Expert: Maria - 3/22/2010

Question
Hello,I want to start by saying that I have been married to my wife for 10 years come this July. After the first 2 yrs we went threw a very difficult time and separated for 4 months until she told me three words that changed my life and saved our marriage. The old saying "Actions speak louder than words" is what brings me to you. I am giving her a new wedding band for our 10th anniv. and want to engrave the phrase. "Actions, not words" in the band in Latin. The language to me is beautiful but never had the time to learn. So in short, could you translate both phrases for me ?   "Actions, not words"  &  "Actions speak louder than words"   Thank you for your help !!!

Answer

Hello,

I’m glad to help you.

So, "Actions, not words"  and  "Actions speak louder than words” translate as follows:

-“Facta, non verba” ("Actions, not words")

-“Magis quam verba loquuntur facta” ("Actions speak louder than words").

All the best to you and your wife,
Maria
___________________________________________________________________
Note that:

-Actions= FACTA (nominative neuter plural of FACTUM, 2nd.declension)
-not = NON
-words = VERBA (nominative neuter plural of VERBUM, 2nd.declension )


-Actions = FACTA  (see above)
-speak = LOQUUNTUR (present indicative of LOQUOR, I speak)
-louder = MAGIS
-than = QUAM
-words = VERBA (see above)

As you can see, Latin word order  can be different  from English. In Latin in fact  syntactical relationships are indicated by the inflexional endings, not by the order of the words. Therefore it is not necessary to adhere to a strictly defined word order.