How the Latin sentence Poeta agricolam laudat becomes Poetae agricolas laudant

Poetae agricolas laudant: How to spot the plural in a simple Latin sentence

Let’s start with a tiny, satisfying puzzle. You’ve got a sentence in the present tense, a simple subject, and a direct object. What happens when you switch from “one poet” to “many poets”? The Latin you already know loves to shift endings to keep everyone in agreement. Here’s the exact question many beginners cross paths with:

What is the plural form of the sentence "Poeta agricolam laudat"?

A. Poetae agricolam laudat

B. Poeta agricolas laudat

C. Poetae agricolas laudant

D. Poetis agricolas laudat

The correct answer is C: Poetae agricolas laudant.

If you’re thinking, “Wait, I’d expect something different,” you’re not alone. Let me explain what’s going on, because the fix isn’t about memorizing one fancy rule. It’s about recognizing a pattern you’ll use again and again as you read, translate, and piece together Latin sentences in the wild.

What the sentence actually says (and why the plural looks the way it does)

First, a quick gloss of the singular sentence:

• Poeta is the subject, in the nominative case. It’s a 1st declension noun, singular, masculine here, and it means “the poet.”

• agricolam is the direct object, in the accusative case, singular. It means “the farmer.”

• laudat is the verb, in the third person singular present tense, meaning “praises.”

So the rough translation is: The poet praises the farmer.

Now, how do we make the whole thing plural? We need to coordinate a few moving parts:

• Subject: change Poeta to Poetae, the nominative plural form. Poetae means “the poets.”

• Object: change agricolam to agricolas, the accusative plural form. Agricolas means “the farmers.”

• Verb: change laudat to laudant, the third person plural present. Laudant means “they praise.”

Put together, Poetae agricolas laudant translates as: The poets praise the farmers.

Why this matters beyond one sentence

This is the core habit you’ll rely on when you read Latin narratives, dialogues, or inscriptions. Latin is a language of endings—more so than many modern tongues—because endings signal who’s doing what to whom. When you see a subject in the nominative, you check the noun’s ending to confirm its number and gender, then you adjust the verb to match. The object’s ending tells you how the noun is acting in the sentence (subject, object, or with some other function). The verb is the speedometer that shows person and number and tense in one neat package.

Here’s the thing: you don’t have to memorize dozens of one-off exceptions. You just need to recognize declension patterns and agreement rules. For many 1st declension nouns (the familiar -a ending in the nominative singular) and 2nd declension patterns, the plural forms tend to be predictable: -a becomes -ae in nominative, -am becomes -as in accusative, and the verb shifts from -at to -ant for present tense third person plural. That’s the skeleton you’ll hang many sentences on.

A quick walkthrough you can reuse

If you want a reliable, mental checklist, here’s a simple, repeatable approach:

1. Identify the subject. Is it in the nominative? If yes, ask: is this singular or plural? If it’s Poeta (singular), switch to Poetae for plural.

2. Identify the object. If the noun is in the accusative (the direct object case), switch it from singular to plural. For 1st declension nouns, the accusative singular ends in -am; plural ends in -as. So agricolam becomes agricolas.

3. Check the verb. Is it 3rd person singular? If the sentence is plural, switch to 3rd person plural. Laudat becomes laudant, for “they praise.”

4. Reassemble and translate. Check for sense: does the logic stay intact? Do the endings agree?

A couple more practice sentences to solidify the pattern

Let’s test the idea with another classic pairing, using the same grammar physics:

• Singular model: Puella rosam amat.

Translation: The girl loves the rose.

• Plural transformation: Puellae rosas amant.

Translation: The girls love the roses.

Notice how the subject moves from Puella to Puellae, the object Rosam becomes Rosas, and the verb amat becomes amant? Exactly—agreement is the name of the game.

A few more pointers that reduce confusion

• Don’t confuse the subject with the object. It’s tempting to forget which noun is which, especially when the endings look similar. But if you map each ending to its job in the sentence, the translation snaps into place.

• Remember gender can sometimes help. In the 1st declension, Poeta and Agricola are masculine nouns in the context of their typical endings, but the endings themselves aren’t about gender alone; they signal function and number. The nominative plural of many 1st declension masculine nouns is -ae, not -i. That’s a recurring cue you’ll see across examples.

• Practice with familiar nouns. Start with items you encounter in readings or glossaries: poetae, agricolae, puellae, for example. Building a small “vocabulary grammar map” for endings can speed up your parsing.

A few more examples you can mentally play with

• Singular: Rex portat libros.

Translation: The king carries books.

Plural: Reges portant libros.

Translation: The kings carry books.

Why it works: Rex (3rd declension masculine) plural becomes Reges in nominative; libros stays accusative plural; portat becomes portant.

• Singular: Puella amat rosam.

Translation: The girl loves the rose.

Plural: Puellae amant rosas.

Translation: The girls love the roses.

Why it works: Puella → Puellae (nom. plur.), rosam → rosas (acc. plur.), amat → amant (3sg → 3pl).

What this means for Certamen-style topics

If your Certamen-related topics include grammar workouts like this, you’re not just memorizing a rule; you’re building a mental toolkit. The puzzles are less about which ending you memorize and more about recognizing patterns quickly. The Latin you’ll encounter in longer passages often relies on word order being flexible; endings carry the real information. The faster you become at spotting subject-noun endings and matching them to the verb, the quicker you’ll translate smoothly and catch the nuance in the sentence.

A few practical notes on scope and context

• While this pattern is common for 1st declension nouns, the same logic applies to other declensions with their own standard endings. The key is to watch for subject-verb agreement and case endings in the object.

• In some sentences, you’ll see pronouns used instead of repeating the noun. Then you’ll still need to match the verb to the pronoun’s person and number.

• For those who like a bit of history, Latin’s case system is a legacy of its old emphasis on word endings to show who’s doing what. English moved away from that with a more fixed word order, which makes Latin grammar feel a little like learning a new dance.

A brief, gentle exercise to lock it in

Try these. No peeking at the answers yet—see how far you can go by applying the rules we covered.

1. Singular: Agricola laborat. Translate and pluralize.

2. Singular: Poeta narrat fabulam. Translate and pluralize.

3. Singular: Servus guardiam spectat. Translate and pluralize.

If you want the quick-check answers, you’ll find them at the end of this piece. The point isn’t to test you with a trick question; it’s to build fluency so you can approach Latin sentences with confidence, not hesitation.

If you’re building a habit, here’s a tiny ritual that helps

• Read a short Latin sentence aloud and identify the subject and the verb first.

• Then check the object and its case.

• Finally, translate piece by piece, letting the endings guide you.

You’ll notice your eye becomes trained to the signals endings send. This is the kind of incremental gain that compounds across chapters, author names, and even Latin-laden inscriptions you encounter while wandering through a museum or a Latin text in a library.

Where to go from here (without losing sight of the basics)

If you’re curious to deepen this pattern awareness, you can explore:

• The basics of the 1st declension, especially nouns ending in -a and their plural forms.

• The relationship between nominative and accusative endings in simple sentences.

• Simple verbs in the present tense and how they pair with plural subjects.

A quick note on sources you might trust

If you’re building a study routine, classic references—like Wheelock’s Latin and Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar—offer solid explanations and plenty of example sentences. They’re the kind of tools that turn a rough pattern into a comfortable habit. You’ll also find helpful glossaries and charts that map endings to cases and numbers—handy when you’re trying to translate on the fly or check a stubborn sentence.

Bringing it back to the original question

To circle the loop: Poetae agricolas laudant is the plural form of Poeta agricolam laudat because the subject Poeta becomes Poetae (nominative plural), the object agricolam becomes agricolas (accusative plural), and laudat becomes laudant (present tense, third person plural). That trio of changes keeps the sentence grammatically tight and mathematically elegant—the kind of symmetry Latin scholars appreciate.

A final thought

Latin is a language that rewards patience and pattern-spotting. The more you practice spotting subject endings, verb endings, and object endings, the more natural reading becomes. Before you know it, you’ll glide through translations with that small, satisfied smile—the same one you feel when a puzzle finally clicks. And yes, you’ll run into sentences like Poetae agricolas laudant again. When you do, you’ll know exactly what to do, and you’ll do it with confidence.

If you’d like, I can toss in a few more real-world examples or tailor a tiny set of practice prompts to your current reading list. Either way, you’re building a solid foundation a lot of Latin readers wish they’d started sooner.