Word
Nuntius auditus est, et turba tacet.
Meaning
The messenger has been heard, and the crowd is silent.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Nuntius auditus est, et turba tacet.
esse
to be
et
and
nuntius
the messenger
tacere
to be silent
Questions & Answers about Nuntius auditus est, et turba tacet.
Why does nuntius appear in the nominative case here?
Because the clause is in the passive voice: Nuntius auditus est = The message was heard. In a passive sentence, the thing acted upon (the message) becomes the grammatical subject, so it goes in the nominative.
What exactly is the form auditus est?
It’s the perfect passive in the 3rd person singular:
- auditus = perfect passive participle of audio, audire (heard)
- est = present of sum used as the auxiliary (is/has) Together: was heard / has been heard.
Why is auditus masculine singular?
The perfect passive participle must agree with the subject it describes in gender, number, and case.
- nuntius is masculine singular nominative, so the participle is auditus (m. sg. nom.).
If the subject were feminine singular (e.g., epistula), you’d get audita est.
Could Latin have said nuntium audivit instead? What would that change?
Yes, but that would be active voice: = .Then: