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For complicated reasons pertaining to a word puzzle I'm making, I want a Latin sentence starting with "J" and ending with "AM". I want it to basically say:

Juvenile delinquency is caused by drinking lead-filled water.

So far I have:

juvenis delinquitur per plumbo aquam

Any help?

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  • Google Translate is horrible with Latin. I suggest taking a look at any of the proper online Latin dictionaries to find the words you like. We can help with composing the sentence. For example, does delinquentia look like a good word for this purpose?
    – Joonas Ilmavirta ♦
    Commented Mar 6, 2017 at 22:29
  • Do other Latin-speakers (or non-Latin-speakers) need to guess this sentence for the puzzle?
    – Draconis ♦
    Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 0:01

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Might I offer:

Iuvenes delinquunt quod bibunt in qua fluit plumbum aquam.

It's funky with its syntax, but it works. It translates to:

Youth are failing because they drink water in which flows lead.

Another suggestion is:

Iuvenes delinquunt quod bibunt aquam plumbeam.

The problem with this one is that aqua plumbea would mean "water made of lead," not really "water with lead in it." However, if you're deliberately trying to be enigmatic, it might work.

While I wrote iuvenes, you can easily use juvenes, though writing j or consonantal i isn't terribly fashionable anymore.

Let's also take a look at what you wrote:

juvenis delinquitur

Here, juvenis would indicate a single young person, so you'd want the plural, juvenes. Delinquitur is not only singular, it's passive, which would mean that one youth is being drunk.

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