Expert: Maria - 1/18/2005

Question
My girlfriend told me "Puer Quam Amo Est Pulchra" and told me to try to figure it out in latin.  I do not know any latin.  What does "Puer Quam Amo Est Pulchra" mean?

Thank you,
Eric

Answer
Hi Eric,

I'm sorry, but the sentence "Puer Quam Amo Est Pulchra" is wrong in Latin.

In fact it should be correctly as follows:

“Puer Quem Amo Est Pulcher” , meaning literally :
“The boy I love is beautiful”.

Please note that:
PUER is ‘the boy'
QUEM ( not ‘quam') is ‘that' , which is understood in English.
AMO is ‘I love'
EST is ‘is'.
PULCHER (not ‘pulchra') is ‘beautiful'.

Finally here are the mistakes in "Puer Quam Amo Est Pulchra":
1- ‘quam' is accusative feminine, but it refers to PUER which is masculine and then in Latin we must say QUEM (accusative masculine).
2- ‘pulchra' is nominative feminine, but it refers to PUER as well, which is masculine and then in Latin we must say PULCHER (nominative masculine).

Hope all is clear enough.
Have a nice day.
Maria