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Magister discipulos tacere iubet.

Magister discipulos tacere iubet.
The teacher orders the students to be silent.
FromLesson 13inHardcore Latin

Breakdown of Magister discipulos tacere iubet.

tacere
to be silent
iubere
to order
magister
teacher
discipulus
student
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Questions & Answers about Magister discipulos tacere iubet.

Which word is the subject, and how can I tell?
Magister is the subject because it is in the nominative singular form (dictionary form magister). In this sentence, it means the teacher and is the person doing the ordering.
Why is discipulos in the accusative?
Because iubere commonly takes an accusative + infinitive construction: it orders someone (accusative) to do something (infinitive). So discipulos is the direct object of iubet: the teacher orders the students.
Why is tacere an infinitive instead of a finite verb?
After iubere, Latin typically uses a complementary infinitive to express what the ordered person is to do. So tacere means to be silent, and it completes the meaning of iubet: orders (them) to be silent.
Is this an example of accusative and infinitive (AcI), like in indirect statement?

It is the same basic pattern (accusative + infinitive), but the function is different.

  • In indirect statement, the AcI reports what someone says/thinks (he says the students are silent).
  • With iubere, the accusative + infinitive expresses a command (he orders the students to be silent).
What tense and person is iubet?
Iubet is present tense, 3rd person singular, active, from iubere. It means he/she orders (or is ordering), with the subject magister supplying he in English.
Could the sentence mean the teacher is silent, or that the teacher orders silence in general?

Grammatically, the most straightforward reading is: Magister (subject) discipulos (object) tacere (infinitive) iubet (verb) = The teacher orders the students to be silent.
If you wanted the teacher is silent, you would not use iubet; you would use something like magister tacet (the teacher is silent).

Why doesn’t Latin use a word for to (as in to be silent)?
Latin infinitives like tacere already contain the idea of to + verb. English needs to, but Latin does not.
Can the word order change?

Yes. Latin word order is flexible because endings show grammatical roles. For emphasis, you could see variants like:

  • Discipulos magister tacere iubet (emphasizes discipulos)
  • Tacere magister discipulos iubet (emphasizes tacere)
    The core meaning stays the same because magister is nominative and discipulos is accusative.
Could it be discipulis instead of discipulos?

Not with this construction. Iubere normally takes the person ordered in the accusative (discipulos), not the dative.
Latin does use the dative with some other verbs of persuading/commanding in different constructions, but iubere + accusative + infinitive is the standard pattern.

How would I say The teacher orders the students not to be silent or to not talk?

You can negate the infinitive action with non:

  • Magister discipulos non tacere iubet = the teacher orders the students not to be silent.
    Or you can choose a different infinitive:
  • Magister discipulos non loqui iubet = the teacher orders the students not to speak.
How would I turn this into a passive sentence?

You can make discipulos the subject and use the passive of iubere:

  • Discipuli tacere iubentur = The students are ordered to be silent.
    Here discipuli becomes nominative plural, and iubentur is present passive (3rd plural).