Faber ferrum ad forum portat.

The craftsman carries iron to the forum.

Breakdown of Faber ferrum ad forum portat.

• forum: the forum
• ad: to
• portare: to carry
• faber: the craftsman
• ferrum: the iron

Questions & Answers about Faber ferrum ad forum portat.

How do I know which word is the subject in Faber ferrum ad forum portat?

In Latin, the subject is typically shown by case, not by position. Faber is in the nominative singular, which is the usual case for the subject, so faber is doing the action of portat.

What case is ferrum, and why is it used here?

Ferrum is accusative singular (it happens to look the same as nominative because it’s neuter). It functions as the direct object of portat—it’s the thing being carried.

Why does forum come after ad, and what case is it?

Ad is a preposition that takes the accusative to express motion toward a place. So forum is accusative singular after ad (and with 2nd-declension nouns, accusative singular is often -um).

Does ad forum mean into the forum or just toward it?

Ad + accusative basically means to / toward. It doesn’t necessarily guarantee entry. If you specifically want into, Latin often uses in + accusative (motion into), e.g. in forum (with accusative).

Why do both ferrum and forum end in -um—are they the same kind of word?

They share the ending for different reasons:

• Ferrum is a 2nd-declension neuter noun; -um is its nominative/accusative singular ending.
• Forum is also 2nd-declension neuter, and after ad it’s in the accusative singular, which is also -um. So they match in form here, but their roles are different (object vs. destination phrase).

What does the verb form portat tell me?

Portat is 3rd person singular, present tense, active, indicative of portō, portāre (1st conjugation). It tells you:

• who: he/she/it (singular)
• when: present
• voice: active So the subject (faber) is one person doing the carrying now.

What are the dictionary forms of the words?

Common dictionary entries would be:

• faber, fabri (m.) = noun with genitive showing the stem/declension
• ferrum, ferri (n.)
• forum, fori (n.)
• portō, portāre, portāvī, portātum = verb principal parts
• ad = preposition (+ accusative)

Is Latin word order fixed here, or could it change?

Latin word order is flexible because cases show grammatical roles. You could reorder without changing the basic meaning, e.g. Ferrum faber ad forum portat.
That said, the given order is very common: subject – object – prepositional phrase – verb, with the verb often at the end.

Why isn’t there a word for the (the smith, the forum)?

Classical Latin has no definite or indefinite articles (no direct equivalent of the or a/an). Whether something is definite or indefinite is usually inferred from context.

How should I pronounce the double rr in ferrum?

In Classical-style pronunciation, a double consonant is pronounced longer/held. So ferrum has a more “rolled/lengthened” r sound than a single r would. A rough guide is FER-rum, with a clear consonant “break” between the two r’s.