Breakdown of Multi homines in foro imperatorem exspectant.
Questions & Answers about Multi homines in foro imperatorem exspectant.
Multi is an adjective meaning many. It is:
- masculine
- nominative
- plural
It agrees with homines (also masculine nominative plural) in gender, case, and number. Together they mean many people. In Latin, adjectives must match the nouns they modify in these three features, so you see multi homines, not something like multos homines here, because the noun is the subject, not an object.
Homines is:
- nominative
- plural
It is the subject of the verb exspectant. The basic structure is:
- Subject: multi homines – many people
- Verb: exspectant – are waiting
- Object: imperatorem – for the emperor
- Adverbial phrase: in foro – in the forum
So multi homines together form the subject: many people.
Foro is:
- ablative
- singular
- neuter
- from forum, fori (2nd declension)
In Latin, the preposition in can take either:
- the ablative: meaning location – in foro = in the forum (where?)
- the accusative: meaning motion toward – in forum = into the forum (to where?)
Here the meaning is in the forum, a static location, so Latin uses in foro (ablative).
Imperatorem is:
- accusative
- singular
- masculine
- from imperator, imperatoris (3rd declension)
It is the direct object of exspectant. The people are doing the action of waiting, and the emperor is the one they are waiting for, so imperatorem is in the accusative as the thing directly affected by the action.
Exspectant is:
- 3rd person
- plural
- present tense
- active voice
- indicative mood
from the verb exspecto, exspectare = to wait for, to await.
So exspectant means they (are) waiting for or simply they wait for. It matches the plural subject multi homines.
Exspectat is 3rd person singular: he/she/it waits (for).
Exspectant is 3rd person plural: they wait (for).
Since the subject is multi homines (many people, clearly plural), the verb must also be plural: exspectant. If the subject were singular, for example imperator (the emperor waits), you would use exspectat.
Yes, exspectant and English expect are historically related, but their meanings differ:
- Latin exspectare literally means to wait for, to await, often with the sense of physically waiting.
- English expect can mean:
- to think something will happen in the future (mental expectation), not necessarily involving waiting somewhere.
In this sentence, exspectant is best translated as are waiting for, not are expecting in a purely mental way.
Yes, Latin often omits a noun when it is clear from context. Multi alone can mean many (people), so:
- Multi in foro imperatorem exspectant
= Many (people) in the forum are waiting for the emperor.
Adding homines simply makes it explicit that we are talking about people, but it is not strictly necessary for grammatical correctness.
Latin word order is relatively flexible because the endings show the grammatical roles. The given order is:
- Multi homines (subject)
- in foro (where?)
- imperatorem (object)
- exspectant (verb)
You could also see:
- Imperatorem multi homines in foro exspectant.
- In foro multi homines imperatorem exspectant.
- Imperatorem in foro multi homines exspectant.
All still mean essentially the same thing: Many people in the forum are waiting for the emperor. Word order can affect emphasis (for example, putting imperatorem first might emphasize the emperor), but the basic meaning is unchanged.
Grammatically, in foro is an adverbial prepositional phrase of place and most naturally goes with the verb exspectant:
- They are waiting in the forum.
You could also understand it as describing where the people are:
- Many people in the forum (as opposed to elsewhere) are waiting.
In practice, both ideas blend together: the people are in the forum, and that is where their waiting happens. Latin does not sharply distinguish these in the way English sometimes does; the phrase simply gives the location of the action.
Imperator, imperatoris is:
- masculine
- 3rd declension
The form imperatorem is the accusative singular, but it does not itself show gender; you know the gender from dictionary entries:
- imperator, imperatoris, m. – emperor, commander
The m. (masculine) is what tells you the noun is masculine. So imperatorem is the emperor (as direct object) in this sentence.
Forum is a 2nd-declension neuter noun:
- Nominative sg.: forum
- Genitive sg.: fori
- Dative sg.: foro
- Accusative sg.: forum
- Ablative sg.: foro
In in foro, foro is ablative singular (used with in to indicate location: in the forum). The ablative singular ending for most 2nd-declension neuter nouns is -o.
In restored Classical pronunciation:
- Multi → [ˈmul.ti] (MUHL-tee)
- homines → [ˈhɔ.mɪ.neːs] (HOH-mi-nays; initial h lightly breathed)
- in → [in] (een)
- foro → [ˈfɔ.roː] (FOH-roh; final o a bit longer)
- imperatorem → [ɪm.pɛ.raˈtoː.rɛm] (im-pe-ra-TOH-rem; long ō in -tō-)
- exspectant → [ɛksˈspɛk.tant] (eks-SPEK-tant; x = [ks])
Putting it together (Classical):
[ˈmul.ti ˈhɔ.mɪ.neːs in ˈfɔ.roː ɪm.pɛ.raˈtoː.rɛm ɛksˈspɛk.tant]
Stress falls on MUL- in multi, HO- in homines, FO- in foro, TO- in imperatorem, and SPEK- in exspectant.