Coquus ovum cum farina miscet, ut panis mollis sit.

to be

Breakdown of Coquus ovum cum farina miscet, ut panis mollis sit.

• panis: the bread
• cum: with
• coquus: the cook

Questions & Answers about Coquus ovum cum farina miscet, ut panis mollis sit.

Why is coquus the subject of the sentence?

Because coquus is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject in Latin. It means the cook.

So in:

Coquus ovum cum farina miscet

the word coquus is the one doing the action of mixing.

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Why is ovum not ovus?

Because ovum is a neuter noun of the second declension, and its basic singular form is ovum, meaning egg.

Its nominative and accusative singular are both ovum. In this sentence it is the direct object of miscet, so it is in the accusative singular:

• nominative: ovum = egg
• accusative: ovum = egg

This is normal for neuter nouns: nominative and accusative forms are the same.

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Why is farina in the ablative after cum?

The preposition cum when it means with takes the ablative case.

So:

• cum farina = with flour

Here farina is the ablative singular form of farina, farinae.

This is a very common pattern in Latin: