Architectus specum restituit.

The architect restores the covered channel.

Breakdown of Architectus specum restituit.

• architectus: the architect
• specus: the covered tunnel of an aqueduct
• restituere: to restore; rebuild

Questions & Answers about Architectus specum restituit.

How do I know architectus is the subject of the sentence?

Because architectus is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject.

A learner can also notice that:

• architectus has the typical -us ending of a second-declension masculine nominative singular noun.
• restituit is singular, so it matches a singular subject.

So architectus is understood as the one doing the action.

Why is specum the object?

Specum is in the accusative singular, the case commonly used for a direct object in Latin.

That means it is the thing directly affected by the action of restituit.

So even if the word order changes, the ending -um here helps show that specum is the object, not the subject.

What noun is specum from?

It comes from specus, a fourth-declension noun.

Its basic forms are:

• specus = nominative singular
• specūs = genitive singular
• specum = accusative singular

This is a good example of why Latin learners cannot identify a noun’s declension by one form alone. Even though specum ends in -um, it is not a second-declension neuter noun here.

Why does specum end in -um if it is not a neuter noun?