Breakdown of Magistra iis libros dat, qui in bibliotheca tacent.
in
in
liber
the book
magistra
the female teacher
dare
to give
Questions & Answers about Magistra iis libros dat, qui in bibliotheca tacent.
How do I know who is doing what in this sentence?
Latin shows grammatical roles mainly through case endings, not just word order.
- magistra is nominative singular, so it is the subject
- libros is accusative plural, so it is the direct object
- iis is dative plural, so it is the indirect object
- dat is 3rd person singular, which matches magistra
So the structure is:
- magistra = the one giving
- libros = the thing being given
- iis = the people receiving them
What exactly is iis?
iis is the dative plural of is, ea, id, a very common pronoun meaning he / she / it or that / those, depending on context.
Here it means something like to those or to them, because it is the indirect object of dat.
A learner should also know that iis is often spelled eis as well. Both forms are acceptable; they mean the same thing.
Why does Latin use both iis and qui? Wouldn’t one word be enough?
This is a very common Latin pattern: