Breakdown of Iudex severus reum interrogat.
iudex
the judge
interrogare
to question
reus
the accused
severus
stern
Questions & Answers about Iudex severus reum interrogat.
How do I know that iudex severus is the subject and reum is the object?
In Latin, you usually tell this from the case endings, not just from word order.
- iudex is nominative singular, so it is the subject.
- reum is accusative singular, so it is the direct object.
- interrogat is he/she/it interrogates, so it matches a singular subject.
So the sentence means that the strict judge is doing the action, and the accused man is receiving it.
Why is iudex the subject even though it does not end in -us?
Because not all Latin masculine nouns belong to the second declension.
iudex is a third-declension noun. Third-declension nominative singular forms can end in many different ways, including -x. So iudex is a perfectly normal nominative singular form even though it does not look like words such as dominus or servus.
Its dictionary form is:
- iudex, iudicis = judge
The important point is: subject does not mean must end in -us. It means must be in the nominative case.
What is severus doing in the sentence?