Ave verum corpus

Hail, True Body

Level 2

A hymn that choirs sing, learned from its first line.

How It Works

LatinEnglish
Ave verum corpus,Hail, true body,
natum de Maria Virgine,born of the Virgin Mary,
vere passum, immolatum in cruce pro homine,truly suffered, sacrificed on the cross for people,

After Ave the hymn is calling to the body, so corpus is the form for calling someone. For a neuter noun that form looks like the subject form.

Corpus is a neuter noun, so its describing words are neuter too: verum, not verus, and natum, not natus. Natum is a participle (Level 4) that you can learn inside the line.

The hymn ends with a call to Jesus: O Iesu dulcis (O sweet Jesus). Iesu is the form for calling him.

In Church Latin Ave verum sounds like AH-veh VEH-room, and Virgine like VEER-jee-neh. In classical Latin they are AH-weh WEH-room and WIR-gih-neh.

Examples (3)

  1. Ave verum corpus.

    Hail, true body.

    Ave is a greeting. Verum matches the neuter noun corpus.

  2. Natum de Maria Virgine.

    Born of the Virgin Mary.

    Natum matches corpus. De plus the ablative means of or from.

  3. O Iesu dulcis.

    O sweet Jesus.

    The hymn ends with calls to Jesus, and this is the first. Iesu is the form for calling Jesus (Level 3), and dulcis means sweet.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the masculine describing word with corpus.

    Ave verus corpus.
    Ave verum corpus.

    Corpus is neuter, so the describing word is neuter too: verum.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Ave verum corpusLevel 2Hail, True Body

Learn This First

The hymn uses a neuter adjective and is sung with Church sounds.

Words in This Pattern

aveveruscorpus