Breakdown of Lucia menda diligentius quam Marcus corrigit.
Questions & Answers about Lucia menda diligentius quam Marcus corrigit.
- Lucia = the subject, in the nominative case
- menda = the direct object, mistakes
- diligentius = a comparative adverb, more carefully or more diligently
- quam = than
- Marcus = the subject of the comparison clause
- corrigit = corrects
So the structure is basically:
Lucia [corrigit] menda diligentius quam Marcus corrigit
That is, Lucia corrects mistakes more carefully than Marcus does.
Menda is the accusative plural of mendum, a neuter second-declension noun meaning mistake or fault.
For neuter nouns in Latin:
- nominative singular: often -um
- accusative singular: also -um
- nominative plural: -a
- accusative plural: also -a
So:
- mendum = mistake
- menda = mistakes
Even though menda ends in -a, here it is not feminine singular. It is neuter plural, and it works perfectly as the direct object.