Avia sedens in sella fabulam narrat.

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Breakdown of Avia sedens in sella fabulam narrat.

• narrare: to tell
• fabula: the story
• avia: the grandmother

Questions & Answers about Avia sedens in sella fabulam narrat.

What does avia mean, and why is it in that form?

Avia means grandmother.

It is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of the sentence — the person doing the action. In Avia sedens in sella fabulam narrat, the grandmother is the one telling the story.

A native English speaker may expect word order alone to show the subject, but in Latin the ending is often more important than the position.

What is sedens, and how does it work here?

Sedens is a present active participle from sedere, meaning sitting.

So avia sedens means the grandmother, sitting or more naturally the grandmother sitting.

This participle describes avia, so it agrees with it in gender, number, and case:

• avia = feminine singular nominative
• sedens = nominative singular, matching avia

Latin often uses a participle where English might use:

• who is sitting
• while sitting
• sitting

So this phrase could be understood as:

• The grandmother, sitting on a chair, tells a story
• The grandmother who is sitting on a chair tells a story

Why is it sedens instead of ?