Nescio cur frater tam sero surgat; soror enim ad scholam prima venire solet.

the sister

Breakdown of Nescio cur frater tam sero surgat; soror enim ad scholam prima venire solet.

• frater: the brother
• ad: to
• schola: the school

Questions & Answers about Nescio cur frater tam sero surgat; soror enim ad scholam prima venire solet.

Why is surgat in the subjunctive instead of surgit?

Because cur frater tam sero surgat is an indirect question after nescio (I do not know).

In Latin, indirect questions normally use the subjunctive, even when English uses an ordinary indicative verb:

• Cur surgit? = Why is he getting up? / Why does he get up?
• Nescio cur surgat. = I do not know why he is getting up / gets up.

So surgat does not mean may get up here. It is simply the normal mood for an indirect question.

What exactly does cur mean here?

Cur means why.

It introduces the indirect question:

• Nescio cur... = I do not know why...

This is very common in Latin. Other question words can work the same way in indirect questions, such as quis (who), quid (what), ubi (where), and so on.

What is the subject of surgat?

The subject is frater (brother).

So the clause breaks down like this:

• frater = the brother