Questions & Answers about Auriga calcar habet.
Auriga is the subject, and calcar is the direct object.
- auriga is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject.
- calcar is the direct object, so it is in the accusative singular.
One small complication: calcar is a neuter noun, and in Latin neuter nouns often have the same form in the nominative and accusative singular. So here the form calcar could look like either case by itself. In this sentence, the normal meaning and word order make it clear that auriga is the one who has something, and calcar is the thing had.
Because auriga is a masculine noun of the first declension.
English speakers often expect nouns ending in -a to be feminine in Latin, and many are. But some first-declension nouns referring to male professions or roles are masculine, such as:
- agricola — farmer
- nauta — sailor
- poeta — poet
- auriga — charioteer
So the ending tells you the declension, not always the natural gender.
Habet is the of , meaning .