Post sumptus magnos pauci nummi supersunt, itaque mercatrici expedit pretium minuere.

Because post is a preposition that takes the accusative case when it means after in a temporal sense.

So:

• post = after
• sumptus magnos = great expenses / large expenses

Here sumptus is a noun in the accusative plural, and magnos is the adjective agreeing with it in:

• case: accusative
• number: plural
• gender: masculine

So post sumptus magnos means after great expenses.

Yes. sumptus, -ūs is a 4th-declension masculine noun meaning expense, cost, or expenditure.

In this sentence, sumptus magnos is plural, so it means great expenses or large costs.

A learner may notice that sumptus looks the same in more than one case. That is normal for many 4th-declension nouns. Here it is accusative plural, not nominative singular.

Magnos agrees with sumptus.

Since sumptus here is:

• masculine
• plural
• accusative

the adjective must also be:

• masculine
• plural
• accusative

So:

• magnus = masculine nominative singular
• magnos = masculine accusative plural

Latin adjectives must match their nouns in gender, number, and case.

The subject is pauci nummi.

• pauci = few
• nummi = coins / pieces of money

Both are nominative plural, so together they mean few coins and form the subject.

The verb supersunt is plural, which matches that plural subject.

Latin often uses both the adjective and the noun when it wants to be clear and explicit.

• pauci by itself could mean a few people/things
• nummi gives the specific noun: coins, money

So pauci nummi clearly means few coins or only a little money.

Also, pauci is one of those adjectives whose meaning is especially important to the sentence, so keeping both words makes the idea more concrete.

Supersunt comes from supersum, superesse, superfui, which literally means to be left over, to remain, or to be in excess.

It is a compound of sum with super-.

So:

• pauci nummi supersunt = few coins remain
• more literally: a few coins are left over

This is a very natural Latin way to express the idea of money remaining after expenses.

Because expedit often takes a dative of the person affected.

So:

• mercatrici expedit = it is advantageous for the merchant woman
• more naturally in English: it is expedient for the merchant woman or it suits the merchant woman

The dative here marks the person for whom something is useful, advantageous, or practical.

That is why Latin does not use nominative mercatrix here.

Here expedit is used impersonally.

That means it does not really have a personal subject like the merchant benefits. Instead, Latin says something more like:

• it is advantageous
• it is expedient
• it is profitable

The structure is:

• mercatrici = for the merchant woman
• expedit = it is advantageous
• pretium minuere = to lower the price

So the whole second clause means:

therefore, it is advantageous for the merchant woman to lower the price.

Because it depends on expedit.

With impersonal verbs like expedit, Latin often uses an infinitive to say what action is advantageous, fitting, necessary, and so on.

So:

• expedit = it is advantageous
• pretium minuere = to reduce the price

Together:

• mercatrici expedit pretium minuere = it is advantageous for the merchant woman to lower the price

This is similar to English it is useful to..., it is good to..., it is necessary to...

Because minuere is not the main verb of the clause. It expresses the action that is advantageous.

Compare:

• mercatrix pretium minuit = the merchant woman lowers the price
  
  • here minuit is a finite verb, the main action
• mercatrici expedit pretium minuere = it is advantageous for the merchant woman to lower the price
  
  • here minuere is an infinitive dependent on expedit

So the sentence is not directly stating she lowers the price, but rather lowering the price is the sensible thing for her to do.

Itaque means and so, therefore, or therefore as a result.

It connects the two ideas:

1. few coins remain after great expenses
2. therefore it is advantageous for the merchant woman to lower the price

So itaque marks a logical consequence.

Latin word order is much freer because the endings show each word’s grammatical role.

Here the sentence begins with post sumptus magnos, which sets the scene first:

• after great expenses

Then comes:

• pauci nummi supersunt = few coins remain

Then the consequence:

• itaque mercatrici expedit pretium minuere

This order is quite natural in Latin. It often places:

• background information first,
• then the main fact,
• then the result or conclusion.

So even if the order feels unusual to an English speaker, the case endings make the relationships clear.

Yes. Mercatrix means female merchant, and mercatrici is its dative singular form.

It is feminine because the noun itself is feminine. That matters grammatically, though English may not always stress it.

The forms are roughly:

• mercatrix = nominative singular
• mercatrici = dative singular

So the sentence specifically refers to a merchant woman, not just a merchant in general.

Yes, very possibly.

While nummus literally means coin, it can also refer more generally to money, especially in contexts involving costs, trade, or payment.

So pauci nummi supersunt could be understood as:

• few coins remain
• or more naturally, little money remains

A learner should remember that Latin often uses a concrete word like coins where English might prefer the broader word money.

Yes: it breaks neatly into two parts.

Part 1: circumstance

• Post sumptus magnos pauci nummi supersunt
• After large expenses, few coins remain.

Part 2: consequence

• itaque mercatrici expedit pretium minuere
• Therefore it is advantageous for the merchant woman to lower the price.

So the sentence uses a very common Latin pattern:

1. a situation is stated
2. a conclusion follows

Grammatically, it is a nice example of:

• preposition + accusative: post sumptus magnos
• nominative subject + verb: pauci nummi supersunt
• impersonal verb + dative + infinitive: mercatrici expedit pretium minuere