Expert: Maria - 8/18/2011

Question
Hello, I've been trying to wrap my brain on how to translate Death Is Certain - Life Is Not
I've come up with Mors Certa - Vita Incerta but I keep thinking there is something missing. Please help!!

Answer
Hello,

“Death is Certain - Life is Not“ translates correctly as “Mors Certa - Vita Incerta” which is an elliptical sentence as it is marked by ellipsis, i.e. omitted words.

In “Mors Certa - Vita Incerta”  Latin, in fact,  omits the verb “est” which is implied as it is not necessary to understand the sense of the phrase.

In short, instead of  “Mors Certa est, Vita Incerta est” where EST  means “is”, Latin says “Mors Certa - Vita Incerta” without the verb EST which is an useless repetition.

So, you keep thinking there is something missing in “Mors Certa - Vita Incerta” simply because in the Latin sentence the verb has been omitted.

Best regards,
Maria
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Note that:

-Death = MORS (subject in the nominative case, feminine noun, 3rd.declension)

-is = EST (from SUM, I am)

-Certain = CERTA (nominative feminine of the adjective CERTUS agreed with MORS)

-Life = VITA (nominative, feminine noun, 1st.declension)

-is =EST (from SUM, I am)

-Not = INCERTA (nominative feminine of the adjective  INCERTUS agreed with VITA). Note that INCERTA literally means  “uncertain” as in "Life is uncertain/not certain".