Questions & Answers about Hic codex omnium veterrimus est.
Why is hic used here, and what form is it?
Hic means this here, and in this sentence it is an adjective modifying codex.
Its form is:
- masculine
- nominative
- singular
It has to match codex in gender, number, and case. So:
- hic codex = this book / this codex
A learner often expects Latin demonstratives to behave exactly like English this, but in Latin they must agree with the noun they describe.
What case is codex, and how can I tell?
Codex is nominative singular.
You can tell this mainly from its job in the sentence: it is the subject of est.
So the basic structure is:
- Hic codex = the subject
- veterrimus = a predicate adjective describing the subject
- est = is
Even though codex ends in -ex, that does not make it second declension. It is actually a third-declension masculine noun:
- nominative singular: codex
- genitive singular: codicis
Is codex the same as liber?