"dux Gallorum timebat ne Romani viros collem ascendentes audirent." How would I go about translating this sentence?

1) Read the whole sentence first so that you can get a sense of what to expect e.g. 2 verbs (timebat and audirent), 1 present participle (ascendentes), a fearing clause anticipating a subjunctive (timebat ne ... audirent), etc. Also briefly parse the words (i.e. identify the case, number, person, mood, tense etc.) to help you translate later. 2) Section off the sentence to help you translate it (e.g. each main verb generally indicates a phrase in itself; however, this main verb timebat is part of the fearing clause, meaning it goes with ne etc. You could still section off the sentence to help you translate, as long as you are aware that the timebat is part of the same clause as ne.) i.e. dux Gallorum timebat / ne Romani viros collem ascendentes audirent. 3) Translate the sectioned off phrases using the SVO (subject-verb-object) method, i.e. the starting point of the translation should be from the subject, verb, and object (where present). NB: the number of the nominative noun should generally match the number and person of the verb, except in the case of neuters.dux (the leader - subject) Gallorum (of the Gauls - goes with subject as genitive) timebat (he was afraid - verb) / ne (that - conjunction & signpost of fearing clause) Romani (the Romans - subject of clause) audirent (they might hear - subjunctive verb of clause) viros (the men - object 1) ascendentes (climbing - agrees with object 1) collem (the hill - object 2).Final translation: The leader of the Gauls was afraid that the Romans might hear the men climbing the hill.

SA
Answered by Seran A. Latin tutor

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