Supercilium supra oculum est.

to be

Breakdown of Supercilium supra oculum est.

• oculus: the eye
• supra: above
• supercilium: the eyebrow

Questions & Answers about Supercilium supra oculum est.

Why is supercilium in the nominative case?

Because supercilium is the subject of the sentence: it is the thing being described.

In Supercilium supra oculum est, the basic structure is:

• supercilium = the eyebrow
• est = is

So supercilium is the thing that is somewhere, and subjects are normally put in the nominative case.

Also, supercilium is a neuter second-declension noun, and here it is nominative singular.

Why is oculum in the accusative case?

Because supra takes the accusative.

So in this sentence:

• supra = above
• oculum = eye, in the accusative singular

Even though English uses above the eye without showing any case ending, Latin marks the noun after supra with the accusative.

A learner might expect some kind of locative idea to use the ablative, but with supra, standard Latin uses the accusative.

Is oculum the direct object of the sentence?