Hic liber multa verba nova continet.

the book

Breakdown of Hic liber multa verba nova continet.

• multus: many
• verbum: the word
• novus: new

Questions & Answers about Hic liber multa verba nova continet.

Why is hic translated as this here, and not here?

In this sentence, hic is a demonstrative adjective, meaning this.

It agrees with liber (book) in:

• gender: masculine
• number: singular
• case: nominative

So hic liber means this book.

Latin also has a word hic meaning here, but that is an adverb, not an adjective. You can tell which one it is from the sentence structure:

• hic liber = this book
• if it meant here, it would not be directly modifying liber in this way

Why is it hic liber and not hoc liber?

Because liber is a masculine noun, and hic has to match it.

The demonstrative hic, haec, hoc means:

• hic = masculine
• haec = feminine
• hoc = neuter

Since liber is masculine, Latin uses hic:

• hic liber = this book

If the noun were neuter, then hoc would be used instead.