Expert: Maria - 6/26/2011

Question
Hi there Maria.

I would really appreciate if you help me translating the following sentence to Latin! "Always be without fear in the face of your enemies and so you shall live for all the eternity"

Thanks for your time!!!

Answer
Hello,

“Umquam timere noli et in aeternum vives” is the correct translation for “Always be without fear in the face of your enemies and so you shall live for all the eternity" as this phrase cannot be translated word for word because a literal translation would sound inappropriate in Latin.

Read more below.

Best regards,
Maria
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Note that :

-UMQUAM (adverb) = ever

-TIMERE NOLI (infinitive of TIMEO, I fear + the imperative of NOLO, I do not want) = don't fear

-ET = and

-IN AETERNUM = for all the eternity

-VIVES (2nd.person singular, future of VIVO, I live) = you shall live

As you can see, “Umquam timere noli et in aeternum vives” literally means:”Don't ever fear and you shall live for all the eternity”.

Note that Latin word order can be different from English. Latin is in fact an inflected language where syntactical relationships are indicated by the endings of each term, not by the order of the words.