Fama bona discipulae omnibus grata est.

The good reputation of the female student is pleasing to everyone.

Breakdown of Fama bona discipulae omnibus grata est.

• esse: to be
• discipula: the female student
• bonus: good
• gratus: pleasing

Questions & Answers about Fama bona discipulae omnibus grata est.

What is the subject of the sentence?

The subject is fama bona discipulae as a noun phrase, with fama as the main noun.

• fama = reputation / report
• bona = good, agreeing with fama
• discipulae = of the female student in the shown meaning

A good way to see this is that the verb is est, singular, and the predicate adjective is grata, also singular. Both point to a singular subject centered on fama.

Why is grata feminine singular?

Because grata agrees with fama, which is feminine singular.

In this sentence, grata est means is pleasing / is welcome / is dear. Even though grata is separated from fama, it still matches it in:

• gender: feminine
• number: singular
• case: nominative

So Latin is saying that the reputation is pleasing, not that the student is pleasing.

What case is discipulae here?

Here, discipulae is genitive singular, meaning of the female student.

So the phrase is understood as the female student's good reputation.

This is a very common point of confusion, because discipulae can have several possible forms: