Breakdown of Bonos cives concordiae favere decet.
Questions & Answers about Bonos cives concordiae favere decet.
Because decet often works with an accusative + infinitive pattern.
In this sentence:
- bonos cives = the people for whom something is fitting
- concordiae favere = the action that is fitting
So the structure is essentially:
- bonos cives = it befits good citizens
- concordiae favere = to favor harmony
A very literal rendering would be:
- It is fitting for good citizens to favor harmony.
So even though good citizens may feel like the “subject” in English, in Latin they are actually in the accusative with decet.
The grammatical subject is the infinitive phrase:
- concordiae favere = to favor harmony
So the sentence is built like this:
- Bonos cives = accusative person affected
- concordiae favere = subject infinitive
- decet = is fitting / befits
In other words, Latin is saying:
- To favor harmony befits good citizens.
That sounds awkward in English, so we usually translate more naturally as:
- It is fitting for good citizens to favor harmony
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