Questions & Answers about Cena simplex sed bona omnibus grata est.
What is the subject of the sentence?
The subject is cena, meaning dinner or meal.
It is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of a sentence. Everything else in the sentence is describing cena or relating to it.
Why does simplex not end in -a if it describes cena, which is feminine?
Because simplex is a third-declension adjective, not a first/second-declension adjective like bonus, bona, bonum.
For many third-declension adjectives, the nominative singular masculine and feminine are the same form. So:
- simplex = masculine nominative singular
- simplex = feminine nominative singular
- simplex = neuter nominative singular
So simplex is correctly agreeing with feminine cena, even though it does not end in -a.
Why is bona feminine singular?
Because bona describes cena, and adjectives in Latin must agree with the nouns they describe in:
- gender
- number
- case
Since cena is feminine singular nominative, bona must also be feminine singular nominative.