Nauta navem celerem parat, quia mare tranquillum est.

to be

Breakdown of Nauta navem celerem parat, quia mare tranquillum est.

• nauta: the sailor
• mare: the sea
• quia: because

Questions & Answers about Nauta navem celerem parat, quia mare tranquillum est.

Why does nauta end in -a if it means sailor and refers to a man?

Because nauta is a first-declension noun, and many first-declension nouns end in -a in the nominative singular. Although first declension is often associated with feminine nouns, some nouns referring to male people are masculine, and nauta is one of them.

So here:

• nauta = the sailor
• case: nominative singular
• job in the sentence: subject of parat

Why is it navem and not navis?

Because navem is the accusative singular form, and it is the direct object of parat.

The dictionary form is:

• navis = ship (nominative singular)

But in the sentence, the ship is the thing the sailor is preparing, so Latin uses the accusative:

• navem = the ship as direct object

This is one of the most important habits in Latin: the ending changes to show the noun’s role in the sentence.

Why is celerem used here?

Celerem is the adjective quick/swift, and it describes navem. In Latin, adjectives must with the nouns they modify in: