Re: OT: Latin subject-verb agreement

MorphemeAddict@WMCONNECT.COM wrote:
> In a message dated 12/12/2007 2:05:47 PM Central Standard Time,
> markjreed@MAIL.COM writes:
>
>
>> In most such langs, nouns are inherently third-person.  The closest
>> you could get would be a noun in apposition to a pronomial subject,
>> maybe?
No - this is not necessary in the ancient Classical languages. A noun
can be used with first person or second person verbal agreement. From
the English pint of view, the noun is of course 'in apposition with the
subject understood in the verb.'

>>
>> On 12/12/07, MorphemeAddict@wmconnect.com <MorphemeAddict@...>
>> wrote:
>>> Is it possible in Latin to have a 1st or 2nd person verb and a noun
>> subject?
>>> For example, is "Pueri sumus boni" (We boys are good) grammatical?
>>>
>>> stevo
>>>
>
> I know that Spanish can use a noun as a subject of a 1st person plural verb
> (Los mexicanos somos... = We Mexicans are...), and I've just heard that Italian
> can do this too.
...and so could their Latin ancestor   :)

Yep - "pueri sumus boni" is absolutely grammatical. But, as Philip
pointed out, it is also ambiguous. It could mean "We are good boys"; it
would depend upon context and, I guess, intonation to make the meaning
clear.

--
Ray
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