Sed liber humi iacet, et infans eum tangere conatur.

Liber is nominative singular, because it is the subject of iacet.

• liber = book
• iacet = lies / is lying

So liber iacet means the book lies or the book is lying.

Humi means on the ground.

This is an example of the locative, an old case-form used for place where. In a few Latin nouns, especially certain words for places, you get special forms like this.

• humus = ground
• humi = on the ground

So:

• liber humi iacet = the book lies on the ground

A learner might expect something like a preposition + noun, but Latin sometimes uses a special case-form instead.

Because iacet is more vivid and precise than est.

• est would just mean is
• iacet means lies, is lying, or is lying there

It suggests the book is in a horizontal position on the ground, not just existing there. Latin often uses concrete verbs like this where English might sometimes be less specific.

Eum is the accusative singular masculine form of the pronoun is, ea, id.

It refers back to liber, and liber is a masculine noun. Since eum is the direct object of tangere, it must be in the accusative.

So:

• liber = masculine singular
• eum = him / it in the masculine accusative singular
• here it means it, referring to the book

We know from gender, number, and sense.

• eum is masculine singular accusative
• liber is masculine singular
• the context makes it clear that the infant is trying to touch the book

Latin pronouns usually agree with the noun they refer to in gender and number, while their case depends on their job in the sentence.

So eum matches liber in gender and number, but it is accusative because it is the object of tangere.

Because it depends on conatur.

Conor means try or attempt, and it is commonly followed by an infinitive that tells you what someone is trying to do.

So:

• conatur = tries
• tangere = to touch

Together:

• eum tangere conatur = he/she tries to touch it

This is very similar to English tries to touch.

Because conatur comes from conor, which is a deponent verb.

A deponent verb:

• has passive forms
• but active meaning

So although conatur looks passive in form, it means:

• he/she tries
• not he/she is tried

This is a very common thing in Latin, and learners often have to get used to it.

Conatur is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• indicative mood
• from the deponent verb conor, conari

So it means:

• he tries
• she tries
• or, depending on context, the infant tries

Here the subject is infans, so conatur means the infant tries.

Not necessarily. Infans literally means one not speaking, and in context it can mean:

• infant
• baby
• small child

Which English word is best depends on the wider passage. If the learner has already been given the meaning, that translation choice has probably been made for readability.

Grammatically, infans here is nominative singular and is the subject of conatur.

Infans can refer to either a male or female child. It is a noun of common gender in meaning, though its grammatical behavior follows its declension pattern.

In this sentence, the verb conatur does not show gender, so nothing here tells us whether the child is male or female.

English may translate it as the infant, the baby, or the child without specifying sex.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order.

English relies heavily on position:

• The book lies on the ground

Latin relies more on case endings, so the order can shift for style, emphasis, or rhythm.

Here:

• liber comes first to introduce the subject
• humi comes before the verb
• iacet comes at the end of the clause, which is very normal in Latin prose

So the sentence is perfectly natural Latin, even though it is not arranged exactly like English.

Because Latin often places the object before the infinitive or near the words it belongs with, but the order is flexible.

• eum tangere conatur literally looks like it to touch tries
• natural English: tries to touch it

Latin does not need English-style fixed order. The endings already show the relationships:

• eum = object
• tangere = infinitive
• conatur = main verb

So the meaning is clear even though the order differs from English.

Sed means but.

It introduces a contrast with what came before. Even without seeing the previous sentence, we can tell that the author is setting this statement against an earlier idea.

So sed does not change the grammar of the sentence; it simply connects it to the previous context with a contrast.

Et means and.

It links the two clauses:

• liber humi iacet
• infans eum tangere conatur

So the whole sentence is built as:

• But the book lies on the ground, and the infant tries to touch it.

Not exactly. Iacet describes a state: the book is lying there.

If Latin wanted to emphasize the action of falling, it would normally use a different verb, such as one meaning falls or has fallen. Here the focus is on where the book is now, not on how it got there.

So lies or is lying is the best translation.

Yes.

• iacet = lies / is lying
• conatur = tries / is trying
• tangere is an infinitive, so it does not have its own present-time subject in the same way, but with conatur it gives the sense to touch

So the whole sentence describes a present situation: the book is on the ground, and the child is trying to touch it.