Avus constans etiam in re aspera spem retinet; puer piger autem cito laborare desinit.

The steadfast grandfather keeps hope even in a difficult situation; the lazy boy, however, quickly stops working.

Breakdown of Avus constans etiam in re aspera spem retinet; puer piger autem cito laborare desinit.

• laborare: to work
• in: in
• puer: the boy
• autem: however

Questions & Answers about Avus constans etiam in re aspera spem retinet; puer piger autem cito laborare desinit.

Why is constans used for avus? It does not look like a typical adjective like bonus or piger.

Constans is an adjective, but it belongs to the third declension, so it does not have endings like -us, -a, -um in the nominative singular.

Here, avus constans means the steadfast/grandfather who is steadfast.
Both words are nominative singular masculine, so they agree.

A learner may expect something like constantius or constandus, but constans is the correct nominative singular form for this adjective.

Its basic pattern is:

• nominative singular: constans
• genitive singular: constantis

So if you see constans, think of it as a normal adjective of the third declension.

Why is constans placed after avus instead of before it?

In Latin, adjective position is much freer than in English. Both avus constans and constans avus are possible.

Here, avus constans simply means a steadfast grandfather or the steadfast grandfather. The adjective after the noun is very common in Latin and does not sound strange.

So you should not assume that post-position changes the meaning dramatically. Latin word order often reflects emphasis or style more than basic grammar.

What does etiam mean here?