Decimus dies longus est.

to be

Breakdown of Decimus dies longus est.

• longus: long
• dies: the day
• decimus: tenth

Questions & Answers about Decimus dies longus est.

Why is decimus used here instead of decem?

Decimus means tenth, while decem means ten.

So:

• decem dies = ten days
• decimus dies = the tenth day

In this sentence, Latin needs an ordinal number (first, second, third, tenth) because it is talking about position in a sequence, not quantity.

What case is dies in?

Dies is in the nominative singular.

It is nominative because it is the subject of the sentence: the day is the thing being described.

You can see the basic structure as:

• Decimus dies = the subject
• longus est = what is being said about the subject

So dies is the word that matches English day as the subject of is long.

Why do decimus and longus both end in -us?

Because both words agree with dies.

In Latin, adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here, dies is treated as: