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Questions & Answers about Centum milites veniunt.
Why is milites the form used here?
Milites is the nominative plural of miles, militis, meaning soldier.
It is:
- plural because the sentence refers to many soldiers
- nominative because it is the subject of veniunt
Also, miles belongs to the 3rd declension, so its plural is not formed like a 1st- or 2nd-declension noun.
A useful point: milites can also be accusative plural, but not here. Since venire means to come, and come does not take a direct object, milites must be the subject.
Why doesn’t centum change form?
Because centum is an indeclinable numeral. That means it keeps the same form instead of changing for case, number, or gender.
So you get:
- centum milites = one hundred soldiers
- cum centum militibus = with one hundred soldiers
The noun changes when necessary, but centum stays centum.
Why is the verb veniunt plural?
Because the subject is plural: centum milites = one hundred soldiers.
Even though centum is a single word, the people being talked about are many soldiers, so Latin uses a .