Breakdown of Ianua a serva aperitur, et hospes in atrium ducitur.
et
and
in
into
aperire
to open
ianua
the door
Questions & Answers about Ianua a serva aperitur, et hospes in atrium ducitur.
Why is there no Latin word for the in this sentence?
Latin usually does not use articles like English the or a/an.
So:
- ianua can mean door or the door
- serva can mean slave-girl, a slave-girl, or the slave-girl
- hospes can mean guest or the guest
You figure out which one is meant from the context. That is very normal in Latin.
What cases are the nouns in this sentence, and how do we know?
Here are the forms:
- ianua — nominative singular
- a serva — ablative singular after a
- hospes — nominative singular
- in atrium — accusative singular after in
Why these cases?
- ianua is the subject of aperitur
- serva is the person doing the action in a passive sentence, so Latin uses a/ab + ablative
- hospes is the subject of ducitur
- atrium is the place into which the guest is led, so in takes the accusative for motion toward/into