Discipulus notam malam timet, sed melius laborare conatur.

to work

Breakdown of Discipulus notam malam timet, sed melius laborare conatur.

• discipulus: the student
• sed: but
• timere: to fear

Questions & Answers about Discipulus notam malam timet, sed melius laborare conatur.

Why is discipulus at the beginning, and why doesn’t it have the or a in front of it?

Latin does not have words for the or a/an, so discipulus can mean the student or a student, depending on context.

It appears first because Latin often puts the topic or subject near the beginning, but Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order. Here, starting with discipulus makes it clear right away who is doing the actions.

Why is it notam malam and not mala nota?

Both words must match each other in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here:

• notam = feminine, singular, accusative
• malam = feminine, singular, accusative

So malam agrees with notam.

As for the order, Latin adjectives can come before or after the noun. So notam malam and malam notam are both possible. This sentence simply uses noun + adjective.

Why are notam and malam in the accusative case?

They are in the accusative because they are the direct object of timet.

The verb timere means to fear or to be afraid of, and in Latin it takes a direct object: