Learn Hardcore Latin: Vestri amici pauci sunt, sed boni; deinde alii ad scholam venient. - Your friends are few, but good; then others will come to the school.

It is nominative plural masculine, because it has to agree with amici:
- vestr-i amic-i
- masc. – masc., plural – plural, nominative – nominative.

So vestri amici means “your (plural) friends.”

Note that there is also a pronoun vestri meaning “of you (pl.)” (genitive), but here that meaning does not fit the grammar; this vestri must be the adjective agreeing with amici.

Why is amici in the nominative case, and what is its role in the sentence?

Amici is nominative plural masculine of amicus (“friend”), and it is the subject of the first clause.

Vestri amici pauci sunt
- amici = “friends” = subject
- sunt = “are” = verb

So literally: “Your friends are few.” The rest (like sed boni) gives more information about those friends.

What are pauci and boni doing grammatically, and why are they after amici and before/after sunt?

Both pauci and boni are predicate adjectives describing amici.

pauci = “few”
boni = “good”

They are in nominative plural masculine, agreeing with amici, and they are linked to amici by the verb sunt (“are”).

So:

vestri amici pauci sunt = “your friends are few”
sed boni = “but (they are) good” (the verb sunt is understood again)

Latin word order is flexible. The pattern here is:

[subject phrase] [adjective] [verb], but [adjective]
Literally: “Your friends few are, but good.”

English just smooths this out to: “Your friends are few, but good.”

Is there a difference between pauci and English “few” / “a few”?

Latin pauci usually means “few, not many” and often carries a slightly negative or limiting sense (“there aren’t many of them”), very much like English “few” rather than “a few.”

pauci amici sunt → more like “There are few friends” (emphasizing small number).

Context can soften this, but generally:

pauci ≈ “few” (scarcity)
if Latin wants to stress “some (at least)” it often uses other expressions (e.g. nonnulli = “some, several”).

What does deinde mean, and what part of speech is it?

Deinde is an adverb meaning “then, next, afterward, after that.”

It doesn’t change its form (adverbs don’t decline) and modifies the whole second clause:

deinde alii ad scholam venient
- “then / after that, others will come to the school.”

You can place deinde at the beginning of the clause, as here, which is very common.

What does alii mean here, and what is its case and function?

Alii is from alius, alia, aliud, meaning “other, another.”

Here:

alii = nominative plural masculine
It is the subject of the verb venient in the second clause.

So alii venient = “others will come.”

The noun amici is understood from the context:

“Your friends are few, but good; then other (friends) will come to the school.”

Latin often leaves out a repeated noun when it’s obvious from context.

Why is it ad scholam, not just schola or scholae?

The preposition ad takes the accusative case and usually expresses motion toward something: “to, toward.”

schola is nominative singular (subject form)
scholam is accusative singular

So ad scholam literally means “to the school.”

Contrast with a static location using in + ablative:

in scholā = “in the school, at the school” (no movement implied)
ad scholam = “to the school” (movement toward).

What tense is venient, and how do we know?

Venient is future tense, 3rd person plural of venio, venire (“to come”).

For 4th conjugation verbs like venio, a common future ending is -ent for 3rd person plural:

veniunt = “they come / they are coming” (present)
venient = “they will come” (future)

So alii ad scholam venient = “others will come to the school.”

Why is there a semicolon between boni and deinde, and how do the two parts of the sentence relate?

The semicolon in the Latin text (a modern editorial choice) is showing that we have two closely connected clauses:

Vestri amici pauci sunt, sed boni
- a statement about the current situation: your friends are few but good.
deinde alii ad scholam venient
- a statement about what will happen next: then others will come.

They’re separate but closely linked ideas: present situation → future development. In translation, you might use a semicolon, a period, or even “and then”:

“Your friends are few but good; then others will come to the school.”
“Your friends are few but good. Then others will come to the school.”

Could we change the word order to amici vestri pauci sunt, and would the meaning change?

Yes, amici vestri pauci sunt is perfectly good Latin and means the same thing: “Your friends are few.”

Latin word order is relatively flexible.
Vestri amici and amici vestri both mean “your friends”; the possessive adjective vester just has to agree with amici in case, number, and gender.

Shifting the order can slightly change emphasis or style, but not the basic meaning here. Vestri amici might gently emphasize “your” (as opposed to someone else’s), but this is a subtle stylistic nuance.

Why are both verbs, sunt and venient, plural?

In Latin, the verb must agree in number (and person) with its subject.

vestri amici pauci sunt
- subject: amici (plural) → verb: sunt (3rd person plural)
alii ad scholam venient
- subject: alii (plural) → verb: venient (3rd person plural)

Latin usually does not need a separate word for “they,” because the verb ending already contains that information. The plural verb endings -nt (sunt, venient) signal “they are” / “they will come.”

Is there any special nuance in saying “pauci sunt, sed boni” instead of something like “pauci sed boni sunt”?

Both are grammatically correct. Latin often places sunt early or even omits it.

pauci sunt, sed boni
- “they are few, but (they are) good”
- makes you feel the small number first, then adds the contrast “but good.”
pauci sed boni sunt
- slightly more compact; both adjectives sit together before the verb.

In practice, the meaning is the same. The given version “pauci sunt, sed boni” gives a bit of rhetorical weight to the contrast: first few, then but good.