Apud aviam nobis semper panis et mel dulce sunt.

to be

Breakdown of Apud aviam nobis semper panis et mel dulce sunt.

• et: and
• panis: the bread
• semper: always

Questions & Answers about Apud aviam nobis semper panis et mel dulce sunt.

Why doesn’t the sentence use a Latin verb meaning we have?

Latin often expresses possession with the verb esse (to be) + a dative noun or pronoun.

So:

nobis ... sunt
literally = they are to/for us
natural English = we have

That is called the dative of possession.

So instead of saying we have bread and sweet honey, Latin says something more like bread and sweet honey are available to us.

A version with habemus would also be possible, but this sentence is using a very common Latin way of expressing possession.

Why is nobis dative, not nominative?

Because nobis is not the grammatical subject. It is the possessor.

In the dative-of-possession construction:

• the thing possessed is in the nominative
• the person who has it is in the dative
• the verb is a form of esse

So here:

• panis et mel dulce = the things possessed
• nobis = to us / for us
• sunt = are

Compare:

• mihi liber est = I have a book
  literally, a book is to me

What case are panis and mel?