Hodie ad nemus itur, ut lupi silvestres et cervae videantur.

Itur is the impersonal passive of eo, ire (to go).

With some intransitive verbs, Latin can use a passive form impersonally in the 3rd person singular. So itur literally looks like it is gone, but idiomatically it means:

• one goes
• people go
• there is going
• in context, often just we go / we’re going

So the sentence does not name a specific subject like we. Latin is keeping it general.

Ad usually takes the accusative and often means to or toward when there is motion.

So in ad nemus, the idea is to the grove/wood.

A learner may wonder why nemus does not visibly change. That is because nemus is a 3rd-declension neuter noun:

• nominative singular: nemus
• accusative singular: nemus
• genitive singular: nemoris

So here nemus is accusative singular, even though it looks the same as the dictionary form.

Here ut introduces a purpose clause.

That means it tells us why the going is happening:

• Hodie ad nemus itur = today one goes to the grove
• ut ... videantur = so that ... may be seen

In English, we often use a simple infinitive:

• to see wild wolves and does

But Latin very commonly uses ut + subjunctive for purpose.

Because it is in a purpose clause introduced by ut.

A standard rule in Latin is:

• ut
  • subjunctive = in order that / so that

So videantur is not subjunctive because of doubt or uncertainty here. It is subjunctive because the grammar of a purpose clause requires it.

Videantur is:

• present
• subjunctive
• passive
• 3rd person plural

It comes from video, videre.

So the form means they may be seen or they are to be seen in the sense required by the purpose clause.

The present subjunctive is normal here after a present-time main verb like itur.

Latin is expressing the purpose from the point of view of the animals:

• so that the wolves and does may be seen

That is why the verb is passive.

An active version would be something like:

• ut lupos silvestres et cervas videamus
• so that we may see wild wolves and does

Both are possible ideas, but this sentence keeps the same impersonal style as itur by using the passive videantur.

Because they are the subject of the passive verb videantur.

In a passive sentence, the thing receiving the action becomes the grammatical subject. So:

• lupi silvestres et cervae videantur = the wild wolves and does may be seen

If the clause were active, they would be accusative:

• lupos silvestres et cervas videamus = we may see wild wolves and does

So the nominative makes sense because the verb is passive.

Because its subject is plural:

• lupi silvestres = wild wolves
• cervae = does

Together they form a compound plural subject, so the verb must also be plural:

• videantur = may be seen

If there were only one animal, the verb would be singular.

A learner can reasonably ask this, because Latin word order is flexible.

Grammatically, silvestres is nominative plural and can match both:

• masculine plural lupi
• feminine plural cervae

So depending on context, it could be understood as:

• wild wolves and does
• or more broadly wild wolves and wild does

Because the adjective is placed right next to lupi, many readers will first take it with lupi. But the form itself could apply to both nouns.

If a writer wanted absolute clarity, Latin could repeat the adjective or arrange the words differently.

Cervae is the plural of cerva, which means a female deer, that is, a doe or hind.

So strictly speaking, it does not mean just any deer. It means specifically female deer.

Depending on how literal a translation is meant to be, someone may translate it more loosely as deer, but the Latin word itself is feminine.

Because Latin relies much more on word endings than on word order.

So this sentence can put words where they are stylistically useful:

• Hodie first, to set the time right away
• ad nemus before itur, keeping the destination close to the verb
• the ut clause after the main clause, where a purpose clause naturally goes

English depends more on fixed order, but Latin can move words around for emphasis, rhythm, or style without changing the basic meaning.