Puer tonitrum multum timet.

the boy

Breakdown of Puer tonitrum multum timet.

• timere: to fear
• tonitrum: the thunder
• multum: greatly

Questions & Answers about Puer tonitrum multum timet.

What is each word doing in Puer tonitrum multum timet?

• Puer = the subject, the boy / a boy
• tonitrum = the direct object, thunder
• multum = an adverbial word meaning very much / greatly
• timet = the verb, fears / is afraid of

So the structure is basically:

boy + thunder + greatly + fears

which English expresses more naturally as The boy is very afraid of thunder or The boy fears thunder very much.

Why is puer the subject?

Because puer is in the nominative case, which is the case normally used for the subject of a sentence.

In other words, puer is the one doing the fearing.

Why is tonitrum in the accusative?

Because timet is a verb that takes a direct object, and the direct object in Latin usually goes in the accusative case.

So:

• puer = the one who fears
• tonitrum = the thing feared

English can say fears thunder or is afraid of thunder, but Latin simply uses the accusative object after timet.