How do i know when to put the latin word 'est' at the end of a sentence? For example: Scintilla fessa est, Scintilla est femina Why is 'est' in a different position in each of the above sentences.
1 Answer
As a general rule, Latin verbs go at the end of the sentence, including the verb sum. (Traditionally, Latin has been considered a "SOV" (subject, object, verb) language, though scholars have recently cast doubt upon the necessity of that claim.)
Having said that, verb placement can vary freely, mostly for pragmatic reasons---say if you want to emphasise the verb by placing it at the beginning of the sentence, or if you are answering a question, etc.
- Vēnistī herī? # Vēnī hodiē ("Did you come yesterday? # I came today")
Other times you may wish to make explicit an attributive (rather than an existential) use of sum. Compare:
Magnus sōl est ("The great sun exists / there is great sun")
Magnus est sōl ("The sun is great.")
In subordination constructions (such as Accusative + Infinitive) the main verb position can vary as well. E.g. all of these are semantically equivalent, but vary pragmatically:
Vergilius dīcit poētam arma virumque cecinisse ("Virgil says that the poet sung the arms and man")
Vergilius poētam arma virumque cecinisse dīcit
Dīcit Vergilius poētam arma virumque cecinisse, etc.
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1That Latin is an SOV language is highly questionable. The "general rule" is that word order in Latin is free. The verb can go pretty much anywhere you like.– fdbOct 17, 2019 at 12:10
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1@fdb Agreed. I modified the first sentence. Note however that many scholars have claimed that (see Spevak's discussion in the Introduction to Constituent Order in Classical Latin Prose, 2010, pp. 2–3). And a Pinkster has suggested, syntactically Classical Latin can be said to be a SOV language, thought pragmatically it can be SVO or OVS.– NVaughanOct 17, 2019 at 12:45