Peregrinus hospitium quaerit, quia nox obscura est.

Because peregrinus is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject of a clause.

• peregrinus = traveler / stranger / foreigner
• nominative singular ending: -us is a very common masculine nominative singular ending in Latin

It also matches the verb quaerit, which is third person singular: he/she/it seeks. So peregrinus quaerit means the traveler seeks.

Hospitium is in the accusative singular, which is the case typically used for the direct object of a verb.

Here, the verb is quaerit = seeks, so the thing being sought is put in the accusative:

• peregrinus = the traveler
• hospitium = lodging / hospitality / a place to stay
• quaerit = seeks

So hospitium is the thing the traveler is looking for.

Also, hospitium is a neuter noun, and for many neuter second-declension nouns, the nominative singular and accusative singular look the same. So the form is hospitium either way; you tell its job from context.

In this sentence, hospitium most naturally means lodging, hospitality, or a place to stay.

The word can have a range of related meanings, such as:

• hospitality
• guest-friendship
• lodging
• an inn or accommodation, depending on context

So in this sentence, the idea is that the traveler is looking for shelter for the night.

Quaerit is:

• present tense
• indicative mood
• active voice
• third person singular

It comes from quaerere, meaning to seek, to look for, or sometimes to ask.

So quaerit means:

• he seeks
• she seeks
• it seeks

Since the subject is peregrinus, we understand it as the traveler seeks.

Quia means because. It introduces a clause giving the reason for the action in the main clause.

So the sentence is structured like this:

• Peregrinus hospitium quaerit = The traveler seeks lodging
• quia nox obscura est = because the night is dark

Together: the second clause explains why the traveler is looking for lodging.

Because obscura is an adjective describing nox, and adjectives in Latin must agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Nox is:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

So the adjective must also be:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

That gives obscura.

If it were obscurum, that would be neuter singular nominative/accusative, so it would not agree with nox.

Nox means night, and it is a feminine third-declension noun.

Its nominative singular form is nox, which may look a little unusual if you are used to first- and second-declension nouns. Third-declension nominatives are often less predictable, so they simply have to be learned.

Some forms of nox are:

• nominative singular: nox
• genitive singular: noctis

That genitive form shows the stem noct-, which appears in other related Latin words as well.

Latin has no articles like English the or a/an.

So:

• peregrinus can mean the traveler or a traveler
• nox can mean the night or a night
• hospitium can mean lodging, the lodging, or a place to stay, depending on context

English requires an article much more often than Latin does, so when translating, you choose the most natural English wording from the context.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show what each word is doing.

So in this sentence:

• peregrinus is the subject because it is nominative
• hospitium is the object because context and verb meaning make that clear
• quaerit is the verb

That means Latin can rearrange the words more freely than English, for example for emphasis or style. However, the given order is perfectly natural.

The sentence also places quia before the reason clause, just as English uses because.

Here est means is, and it links nox with obscura:

• nox = the night
• obscura = dark
• est = is

So nox obscura est means the night is dark.

In some kinds of Latin, especially poetry, forms of sum can sometimes be omitted when the meaning is obvious. But in normal prose, including est is standard and expected here.

In this sentence, obscura is a predicate adjective. That means it is not just attached to nox as in the dark night, but is part of a full statement:

• nox obscura est = the night is dark

Compare:

• nox obscura = the dark night if used as a noun phrase
• nox obscura est = the night is dark

So here the adjective is linked to the subject by est.