Expert: Maria - 7/15/2007

Question
I was wondering if I could trouble you for one more translation.  I’m trying to say “I come bearing gifts” in Latin.  How would you write that?  I tried to look it up & all the translation websites I received were all over the board.....

venio adactus muni
venio adactus dona
venio ferum muni
venio gestum muni
EGO adveho gestum munia

Would any of these be correct?  I'm confused.....

Thanx!

Answer
Hello Sharon,

I’m sorry, but all these translations are absolutely wrong as there are  only two correct words, i.e. "Venio"( I come) and "dona" (gifts).

So, here’s the correct Latin phrase to say “I come bearing gifts”:
-“Dona venio ferens ”
or with a different word order which in Latin can be variable:
- “Venio dona ferens”.

Best regards,
Maria
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GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS

-I come = VENIO (verb which belongs to the 4th.conjugation)

-bearing = FERENS (present participle of FERO, I bear)

-gifts = DONA (accusative plural of DONUM, neuter noun, 2nd.declension).

Please note that automated online translators are worthless, especially  with inflected languages such as Latin and Greek, but also with other languages.