Si culcita satis mollis non est, quid faciamus?

to be

Breakdown of Si culcita satis mollis non est, quid faciamus?

• non: not
• si: if
• quid: what

Questions & Answers about Si culcita satis mollis non est, quid faciamus?

Why is the sentence introduced by si?

Si means if and introduces a condition.

So the sentence is built like this:

• Si culcita satis mollis non est = If the cushion/mattress is not soft enough
• quid faciamus? = what should we do?

This is a very common Latin pattern:

• si
  • a clause stating the condition
• then the main clause giving the result, question, or response

What case is culcita, and how do we know?

Culcita is nominative singular.

You can tell because it is the subject of est:

• culcita ... est = the cushion/mattress is ...

So culcita is the thing being described as not soft enough.

It is a first-declension noun, so the nominative singular form ends in -a.

Why is mollis not mollisa or something similar?

Because mollis belongs to a different adjective pattern.

Mollis, molle is a third-declension adjective, not a first/second-declension one. Its feminine nominative singular is mollis, which matches culcita in: