Word
Magister te in bibliotheca exspectat.
Meaning
The teacher is waiting for you in the library.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Magister te in bibliotheca exspectat.
in
in
magister
the teacher
bibliotheca
the library
exspectare
to wait for
Questions & Answers about Magister te in bibliotheca exspectat.
Why is te used instead of tu?
Because te is the accusative form of the second-person singular pronoun, and here you is the direct object of the verb.
- tu = you as the subject
- te = you as the object
So Latin says:
- Tu exspectas = You are waiting
- Magister te exspectat = The teacher is waiting for you
Why is there no separate word for for in waits for you?
Because the Latin verb exspectat can take a direct object. English usually says wait for someone, but Latin simply says wait someone with that verb.
So:
- te exspectat literally looks like waits you
- but idiomatically it means waits for you
This is a very common thing in Latin: the verb may use a different construction from the most natural English translation.
What case is magister, and how do I know?
Magister is nominative singular, because it is the subject of the sentence: the person doing the waiting.
The verb exspectat means he/she/it waits, so we look for a singular subject. fits that role perfectly: