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Postea discipuli domum veniunt et cum familia de die longo loquuntur.

Postea discipuli domum veniunt et cum familia de die longo loquuntur.
Afterwards the students come home and talk with the family about the long day.
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Questions & Answers about Postea discipuli domum veniunt et cum familia de die longo loquuntur.

What part of speech is postea, and where can it go in the sentence?

Postea is an adverb meaning later / afterwards.

In this sentence it comes first, but adverbs like postea are fairly free in position. You might also see:

  • Discipuli postea domum veniunt...
  • Discipuli domum postea veniunt...

All would still mean roughly “The students later come home...”, though putting postea first gives it a bit more emphasis: “Afterwards, the students...”

Why is it discipuli and not discipulos?

Discipuli is nominative plural, so it is the subject of the verbs veniunt and loquuntur.

  • discipulī (nominative plural) = the students (doing the action)
  • discipulōs (accusative plural) = the students (receiving the action)

Here, the students are the ones who come and talk, so the nominative discipuli is required.

What exactly does domum mean, and why is there no preposition like “to” (ad)?

Domum is an accusative form of domus used as an adverbial accusative meaning “home(ward), to home”.

Latin regularly uses bare domum without a preposition to express motion towards home:

  • domum venire = to come home
  • domum ire = to go home

Adding ad (ad domum) is possible in some contexts, but the classical and most idiomatic way is simply domum with no preposition when you mean homewards.

What tense and person is veniunt, and how do I know who is doing the action?

Veniunt is 3rd person plural, present tense, active voice of venire (to come).

  • veniunt = they come / they are coming

We know who “they” are from the subject discipuli (nominative plural). Latin usually shows who does the action by:

  1. The verb ending (here: -unt → “they”)
  2. The nominative noun that agrees in number (discipulī ... veniunt).
Why is it cum familia, not something like cum familia sua (“with their family”)?

Latin often omits possessive pronouns (suus, -a, -um) when the owner is obvious from the context.

Cum familia here naturally means “with their family”, because the subject is discipuli and people usually talk with their own family in such a sentence.

If there were any risk of confusion, Latin could use cum sua familia, but it is not necessary here.

Why is familia singular when it seems to refer to several people?

Familia is a collective noun. In Latin, as in English, a singular collective noun can refer to a group:

  • familia = family, a group of people
  • exercitus = army, a group of soldiers

So cum familia means “with (their) family” as a unit, even though the family consists of multiple individuals.

What is going on with loquuntur? Why does it end in -ntur but still mean “they talk” (active)?

Loquuntur is from loquor, loqui, locutus sum, which is a deponent verb.

Deponent verbs:

  • look passive (they use endings like -tur, -ntur)
  • mean active

So:

  • loquuntur = they talk / they speak, not “they are spoken”

Forms:

  • loquor – I speak
  • loqueris – you speak
  • loquitur – he/she/it speaks
  • loquimur – we speak
  • loquimini – you (pl.) speak
  • loquuntur – they speak
What does de mean in de die longo, and what case does it take?

De is a preposition that commonly means “about, concerning, regarding” (among other meanings). It always takes the ablative case.

So:

  • dē diē longō = about the long day

Here die and longo are both ablative singular, governed by de.

Why are both die and longo in the ablative, and why is the order “die longo” instead of “longo die”?

Because de requires the ablative, both the noun and its adjective must be ablative:

  • dies, diei (day): ablative singular die
  • longus, -a, -um (long): ablative singular masculine longo

They agree in case, number, and gender: die longō.

As for order, Latin is flexible. You could see:

  • de die longo
  • de longo die

Both are correct. Putting the adjective after the noun (die longo) is very common and feels neutral.

Why are veniunt and loquuntur both in the present tense? Could this also be translated with past tense in English?

In Latin narrative, the present tense is often used for events that we might put in the past in English. This is called the historical present and makes the story feel more vivid.

So Latin veniunt ... loquuntur can be:

  • Strictly: they come ... they talk
  • Narratively: they came ... they talked (depending on context)

If the wider passage is a narrative of past events, an English translator might well use past tenses, even though Latin uses the present.

Can the word order of the whole sentence be changed without changing the meaning?

Yes, Latin word order is relatively flexible, because meaning is carried mainly by endings, not by position.

For example, all of these would be acceptable with essentially the same meaning:

  • Discipuli postea domum veniunt et de die longo cum familia loquuntur.
  • Postea domum discipuli veniunt et cum familia de die longo loquuntur.
  • Discipuli domum veniunt postea et cum familia de die longo loquuntur.

The core relationships (who does what to whom) stay the same because of the cases and verb endings; changes in word order usually affect emphasis, not basic meaning.