Tessera parva est.

to be

Breakdown of Tessera parva est.

• parvus: small
• tessera: the small mosaic cube

Questions & Answers about Tessera parva est.

What part of speech is each word in Tessera parva est?

• tessera is a noun
• parva is an adjective
• est is a verb

So the sentence is built very simply:

• subject noun: tessera
• describing word: parva
• linking verb: est

A natural grammatical description is: The tessera is small / The token is small, depending on the meaning you were given.

Why is parva in the feminine form?

Because parva has to agree with tessera.

In Latin, adjectives must match the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Tessera is:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

So the adjective must also be:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

That is why Latin uses parva, not parvus or parvum.

Why is nominative?