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Postquam chorus convenit, concentus paulatim clarior fit.

Postquam chorus convenit, concentus paulatim clarior fit.
After the chorus gathers, the performance gradually becomes clearer.
FromLesson 72inHardcore Latin

Questions & Answers about Postquam chorus convenit, concentus paulatim clarior fit.

Why does postquam take convenit in the perfect tense here?

Postquam means after. In Latin, when it introduces a completed action in the past, it very often uses the perfect tense.

So:

  • postquam chorus convenit = after the chorus assembled / came together

The idea is that the gathering happens first, and then the next action follows. Latin commonly marks that first action as completed with the perfect.

What form is convenit?

Convenit is 3rd person singular perfect active indicative of convenire.

Breakdown:

  • convenire = to come together, assemble, meet
  • convenit = he/she/it came together or assembled

Because the subject is chorus, which is singular, the verb is also singular.

Do not confuse this with the present-tense-looking English gloss it comes together. Here it is specifically a perfect form in Latin.

Why is chorus singular if a chorus is made of many people?

Because chorus is grammatically a singular noun. It refers to the group as one unit.

So Latin treats it like:

  • chorus convenit = the chorus assembled

Even though many individuals are involved, the noun itself is singular, so the verb is singular too.

This is similar to English using the team is or the group gathers, depending on style.

What case is chorus, and how can I tell?

Chorus is in the nominative singular, because it is the subject of convenit.

You can tell from both function and form:

  • it is the thing doing the action of convenit
  • chorus is a 2nd-declension masculine noun borrowed from Greek, and its nominative singular is chorus

So:

  • chorus = subject of convenit
  • concentus = subject of fit

Each clause has its own subject.

Why are there two different nouns, chorus and concentus? Aren’t they similar?

They are related in meaning, but they are not the same thing.

  • chorus = the chorus, the group of singers
  • concentus = the harmony, music, concerted sound, singing together

So the sentence distinguishes between:

  1. the people gathering: chorus convenit
  2. the sound becoming clearer/louder: concentus ... clarior fit

That distinction is very natural in Latin.

What does paulatim do in the sentence?

Paulatim is an adverb, meaning gradually, little by little, or step by step.

It modifies fit:

  • concentus paulatim clarior fit = the sound gradually becomes clearer

Because it is an adverb, it does not change form for case, number, or gender.

Why is it clarior and not clarus?

Clarior is the comparative form of clarus.

  • clarus = clear, bright, distinct
  • clarior = clearer, more distinct

So Latin is saying that the sound is not just clear, but that it becomes clearer over time.

Since concentus is masculine singular, the comparative adjective appears in the matching form:

  • masculine/feminine nominative singular comparative: clarior
How does clarior work with fit?

This is a very common Latin pattern:

  • adjective + fit = becomes + adjective

So:

  • clarior fit = becomes clearer

Here clarior is a predicate adjective describing concentus.

You can think of the structure as parallel to:

  • magnus est = it is big
  • maior fit = it becomes bigger
Why does Latin use fit instead of a form of esse here?

Because fit means becomes or comes to be, while est just means is.

Compare:

  • concentus clarus est = the sound is clear
  • concentus clarior fit = the sound becomes clearer

So fit expresses change, not just a state.

What verb is fit from?

Fit is from fio, fieri, factus sum, a verb meaning to become, to happen, or sometimes serving as the passive equivalent of facere in certain contexts.

Here it means simply:

  • fit = becomes

This is 3rd person singular present indicative, agreeing with concentus.

Why is fit in the present tense if convenit is perfect?

Because the two clauses describe different time relationships:

  • postquam chorus convenit = a completed earlier action
  • concentus paulatim clarior fit = what happens after that, presented as ongoing or unfolding

Latin can very naturally combine a perfect in the subordinate clause with a present in the main clause when the writer wants the second action to feel vivid or progressive.

So the sequence is:

  1. the chorus has assembled
  2. then the sound gradually becomes clearer
Is clarior modifying concentus directly, or is it more like part of the verb phrase?

Grammatically, clarior agrees with concentus, so it describes that noun. But syntactically it functions with fit as a predicate adjective.

So it is not attributive like:

  • concentus clarior = the clearer sound

Instead it is predicative:

  • concentus clarior fit = the sound becomes clearer

That distinction is important in Latin.

Why is the word order concentus paulatim clarior fit and not something more like English order?

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because grammatical endings carry much of the meaning.

This order is perfectly natural:

  • concentus first gives the topic
  • paulatim adds the manner
  • clarior highlights the result
  • fit comes at the end, a very common place for a verb in Latin

Latin often places important descriptive words like clarior near the end for emphasis, just before the verb.

Could convenit ever mean something like agrees instead of assembles?

Yes, in other contexts convenire can mean things like:

  • to meet
  • to come together
  • to agree
  • to be suitable

But here, because the subject is chorus, the most natural meaning is assembled or came together.

Context tells you which sense is intended.

What declension is concentus?

Concentus is a 4th-declension masculine noun.

Its nominative singular is concentus, and that form also happens to look like some genitive forms in other declensions, which can be confusing at first. But here it is clearly nominative because it is the subject of fit.

So in this sentence:

  • concentus = nominative singular, subject
  • fit = singular verb agreeing with it
Is there anything especially important to notice about the whole sentence structure?

Yes: it is a neat example of a Latin sentence with a time clause followed by a main clause.

Structure:

  • Postquam chorus convenit = subordinate time clause
  • concentus paulatim clarior fit = main clause

So a learner should notice:

  1. postquam introduces the earlier event
  2. convenit is perfect because that event is completed
  3. the main clause then describes what happens next
  4. fit plus comparative adjective expresses gradual change

It is a very compact and elegant Latin pattern.

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