Discipula bibliothecam desiderat, quia diu domi manere debet.

the female student

Breakdown of Discipula bibliothecam desiderat, quia diu domi manere debet.

• manere: to stay
• quia: because
• domus: the home

Questions & Answers about Discipula bibliothecam desiderat, quia diu domi manere debet.

Why is discipula the subject of the sentence?

Because discipula is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject.

• discipula = the female student / schoolgirl
• It ends in -a, which for a first-declension noun is often the nominative singular ending.

So in Discipula bibliothecam desiderat, discipula is the one doing the action.

Why is bibliothecam spelled with -am?

Because bibliothecam is the direct object of desiderat, so it is in the accusative singular.

• bibliotheca = library in the dictionary form
• bibliothecam = library as the object of the verb

Latin marks jobs in the sentence with endings. English usually relies more on word order, but Latin often shows the object by the accusative ending instead.

What exactly does desiderat mean here?

Desiderat is the third person singular present active indicative of desiderare.

It means:

• she desires
• she longs for
• sometimes she misses

In this sentence, it means that the student longs for / misses the library. The exact English wording depends on the translation you were given, but the grammar is the same.