Puer sub lecto clavem invenit.

the boy

Breakdown of Puer sub lecto clavem invenit.

• lectus: the bed
• clavis: the key
• invenire: to find

Questions & Answers about Puer sub lecto clavem invenit.

How do I know puer is the subject?

Because puer is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of a sentence.

So in Puer sub lecto clavem invenit, puer means the boy / a boy and is the one doing the action.

A native English speaker often expects the subject to be identified mostly by word order, but in Latin it is usually identified by its case ending instead.

Why is clavem spelled with -em?

Because clavem is the accusative singular form of clavis, meaning key.

The accusative case is commonly used for the direct object, the thing directly affected by the action of the verb. Here, the boy is finding the key, so clavem is in the accusative.

So:

• clavis = key
• clavem = key, as a direct object

Why is it sub lecto and not sub lectum?

Because sub can take two different cases, depending on the meaning:

• with the ablative = under in the sense of location
• with the accusative = under in the sense of motion toward

Here, means as a place, not movement toward that place.