Discipula exercitium breve ante cenam perficit.

the female student

Breakdown of Discipula exercitium breve ante cenam perficit.

• ante: before
• brevis: short
• cena: the dinner

Questions & Answers about Discipula exercitium breve ante cenam perficit.

Why is discipula the subject?

Because discipula is in the nominative singular, the case typically used for the subject of a sentence.

• discipula = student / schoolgirl
• nominative singular ending: -a

So discipula is the one doing the action of perficit.

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Why is exercitium not the subject too? It also looks like a basic dictionary form.

Although exercitium can be either nominative singular or accusative singular in form, here it is understood as the direct object, not the subject.

Why?

• The verb perficit means completes / finishes
• Someone completes something
• discipula is the doer
• exercitium is the thing being completed

Since exercitium is a neuter second-declension noun, its nominative and accusative singular look the same: exercitium.

So here it is accusative singular: the exercise as the direct object.

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Why is it breve and not brevis?

Because breve agrees with exercitium.

The adjective comes from , meaning . It must match the noun it describes in: