Breakdown of Hodie in foro magna copia panis est, sed vini inopia manet.
esse
to be
in
in
panis
the bread
vinum
the wine
Questions & Answers about Hodie in foro magna copia panis est, sed vini inopia manet.
Why are panis and vini not in the same case as copia and inopia?
Because copia and inopia commonly take the genitive to show what there is plenty of or what there is a lack of.
- magna copia panis = a great abundance of bread
- vini inopia = a lack of wine
This is similar to English expressions like plenty of bread and lack of wine, where of bread and of wine depend on the nouns plenty and lack.
So:
- copia = nominative singular
- panis = genitive singular
- inopia = nominative singular
- vini = genitive singular
How do I know panis is genitive here, when panis can also be nominative singular?
That is a very common question. The form panis can indeed be either:
- nominative singular = bread / loaf
- genitive singular = of bread
You know it is genitive here because of the construction copia + genitive. Since copia means abundance or plenty, Latin expects the thing in abundance to be put in the genitive.
So magna copia panis cannot mean the great bread abundance is... with as a second subject. It means .