Breakdown of Unusquisque veritatem dicere debet.
dicere
to tell
veritas
the truth
debere
ought to
unusquisque
each
Questions & Answers about Unusquisque veritatem dicere debet.
What does unusquisque mean, and how is it built?
Unusquisque means each one, everyone, or every single person.
It is a compound form made from:
- unus = one
- quisque = each, each one
So the idea is each individual person.
In this sentence, unusquisque is the subject.
Why is debet singular if the meaning is everyone?
Because unusquisque is grammatically singular in Latin.
Even though it refers to many people in meaning, Latin treats it as each individual person, so the verb is singular:
- unusquisque ... debet = each person must
This is similar to formal English sentences like everyone is rather than everyone are.
What case is unusquisque here?
It is nominative singular, because it is the subject of the sentence.
You can tell it is the subject because it is the person doing or being connected to the action of debet:
- unusquisque = each person
- debet = must
So: each person must...