Cortex huius quercus asper est, sed puella eum libenter tangit.

to be

Breakdown of Cortex huius quercus asper est, sed puella eum libenter tangit.

• puella: the girl
• sed: but
• hic: this

Questions & Answers about Cortex huius quercus asper est, sed puella eum libenter tangit.

Why is cortex the subject of the first clause?

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

In Cortex huius quercus asper est:

• cortex = the bark
• asper est = is rough

So literally, the structure is:

• cortex = subject
• asper = predicate adjective
• est = verb

In other words, the bark is what is rough.

Why is asper masculine, not aspera?

Because asper agrees with cortex, and cortex is a masculine noun.

In Latin, an adjective must agree with the noun it describes in:

• gender
• number
• case

So here:

• cortex = masculine singular nominative
• asper = masculine singular nominative

Even though bark is not thought of as masculine in English, Latin uses grammatical gender, not natural gender.

What does huius mean, and what case is it?