Why not to write est audit
Sometimes, when translating sentences into Latin, people are tempted to write something like this:
- He is listening.
- *est audit.
The word est makes that Latin sentence ungrammatical: He is listening should be translated into Latin as the single word audit.
- He is listening.
- audit.
English
In English and Latin, verbs change their form to indicate tense, the time of the action of the verb. Each verb consists of one word.
In these sentences, the verbs are in the present tense.
- Scintilla enters the house.
- Quintus and Horatia run into the field.
- Flaccus praises his son.
English verbs have other ways of indicating the present tense:
- Scintilla is entering the house.
- Quintus and Horatia are running into the field.
- Flaccus does praise his son.
In those sentences, each verb consisted of two words: an auxiliary verb (is, are, does) and another verb form (entering, running, praise). Verbs consisting of two or more words are sometimes called compound verbs.
Latin
Latin verbs have only one way of indicating the present tense: with a one-word present tense form:
- Scintilla is entering the house.
- Scintilla casam intrat.
- Quintus and Horatia are running into the field.
- Quintus et Horatia in agrum currunt.
- Flaccus does praise his son.
- Flaccus filium laudat.
Latin does not have any present tense compound verbs.