Breakdown of Domina iubet servum opus finire ante cenam.
ante
before
servus
the servant
cena
the dinner
opus
the task
Questions & Answers about Domina iubet servum opus finire ante cenam.
Why is domina in this form, and how do I know it’s the subject?
Domina is nominative singular, so it’s the grammatical subject: the mistress/lady is the one doing the ordering. Latin often marks “who does the action” by case (nominative), not by position in the sentence (though subjects often come early).
What exactly is iubet—tense, person, and meaning?
Iubet is from iubeō, iubēre and is 3rd person singular present active indicative: (she) orders/commands.
So: domina iubet = the mistress orders.
Why is servum accusative instead of nominative?
Because servum is the direct object of iubet: the mistress gives the order to/at the slave (Latin expresses this as a direct object).
Also, iubeō commonly uses the pattern accusative + infinitive:
iubet servum finire = she orders the slave to finish.
Why is finire an infinitive (not an imperative like fini!)?
Latin often reports commands indirectly with iubeō + accusative + infinitive. This is like English orders [someone] to do [something].
Using an imperative would be a direct command addressed to the slave, e.g. = But here the sentence is narrating what she orders, so the infinitive fits.