Puer fessus domi dormit.

The tired boy sleeps at home.

Breakdown of Puer fessus domi dormit.

• puer: the boy
• dormire: to sleep
• domus: the home
• fessus: tired

Questions & Answers about Puer fessus domi dormit.

Why is there no word for “the” in this Latin sentence?

Latin does not have separate words for “the” or “a/an”.
Whether we translate puer as “the boy” or “a boy” depends on context, not on any special word in Latin.

• puer fessus domi dormit can be:
  • “The tired boy sleeps at home.”
  • or “A tired boy sleeps at home.”

Both are possible; the Latin sentence itself does not force one or the other.

What case and role does puer have?

puer is:

• Case: nominative
• Number: singular
• Gender: masculine

In this sentence, the nominative shows that puer is the subject of the verb dormit:

• puer dormit = “the boy sleeps.”

Why is it fessus and not fessum or fessa?

fessus, -a, -um is an adjective meaning “tired”.
In Latin, adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in:

• Gender
• Number
• Case

puer is masculine, singular, nominative, so the adjective must also be:

• masculine → fessus
• singular → not fessi (plural)
• nominative → not fessum (accusative) or fesso (dative/ablative)

So we get puer fessus = “tired boy” or “the boy is tired.”

Is fessus saying “tired boy” or “the boy is tired”? Do we need est?

It can be understood both ways, depending on how you choose to translate:

• Attributive: “The tired boy sleeps at home.” (like an English adjective before a noun)
• Predicative (with an implied “is”): “The boy, being tired, sleeps at home.” / “The boy is tired and sleeps at home.”

Latin often omits the verb “to be” (est) when the meaning is clear from context.
So puer fessus dormit is completely normal Latin without est.

What exactly is domi? Why not in domo?

domi is a special old case form called the locative. It usually means “at home”.

• domi = “at home”
• in domo = “in the house, inside the building”
• domum = “(to) home” (motion toward)

So:

• puer fessus domi dormit = “The tired boy sleeps at home.”
• puer fessus in domo dormit = more literally “The tired boy sleeps in the house.”
  (not wrong, just a slightly different nuance)

What form of the verb is dormit, and what does it tell us?

dormit comes from the verb dormiō, dormīre = “to sleep.”

Its form is:

• Person: 3rd person (he/she/it)
• Number: singular
• Tense: present
• Voice: active
• Mood: indicative

So dormit means “he sleeps / she sleeps / it sleeps” or “is sleeping.”

Combined with puer, it gives:

• puer dormit → “the boy sleeps / is sleeping.”

Could you change the word order and still have the same meaning?

Yes. Latin word order is much more flexible than English. All these can mean essentially the same thing:

• Puer fessus domi dormit.
• Puer domi fessus dormit.
• Fessus puer domi dormit.
• Domi puer fessus dormit.

The endings (puer, fessus, domi, dormit) show what each word is doing in the sentence, so the order can vary.
Word order is used more for emphasis or style than for basic grammar.

How would the sentence change if we talked about boys instead of boy?

We make both the noun and the adjective plural nominative masculine and change the verb to 3rd person plural:

• Singular:
  Puer fessus domi dormit. → “The tired boy sleeps at home.”

• Plural:
  Puerī fessī domi dormiunt. → “The tired boys sleep at home.”

Changes:

• puer → puerī (boys, nominative plural)
• fessus → fessī (tired, plural to agree with puerī)
• dormit → dormiunt (they sleep)

Why is it puer and not puerus like other -us nouns?

puer is a slightly irregular-looking 2nd-declension noun:

• Many 2nd-declension masculine nouns end in -us in the nominative singular:
  servus, amīcus, dominus, etc.
• But some end in -er instead of -us, like puer, ager, vir.

puer declines like this (simplified):

• Nominative singular: puer (boy)
• Genitive singular: puerī (of the boy)

So puer is the normal nominative form, not puerus.

How do you pronounce puer, domi, and dormit?

In a simple “classical-style” pronunciation:

• puer → roughly “POO-er” (two syllables: pu-er, stress on pu)
• domi → “DOH-mee” (stress on do)
• dormit → “DOR-mit” (stress on dor)

Stress rule reminder:

• Two-syllable words are stressed on the first syllable: puer, domi, dormit → stress on pu, do, dor.

Is there any hidden nuance in puer (like age or status), or does it just mean “boy”?

puer primarily means “boy” (a male child or very young man). Some nuances:

• Often younger than a full adult man (vir).
• Can also mean “slave boy / young servant” in some contexts, especially in literature.

In a simple sentence like Puer fessus domi dormit, it is safe to understand just “boy.”