Word
Puella caput fratris lavare non vult, sed manus suas lavat.
Meaning
The girl does not want to wash her brother's head, but she washes her own hands.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Puella caput fratris lavare non vult, sed manus suas lavat.
puella
the girl
frater
the brother
non
not
sed
but
Questions & Answers about Puella caput fratris lavare non vult, sed manus suas lavat.
What is vult, and how is it parsed?
Vult is the 3rd person singular present active indicative of the irregular verb volo, velle, volui = to want, to wish.
- Person/number: 3rd person singular (he/she/it wants)
- Tense: present
- Voice: active
- Mood: indicative
So puella … vult = the girl wants (or, with non, the girl does not want).
Why is it lavare in lavare non vult, and not lavat?
Because volo is used with an infinitive to mean “to want to do something”.
- lavare is the present active infinitive of lavo, lavare = to wash.
- The pattern is: volo + infinitive = I want to …
- puella lavare vult = the girl wants to wash
- puella lavare non vult = the girl does not want to wash
If you said puella caput fratris non lavat, it would mean the girl does not wash her brother’s head (a simple statement of fact), not does not want to wash. The infinitive is needed to express the idea of wanting to do something.
Why does go in front of rather than in front of ?