Breakdown of Puer et puella novum ludum cum pila faciunt et diu rident, postea autem quieti sedent.
Questions & Answers about Puer et puella novum ludum cum pila faciunt et diu rident, postea autem quieti sedent.
Puer and puella are both in the nominative singular (the case normally used for the subject). They are joined by et (puer et puella = the boy and the girl), so together they form a compound subject.
Because the subject is logically plural (two people), the verbs that refer back to them are in the 3rd person plural:
- faciunt – they make
- rident – they laugh
- sedent – they sit
Latin does not need to repeat the subject with each verb. Once puer et puella has been stated, faciunt, rident, sedent all refer to the same they.
Novus ludus is nominative singular and could be a subject: a new game (does something).
Here, however, ludum is what is being made:
- novum ludum faciunt – they make a new game
That means ludum must be in the accusative singular, the usual case for the direct object (the thing directly affected by the verb). The adjective novum has to match ludum in:
- gender: masculine
- number: singular
- case: accusative
So we get novum ludum (not novus ludus).
Grammatically, novum can only describe ludum, not pila:
- novum ludum – both are masculine singular accusative
- pila – feminine singular ablative (after cum)
Adjectives in Latin agree with the nouns they modify. Because novum is masculine accusative, it must go with ludum, which is also masculine accusative, not with pila, which is feminine ablative.
So the phrase means: a new game with a ball, not a game with a new ball.
Literally, novum ludum facere is to make a new game. In context, however, Latin facere is often used more broadly in combinations like this:
- ludum facere – to create / invent a game, or more loosely, to play a game (especially if the context makes the meaning clear)
Given novum (new), the most natural sense here is that they invent or make up a new game with the ball, rather than physically building something.
Cum is a preposition meaning with. When it means together with (accompaniment) or using (an instrument), it normally takes the ablative case.
Pila is ablative singular of the noun pila, pilae (ball), so:
- cum pila – with a ball (using a ball, or accompanied by a ball)
So the structure is:
novum ludum (direct object) cum pila (prepositional phrase) faciunt (verb)
→ they make a new game with a ball.
Diu is an adverb meaning for a long time or a long while.
In et diu rident:
- rident – they laugh
- diu – for a long time
So: and they laugh for a long time.
It is historically related to dies (day), but for practical purposes, just treat diu as a standalone adverb you memorize with the meaning for a long time.
- postea means afterwards / later (an adverb of time).
- autem is a conjunction meaning roughly however, but.
A key point: autem is postpositive – it almost never comes first in its clause. Instead, it usually appears after the first word or phrase. So:
- postea autem = afterwards, however or but afterwards
So postea autem quieti sedent means: but afterwards they sit quietly (or afterwards, however, they sit quietly).
Quieti here is:
- nominative masculine plural
- of the adjective quietus, -a, -um – quiet, calm, at rest
It is used as a predicate adjective with sedent:
- quieti sedent – they sit quiet / they sit in a quiet state
Because the subject is puer et puella (mixed genders), Latin uses the masculine plural form quieti to agree with the whole group. In English we naturally turn this into an adverb:
- they sit quietly
So grammatically it is an adjective describing they (the boy and the girl), but in English we express the idea as an adverb of manner.
The subject is puer et puella – one masculine noun and one feminine noun together. Latin has a rule:
- If a group is mixed gender, adjectives referring to the whole group go into the masculine plural, not the feminine.
So:
- puer et puella quieti sedent – the boy and the girl sit quiet
If the group were only girls, you would get:
- puellae quietae sedent – the girls sit quiet(ly)
But with at least one masculine noun included, Latin defaults to the masculine plural quieti.
Yes. Latin has flexible word order, so several rearrangements are possible without changing the basic meaning. For example:
- Puer et puella cum pila novum ludum faciunt et diu rident.
- Puer et puella novum ludum faciunt cum pila et diu rident.
All of these still mean essentially the boy and girl make a new game with a ball and laugh for a long time.
Word order in Latin is often used for emphasis or rhythm, not for grammar. Case endings (like -um, -a, -i) tell you what each word is doing. Here:
- novum ludum must stay together as adjective + noun.
- cum pila must stay together as preposition + its object.
Within those small units, and within the clause, the order can vary.
The verbs faciunt, rident, sedent are all present tense, 3rd person plural:
- faciunt – they make / are making
- rident – they laugh / are laughing
- sedent – they sit / are sitting
So the sentence describes something happening now or in a timeless present.
If you wanted to put it into the imperfect (ongoing action in the past), you would use:
- faciebant (from facere)
- ridebant (from ridere)
- sedebant (from sedere)
So you’d get:
- Puer et puella novum ludum cum pila faciebant et diu ridebant, postea autem quieti sedebant.
→ The boy and the girl were making a new game with a ball and were laughing for a long time, but afterwards they were sitting quietly.