Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #225: es! you are!

The focus for today's lesson is the 2nd-person singular form of the verb "to be" — es, "you are."

The verb "to be" is irregular, but you shouldn't be surprised that it ends in "s" just like the other 2nd-person forms you have seen:

amas. "you love" from the verb amat ~ amare.
habes. "you have" from the verb habet ~ habere.
vivis. "you live" from the verb vivit ~ vivere.
audis. "you hear" from the verb audit ~ audire.
es. "you are" from the verb est ~ esse.

And here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:

And here are today's proverbs:

1. O Cupido, quantus es!
O Cupid, how-great you-are!
O Cu-PI-do, quantus es!

You haven't seen the masculine adjective quantus, "how much, how great," before, but you have seen the neuter form: quantum.

You also know the word cupido already, but just as a noun meaning "desire, longing," but now this is Cupido, capitalized, meaning "Cupid," just like in English.

This words come from the play Mercator by the Roman playwright Plautus.

2. Martha, Martha, sollicita es.
Martha, Martha, you-are troubled.
Martha, Martha, sol-LI-cita es.

You haven't seen the feminine adjective sollicita, "troubled," before, but you have seen the masculine form: sollicitus.

These words are spoken by Jesus to his follower Martha in the gospel of Luke; you can read more about Martha and her proverbial worries at Wikipedia.

3. Si es mortalis, vive ut mortalis.
If you-are mortal, live like (a) mortal.
Si es mor-TA-lis, vive ut mor-TA-lis.

You haven't seen the adjective mortalis, "mortal," before, but you have seen the noun that it comes from: mors. You know all the other words in this saying already!

This is another one of those memento mori sayings. You can read more about the memento mori tradition at Wikipedia.

4. O fortuna, numquam perpetuo es data!
O fortuna, you-are never given in-perpetuity.

O For-TU-na, numquam per-PE-tuo es data!

You haven't seen the adjective data, "given," before, but you have seen the noun that it comes from: dat. More specifically, data is a passive participle form of the verb. You also know all the rest of the words in this saying.

These words come from the Roman playwright Terence. In both classical Latin and medieval Latin, you will find many sayings about the ups-and-downs of Fortune. You've already seen similar proverbs before; for example, Fortunae rota volvitur and Est rota fortunae variabilis, ut rota lunae.

5. Si semel es furans, furis nomen cape durans.
If once you-are being-a-thief, accept (the) lasting name of-thief!

Si semel es furans, furis nomen cape durans.

You haven't seen the adjective durans, "lasting, enduring," before, but you have seen the verb that it comes from: durat. This is the neuter form of the adjective, agreeing with the neuter noun nomen.

The word furans means "thieving, stealing," which is a new word, but you already know the word fur, which you also see in this saying: furis is the genitive singular of fur.

You can tell from the rhyme, furans-durans, that this is a medieval Latin saying. The English translation is a bit awkward, in part because the Latin itself is awkward, and that's in order to achieve the rhyme.

Here's a recap: