Help identifying a technical form - understood subjects.

[sr10ca]

Hi all,

I'm working through a passage and I have to identify verbs, their forms and their subject and object.

I'm having trouble with a side comment: "neque erat difficile scire" (and it was not difficult to know)

I know that my main verb is erat and the object is the predicate adjective difficile. So that suggests to me that "erat" is a copulative (linking) verb with an internal subject. Or is this an impersonal verb? Or is there another term for this kind of construction.

So very, very confused.

[MatthaeusLatinus]

scire is the subject here, erat is its verb. Very straightforward sentence; similar English construction. I don't see your problem.

[sr10ca]

Ah, my "problem" was that I wasn't aware that an infinitive could function as a subject. Just because you found it simple doesn't mean everybody else does.

Thank you for the help though. Makes much more sense.

[Kasper]

I agree. We are all at different levels of understanding or learning, and what may seem simple to one person may appear very complex to another. There is no utility in a dismissive type of response. It limits discussion and sets up barriers for asking questions, to the detriment of us all.

[MatthaeusLatinus]

Non intellexi rogantis difficultatem.