Aquaeductus aquam ad urbem fert.

the city

Breakdown of Aquaeductus aquam ad urbem fert.

• aqua: the water
• ferre: to carry
• ad: toward

Questions & Answers about Aquaeductus aquam ad urbem fert.

Why does aquaeductus end in -us if it is the subject?

Because -us does not always mean the same thing in Latin.

Here aquaeductus is the nominative singular form, so it is the subject: the thing doing the action.

A beginner might expect a noun in -us to be a regular second-declension noun, but aquaeductus is actually a fourth-declension noun. In the fourth declension, the nominative singular often ends in -us.

So in this sentence:

• aquaeductus = the aqueduct, as subject
• fert = carries

Together: the aqueduct carries.

Why is aquam spelled differently from aqua?

Because aquam is a different case of the noun aqua.

The basic form is:

• aqua = water

But in this sentence, water is the direct object, the thing being carried, so Latin puts it in the accusative case:

• aquam = water, as direct object

So:

• aqua = water
• aquam = water being acted on

This is one of the most important ideas in Latin: nouns change form depending on their role in the sentence.

How do I know that is the subject and is the object?