Breakdown of Cupiditas pecuniae mercatorem caecum facit.
mercator
the merchant
facere
to make
pecunia
the money
caecus
blind
Questions & Answers about Cupiditas pecuniae mercatorem caecum facit.
How do I know what each word is doing in Cupiditas pecuniae mercatorem caecum facit?
A quick breakdown is:
- cupiditas = desire, greed, longing
- pecuniae = of money
- mercatorem = merchant, trader (as a direct object)
- caecum = blind
- facit = makes
So the structure is:
- cupiditas pecuniae = desire of money / greed for money
- mercatorem caecum facit = makes the merchant blind
Latin often shows each word’s role through its ending rather than by fixed word order.
How do I know that cupiditas is the subject?
Because cupiditas is in the nominative singular, which is the case usually used for the subject of the sentence.
Also, facit is third person singular = he/she/it makes, so it needs a singular subject. Cupiditas fits perfectly:
- cupiditas = nominative singular
- facit = singular verb
So cupiditas is the thing doing the action: greed is making someone blind.
Why is pecuniae in the genitive?