Via, quae per silvam ducit, longa est, sed tuta.

The sentence has two main parts:

• Via ... longa est = The road ... is long
• sed tuta = but safe

Inside the first part, quae per silvam ducit is an extra descriptive clause explaining which road is being discussed:

• Via = the road
• quae per silvam ducit = which leads through the forest
• longa est = is long
• sed tuta = but safe

So the core sentence is:

• Via longa est, sed tuta.

And the relative clause is inserted to describe via more specifically.

Quae is a relative pronoun, meaning which here.

It refers back to via, so it must match via in:

• gender: feminine
• number: singular

That is why we get quae: it is the feminine singular nominative form.

A very important point for English speakers is this:

A relative pronoun in Latin matches its antecedent in gender and number, but its case depends on its job inside the relative clause.

Here, inside quae per silvam ducit, the word quae is the subject of ducit, so it is nominative.

The antecedent is via.

The antecedent is the noun that the relative pronoun points back to. In this sentence:

• via = road
• quae = which

So quae means which road or more naturally just which.

Because via is feminine singular, quae is also feminine singular.

Silvam is accusative singular.

It is accusative because it follows the preposition per, and per takes the accusative case.

So:

• per = through
• silvam = forest, in the accusative because of per
• per silvam = through the forest

This is a very common pattern in Latin: certain prepositions require certain cases, and per always takes the accusative.

Yes. Ducit literally means leads.

It is:

• from ducere = to lead
• 3rd person singular present active indicative
• so ducit = he/she/it leads

Here the subject is quae, referring to via, so:

• quae ... ducit = which leads ...

In English, when talking about a road, we often say the road leads through the forest, so Latin is using the same idea very naturally.

They are feminine because they describe via, which is a feminine noun.

In Latin, adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

So since via is:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

the adjectives must also be:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

That gives us:

• longa = long
• tuta = safe

If the noun were masculine or neuter, the adjective forms would be different.

Because the subject is via, which is singular.

• via = road
• one road = singular
• therefore est = is

If the subject were plural, Latin would use sunt instead.

So:

• Via longa est = The road is long
• Viae longae sunt = The roads are long

Latin often leaves out a repeated form of to be when it is easy to understand.

So:

• Via ... longa est, sed tuta literally means
• The road ... is long, but safe

The second is is understood:

• sed tuta = but safe
• fully expanded: sed tuta est

English can do this too in some situations, but Latin does it very comfortably.

The comma marks off the relative clause as extra descriptive information.

The clause quae per silvam ducit tells us more about via. In teaching texts, commas are often used to make the structure clearer.

You can think of it as:

• The road, which leads through the forest, is long, but safe.

In Latin manuscripts and inscriptions, punctuation was not used the same way modern printed texts use it, so commas are mainly a modern editorial aid.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because Latin uses endings to show grammatical function.

In English, word order is crucial:

• The road leads through the forest is not the same as The forest leads through the road

In Latin, endings help show who is doing what, so authors can move words around more freely.

Here:

• Via comes first for the main topic
• quae per silvam ducit follows it to describe the road
• longa est gives the main statement
• sed tuta adds a contrast

This order is very natural in Latin.

Latin has no definite article like English the and no indefinite article like a/an.

So:

• via can mean road, a road, or the road
• silva can mean forest, a forest, or the forest

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, English naturally uses the road and the forest, but Latin does not need separate words for that.

Yes. Tuta is the feminine form of tutus, meaning safe, protected, or secure.

Because it agrees with via, it becomes feminine singular nominative:

• tutus masculine
• tuta feminine
• tutum neuter

With a road, tuta suggests that the road is not dangerous, even if it is long. So the sentence sets up a contrast:

• longa = long
• sed tuta = but safe

That sed is important, because it shows that the second idea balances or softens the first.

Sed means but.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

• the road is long
• but it is safe

So sed signals contrast. The sentence is not just listing two facts; it is presenting the second one as an important counterpoint to the first.

Sometimes, yes, depending on English style.

Latin quae is just a relative pronoun. In English, a relative clause may use:

• which
• that
• sometimes nothing at all, depending on the sentence

Here, because the clause is set off with commas and gives extra information, which is the most natural English choice:

• The road, which leads through the forest, is long, but safe.

Using that would sound less natural in this punctuation pattern. So grammatically the Latin relative pronoun is straightforward, but the best English rendering depends on style.