Hospes in atrium ingressus dominam salutat.

to greet

Breakdown of Hospes in atrium ingressus dominam salutat.

• in: into
• hospes: the guest
• domina: the mistress

Questions & Answers about Hospes in atrium ingressus dominam salutat.

What is the basic grammatical structure of Hospes in atrium ingressus dominam salutat?

The core of the sentence is:

• Hospes ... salutat = The guest greets
• dominam = the mistress/lady (direct object)
• in atrium ingressus = having entered into the atrium

So the full structure is:

• Hospes — subject
• dominam — direct object
• salutat — main verb
• ingressus — a participle describing hospes
• in atrium — phrase connected with ingressus

A very literal unpacking would be:

The guest, having entered into the atrium, greets the mistress.

Or more naturally in English:

After entering the atrium, the guest greets the mistress.

Why is hospes the subject?

Hospes is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of a sentence.

Also, ingressus agrees with it:

• hospes = nominative singular
• ingressus = nominative singular masculine

And the main verb salutat is third person singular, matching a singular subject:

• salutat = he/she greets

So grammatically, hospes is the one doing both actions: