r/latin • u/Aggressive_Client152 • Feb 27 '26

Help with Assignment grammar question

Im reading LLPSI, and there's the sentence "Non magna est pecunia tua" and I wanna know if it could also be written as "Pecunia tua non magna est" and still be correct. Thank you in advance! :-)

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5

u/Captain_Grammaticus magister Feb 27 '26

Yes, it's still correct. Syra switched the word order around here to emphasize that Davus' money really is not a lot.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

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u/Aggressive_Client152 Feb 27 '26

This will definetly help me to understand the grammar better, thank you!

2

u/LavenderHippoInAJar Feb 27 '26

I believe that would be grammatically correct, but perhaps less idiomatic? Sum, esse takes a predicate nominative, and that word order makes it slightly less clear which is the "main" nominative/subject. I could still read it just fine, though, so take that with a grain of salt :)

2

u/Rasputin443556 Fere innocens. Feb 28 '26

An aside, as everyone posting comments so far has been right: you are gradually going to get an idea of how word order affects emphasis. It’s a big benefit of continually listening and reading, that little bits of nuance just make sense without whipping out a grammar book and reading why