Deus x Die, etc...

How to define when to use "Deus" or "Die" in Latin?
How to define as well when to use "Amor instead of "Caritas", "Libertasque istead of "Libertatis" or "Libertalis" and "Alimentu" instead of "Alimentum"?
The reason I´m asking this is because I had the following phrase translated from english to latin, twice, and they were diferent, but still meaninfull to me...
"peace, love and freedom. soul´s sustenance". (with the idea that those three elements are the "food" for our spirit, therefore, "sustenance" may not be the more appropriate word)
Thanks very much.

hi bruneca!

I'd be very happy to help you with Latin troubles...

first of all: are you talking about a translation done on cucumis.org? if so, please write the link to the specific webpage, so I can read it. if not (for example, someone translated the text for you but NOT on cucumis), please write the complete original text (English) and both the complete translations you have had (Latin).

generally speaking:
- Deus means God; Die means day, so it's impossible to exchange them (there should be a mistake)
- Amor and caritas are almost synonymous; caritas is usually used in religious contexts
- Libertasque means "and freedom", Libertatis means "of freedom", Libertalis means nothing (it isn't a Latin word)
- Alimentum means food, Alimentu is a wrong form

remember that in Latin the same word has different forms, according to the place it takes in the period and to its function. so you can find libertas, libertatis, libertatem, libertate, libertates, libertatum, libertatibus!!!

First of all, I´d like to thank you, luccaro, for your answer, for your patience. I´m a portuguese (from brazil) native speaker, and I have also learned English in US, where I currently live. I´m a lover of the Latin language. I find it very special and beautiful. Wish I had found time to study it by now...
Well, I needed the following phrase translated:
"peace, love, and freedom. soul´s food", so, after a lot of surch I found this website and became a member, hoping to find somebody to do the translation for me.
Here is tha translation I got from another cucumis' member:
"pax,amor,libertasque. cibi animae"
Since that translation is veeeeeery important to me, and I need to have it 100% right, I surched a little more and met someone who is studying to be a priest, therefore, he´s got to know how to read/speak Latin, and here´s his translation:
"pax, caritas, libertatis. alimentum ad anima"
I really hope you can help me out with that now. I have the phrase in portuguese, so I had to translate it to English and seek for your help. Doing that, it kinda lost it´s original meaning, since "food" in portuguese and in Latin(on that phrase) doesn´t only mean something that you eat, but also something that will nourish something else , so it would be more likeeace, love, freedom .soul´s nourishment.
Again, thank you very, very much!

ok.
now everything's very clear!

I suggest my translation:
"pax, amor, libertasque, animae alimentum".
I'm sure it's 100% "mistakes free".

I wonna spend a few words on both the translations you have had:
-"pax, amor, libertasque, cibi animae": good Latin, no mistakes. But "cibi" means just food and not nourishment; "cibi animae" is correct, but the words order "animae cibi" would sound more Latin
-"pax, caritas, libertatis, alimentum ad anima": bad Latin! "Caritas" is not suitable in this context; "libertatis" is wrong, there should be "libertas"; "ad anima" is wrong, the correct form should be "ad animam", but "animae alimentum" is actually the best. (perhaps your friend needs to study a little more... )

I hope to have been clear (I'm not native English speaker). See you, bye

PS. Please, if you will have other problems like this, don't open a forum topic, but submit the text as a new translation to be done and open a discussion inside the translation page, so everyone can contribute and the cucumis points system can work.