Puer timidus cum matre in villa dormit.

The timid boy sleeps with his mother in the villa.

Breakdown of Puer timidus cum matre in villa dormit.

• in: in
• villa: the villa
• mater: the mother
• cum: with
• dormire: to sleep
• puer timidus: the timid boy

Questions & Answers about Puer timidus cum matre in villa dormit.

What does timidus mean here, and is it more like afraid or shy?

Timidus is an adjective meaning timid, fearful, or shy.
In this context it describes the boy’s character or emotional state.

Depending on the wider context, you could translate it as:

• a timid boy
• a frightened boy
• a shy boy

Latin leaves some of that nuance to context; timidus just says he is not brave/confident.

Which word does timidus go with, and how can I tell?

Timidus agrees with puer.

You can tell because in Latin an adjective must match its noun in:

• Gender – both are masculine.
• Number – both are singular.
• Case – both are nominative (subject form).

So puer timidus means the timid boy.
If timidus were describing another noun, it would match that noun’s gender/number/case instead.

How do I know that puer is the subject of the sentence?

In Latin, the subject is usually:

• In the nominative case
• Often near the beginning of the sentence (though word order is flexible)

Puer is nominative singular and is not governed by a preposition like cum or in, so it functions as the subject.
The verb dormit (he/she/it sleeps) then tells you what the boy is doing.

Why is matre spelled like that and not mater or matrem?

The base noun is:

• mater (nominative singular) – mother

Its forms go:

• Nominative: mater
• Genitive: matris
• Dative: matri
• Accusative: matrem
• Ablative: matre

Here we have matre, the ablative singular form, because the preposition cum (with) takes the ablative case.
So cum matre means with (his/the) mother.

Why is it cum matre and not another case like cum matrem?

Certain prepositions in Latin always use certain cases.
Cum (meaning with in the sense of company/accompaniment) always takes the ablative case.

• cum matre = with (the) mother – correct (ablative)
• cum matrem = with (the) mother – incorrect (accusative form)

So the form matre is required because cum demands the ablative.

Why is villa in the form villa and not villam? What is in villa exactly?

Villa is a first-declension noun:

• Nominative: villa
• Genitive: villae
• Dative: villae
• Accusative: villam
• Ablative: villa

With in there are two main possibilities:

• in
  • ablative → in, inside, at a place (location)
• in
  • accusative → into, onto (movement toward)

Here we have in villa, with villa in the ablative, so it means in the house (a place where he sleeps).

If it were in villam, it would mean into the house (movement toward the house).

Does cum matre go with puer or with dormit? Is it the boy with his mother sleeps or the boy sleeps with his mother?

Grammatically, cum matre is an ablative of accompaniment, which normally goes with the verb: it tells us with whom someone performs the action.

So the basic idea is:

• The timid boy sleeps with his mother in the house.

However, the meaning the boy with his mother sleeps is practically the same in English.
The key point: cum matre describes who is accompanying him in the action of sleeping.

Why is there no word for the or a in puer timidus or in villa?

Classical Latin does not have separate words for the articles the and a/an.

• puer can mean a boy or the boy, depending on context.
• in villa can mean in a house or in the house.

You choose a vs the in English by asking what makes most sense contextually. Here, The timid boy sleeps with his mother in the house is a natural translation, but A timid boy… is also possible if the boy has not been mentioned before.

How would you say with his mother explicitly, and why can Latin leave his out?

Latin often omits possessive pronouns (his, her, their) when the owner is obvious from context.

Since the subject is puer (the boy), cum matre is naturally understood as with his mother.

If you really wanted to make his explicit, you could say:

• cum matre sua – with his (own) mother

Here sua is the reflexive possessive adjective (agreeing with matre in gender, number, and case), but in such a simple sentence it is not necessary.

What tense and person is dormit, and how would I say was sleeping or will sleep?

Dormit is:

• 3rd person singular – he/she/it
• Present tense – is sleeping / sleeps
• From the verb dormiō, dormīre, dormīvī, dormītum – to sleep

Other common forms:

• dormiebat – he/she was sleeping (imperfect)
• dormivit – he/she slept, has slept (perfect)
• dormiet – he/she will sleep (future)

So Puer timidus cum matre in villa dormit = The timid boy sleeps / is sleeping with his mother in the house.

Can the word order be changed, like Puer timidus in villa cum matre dormit, and does that change the meaning?

Latin word order is relatively flexible because case endings show the function of each word.

You could say, for example:

• Puer timidus cum matre in villa dormit.
• Puer timidus in villa cum matre dormit.
• In villa puer timidus cum matre dormit.

All still mean essentially the same thing: The timid boy sleeps with his mother in the house.

Changes in word order generally change emphasis, not the basic meaning.
For example, starting with In villa slightly emphasizes the location (in the house) first.