Expert: Maria - 3/24/2007

Question
What is the Latin translation of: "Oh, how the years go by..."?

Oh, and can you suggest a website wherein one can just type in a phrase in english and have it translated to latin?

Answer
Hello,

"Oh, how the years go by..." can be translated into Latin as follows:

“Oh, quam fugaces labuntur anni...”.

As for a website wherein one can just type in a phrase in English and have it translated CORRECTLY  to Latin, unfortunately such a site does not exist at all.
There are of course  many automated online translators  which however are absolutely worthless, especially because Latin is an  inflected language with five  declensions, six  cases, four conjugations and a complex syntax.

Best regards,
Maria
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Note that:
-Oh = OH
-how = QUAM
-the years = ANNI (nominative plural of ANNUS, year)
-go by = FUGACES  (adjective agreed with ANNI) LABUNTUR (3rd.person plural of the deponent verb LABOR).

As a literary reference, I like to quote a line from Horace, Odes, Book II, ode 14, where this great Roman poet (65 BC-8 BC) is addressing to a certain man named Postumus and  says:” “Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume, labuntur anni….” meaning “Alas, Postumus, fugitive  years glide by…....”.