“Nunc est bibendum” is the opening of Horace’s Odes 1.37. The phrase has since been used as an advertising slogan, but it begins a poem by Horace, a celebration that now is the time to drink and to dance.
Bibendum is a gerundive: “it is time to drink”, literally “it must now be drunk”. Pulsanda, “must be beaten”, is a gerundive too, agreeing with tellūs, the earth that is to be struck with an unrestrained foot. Tap the words to see the pattern.
Try it
Horace · Odes 1.37
Tap a word — or reveal the translation.
bibendumto drinkPulsandamust be beaten
