Breakdown of Vespere discipula libros et tabulam parat, ut cras in schola bene discere possit.
Questions & Answers about Vespere discipula libros et tabulam parat, ut cras in schola bene discere possit.
Vespere is the ablative singular of vesper, meaning evening.
In Latin, time when something happens is often expressed by the ablative alone (the ablative of time when), without a preposition.
So Vespere literally means in the evening or at evening.
Discipula is a nominative singular noun meaning (female) student or pupil.
Its feminine ending -a shows that the subject is female.
Latin normally omits subject pronouns like she because the subject is clear from the noun and the verb ending, so she is understood from discipula parat.
Libros and tabulam are in the accusative case.
The accusative is the normal case for the direct object of a verb (the thing that is acted upon).
The verb parat means prepares, so libros et tabulam are the things being prepared: she prepares (her) books and tablet.
Parat is third person singular present indicative active of parare.
Latin present tense can cover both English she prepares (simple present) and she is preparing (present continuous), depending on context.
Here, either English tense is possible; many would translate it as she prepares for simplicity.
Here ut introduces a purpose clause: it means so that, in order that.
In purpose clauses, Latin uses the subjunctive mood.
So possit (present subjunctive of posse, to be able) fits this pattern:
ut … possit = so that she may be able (to …).
Discere is the present active infinitive of discere (to learn).
The verb posse (to be able) is a modal verb and normally takes an infinitive as its complement.
So bene discere possit literally means she may be able to learn well.
In smoother English: so that she may learn well.
Cras is an adverb meaning tomorrow.
Latin adverbs have fairly free placement; here it comes right after ut to specify when the purpose applies: so that tomorrow she may be able to learn well…
You could also see ut in schola cras bene discere possit; the meaning would stay the same.
Schola is in the ablative because the preposition in with the ablative expresses location (place where).
So in schola means in school, in the school, or more idiomatically at school.
Latin has no article, so the exact nuance (the school vs school) is decided by the English translator.
Latin word order is much more flexible than English because grammatical function is shown mainly by endings, not position.
The key structure is parat … ut … possit, and within the ut-clause the adverbs and infinitive can move around.
You might also see: ut bene cras in schola discere possit or ut cras bene in schola discere possit.
All those orders would still mean so that tomorrow she may learn well at school.
Yes, a common alternative structure is ut cras in schola bene discat.
Discat is present subjunctive of discere, so this would mean so that she may learn well tomorrow at school.
With discere possit, Latin adds the verb posse (to be able), literally so that she may be able to learn well….
The basic meaning is very similar; the version with possit slightly emphasizes ability, but often it is just a stylistic choice.
In this kind of school context, tabula usually means a writing tablet, slate, or board, not a piece of furniture.
So libros et tabulam parat means she prepares (her) books and her writing tablet.
Latin tabula can also mean a board, tablet, or even list, depending on context.
Classical Latin has no definite or indefinite articles (the, a, an), so libros et tabulam can be the books and (the) tablet or books and a tablet, depending on context.
Possessives like her are often left out when obvious; it is clear we are talking about the student’s own books and tablet.
If you wanted to make it explicit, you could say libros et tabulam suam parat (she prepares her books and her tablet).