Breakdown of Mercator pondus panis et casei in libra spectat.
et
and
mercator
the merchant
in
on
panis
the bread
Questions & Answers about Mercator pondus panis et casei in libra spectat.
Why is mercator the subject of the sentence?
Because mercator is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject.
- mercator = merchant
- it is a 3rd-declension noun
- its nominative singular is already mercator
So mercator ... spectat means the merchant ... looks at / examines.
If pondus can be nominative too, how do we know it is the object here?
Good question. Pondus is a neuter 3rd-declension noun, and in Latin neuter nouns often have the same form in the nominative and accusative singular.
So pondus could be either:
- nominative singular = weight
- accusative singular = weight
In this sentence, we understand it as the direct object because:
- mercator already works naturally as the subject
- spectat needs something being looked at or examined
- the phrase pondus panis et casei makes a clear object: the weight of the bread and cheese
Why are panis and casei translated as of bread and cheese?
Because they are in the genitive case, which often expresses .