est / sunt

Is and Are

Level 1

Use est for one and sunt for more than one.

How It Works

Form	Meaning	Use with
est	is	one subject: Marcus est puer.
sunt	are	two or more subjects: Pueri sunt amici.

The word that says what the subject is stays in the nominative, like the subject itself. See predicate nominative.

With in and a place, est and sunt mean is in and are in: Iulia in horto est. The forms for I, you and we (sum, es, sumus, estis) come at Level 2.

Latin sometimes leaves est out in short sayings, but you will see it in nearly every sentence here.

Est sounds like EST in both journeys, and sunt sounds like SOONT.

Marcus est puer.
Marcus is a boy.
Est goes with the singular subject Marcus.
Iulia et Livia sunt puellae.
Iulia and Livia are girls.
Two girls make a plural subject, so the verb is sunt.
Roma est urbs.
Rome is a city.
Roma and urbs are both nominative.
Pueri in horto sunt.
The boys are in the garden.
Sunt can also tell where the subject is.
Dominus bonus est.
The Lord is good.
Est can come last, after the words that describe the subject.

Using est with a plural subject.
Pueri est in horto.
Pueri sunt in horto.
Pueri is plural (the boys), so the verb must be plural too: sunt.

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

est / suntLevel 1Is and Are

Est and sunt are forms of the verb to be, so the idea of verb endings comes first.

Patterns that build on this one.

sum

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