Word
Stola nova puellae placet.
Meaning
The new dress pleases the girl.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about Stola nova puellae placet.
Why is puellae not in the accusative? I would expect puellam for the girl.
Because placet does not work like English likes.
In Latin, placet means is pleasing or pleases. So the person who experiences the liking goes in the dative, not the accusative.
So the structure is:
- stola nova = the new dress/gown → the thing doing the pleasing
- puellae = to the girl → the person pleased
- placet = is pleasing
That is why Latin says something more like:
The new dress is pleasing to the girl
rather than:
The girl likes the new dress
So puellae is dative singular.
Why is stola nova the subject, not puellae?