Breakdown of Servus librum in bibliotheca invenit et dominam vocat.
in
in
et
and
vocare
to call
invenire
to find
Questions & Answers about Servus librum in bibliotheca invenit et dominam vocat.
How do I know who is doing the actions in this sentence?
The subject is servus because it’s in the nominative singular (the “default” dictionary form for many 2nd-declension masculine nouns ending in -us). So servus is the one who both invenit and vocat.
Why is librum spelled with -um instead of -us?
Librum is accusative singular, used here as the direct object of invenit (what he finds). The noun is liber, libri (2nd declension), and its accusative singular ending is -um.
Does in bibliotheca mean “into the library” or “in the library”? How can I tell?
Here it means in the library because in is followed by the ablative: bibliothecā (1st declension ablative singular, ending -ā).
Rule of thumb:
- in + ablative = location (in/on)
- in + accusative = motion toward (into/onto)
Why does bibliotheca end in -a here, but it’s translated as “in the library”?