Mater queritur panem in foro nimium constare.

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Breakdown of Mater queritur panem in foro nimium constare.

• mater: the mother
• panis: the bread
• forum: the forum

Questions & Answers about Mater queritur panem in foro nimium constare.

Why is queritur translated actively as complains, even though it looks passive?

Because queritur comes from queror, queri, questus sum, which is a deponent verb.

A deponent verb:

• has passive forms
• but an active meaning

So queritur is morphologically passive-looking, but it means she complains, not she is complained.

This is very common in Latin, and it is something English speakers often have to get used to.

Why is panem in the accusative?

Panem is accusative because it is the subject of the infinitive constare in an indirect statement.

Latin often expresses that-clauses differently from English. Instead of saying:

• Mother complains that bread costs too much

Latin says, more literally:

• Mother complains bread to cost too much

In this construction:

• the subject of the infinitive goes into the accusative
• the verb itself becomes an infinitive

So:

• panis = bread
• panem = bread as the accusative subject of constare

Why is constare an infinitive instead of a normal finite verb?