Mare tranquillum est, et nauta e portu exit.

to be

Breakdown of Mare tranquillum est, et nauta e portu exit.

• et: and
• nauta: the sailor
• mare: the sea

Questions & Answers about Mare tranquillum est, et nauta e portu exit.

Why is tranquillum ending in -um?

Because tranquillum is an adjective agreeing with mare.

• mare = sea
• tranquillum = calm

In Latin, adjectives must match the noun they describe in gender, number, and case.

Here, mare is:

• neuter
• singular
• nominative

So the adjective also has to be neuter singular nominative, which gives tranquillum.

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What case is mare, and how do we know?

Mare is nominative singular.

It is the subject of est, so it is the thing being talked about: the sea is calm.

A learner may expect a noun ending like -us or -a, but mare is a third-declension neuter noun. Its nominative singular form is simply mare.

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Why is there no word for the or a in mare tranquillum est?

Because Latin does not have articles like English the and a/an.

So mare can mean: