Mater vesperi fenestram claudit et domi manet.

In the evening mother closes the window and stays at home.

Breakdown of Mater vesperi fenestram claudit et domi manet.

• et: and
• mater: the mother
• manere: to stay
• domus: the home
• fenestra: the window
• vesperi: in the evening
• claudere: to close

Questions & Answers about Mater vesperi fenestram claudit et domi manet.

Why does the verb come at the end in Mater vesperi fenestram claudit et domi manet? Can the word order be changed?

Latin word order is much freer than English because the endings show who is doing what to whom.

• The "default" neutral order is often Subject – Object – Verb:
  Mater (subject) fenestram (object) claudit (verb).
• vesperi (“in the evening”) and domi (“at home”) are adverbial elements, which can move around for emphasis or style.

You could also see versions like:

• Vesperi mater fenestram claudit et domi manet.
• Fenestram mater vesperi claudit et domi manet.

They all mean roughly the same thing; differences are mostly about emphasis, not basic meaning. Latin doesn’t rely on word order the way English does.

Why is there no word for “the” in this sentence? How do we know it’s “the mother” and “the window”?

Classical Latin has no separate words for “the” or “a/an”. Nouns appear without articles:

• mater = mother / the mother / a mother
• fenestra = window / the window / a window

Context (and sometimes word order or prior mention) tells you whether to translate with “the” or “a” in English. Here, English most naturally says “The mother closes the window…”, but Latin just uses bare nouns.

What case is mater, and what is its role in the sentence?

mater is in the nominative singular.

• The nominative case is used for the subject of a finite verb.
• So mater is the one doing the actions claudit (“closes”) and manet (“remains / stays”).

Grammatically, the sentence says:

• Mater (subject) claudit (verb “closes”) fenestram (object) … et manet (and “remains”) domi (at home).

Why is it fenestram and not fenestra?

fenestram is in the accusative singular, not the nominative.

• fenestra = nominative singular (“window” as subject)
• fenestram = accusative singular (“window” as direct object)

In this sentence, fenestra is not doing the action; it is receiving the action “closes”. Latin marks that with the accusative ending -am:

• Mater fenestram claudit.
  “The mother closes the window.”
  → mater = subject (nominative)
  → fenestram = direct object (accusative)

What exactly does vesperi mean, and what form is it?

vesperi means roughly “in the evening”.

Formally, it’s an ablative singular (from vesper, vesperis – evening) used as an ablative of time when:

• Ablative of time when → “in the evening,” “at night,” “in the winter,” etc.

Other typical examples:

• nocte – “at night”
• hieme – “in winter”

So Mater vesperi fenestram claudit = “The mother closes the window in the evening.”

Why is it domi manet and not something like in domo manet?

domi is a special, old form called the locative case, used almost only with a few nouns of “place,” especially domus (house):

• domus (nominative) – house
• domi (locative) – at home

So:

• domi manet = “she stays at home”
• domum it = “she goes home” (accusative of motion towards)
• in domo manet would also be grammatically correct, but domi manet is the more idiomatic, compact form meaning simply “stays at home.”

How do we know the subject is “she” (or “the mother”) when Latin doesn’t show a separate pronoun?

Two things tell us:

1. The verb endings:

   • claudit, manet both end in -t, which marks 3rd person singular:
     • he/she/it closes, he/she/it stays
   • Latin usually omits the subject pronoun because the ending already tells you the person and number.

2. The explicit noun:

   • mater is the nominative subject, and it’s grammatically feminine.
   • So in natural English we translate: “She (the mother) closes the window and stays at home.”
     Usually we just say “The mother closes the window and stays at home,” without adding “she.”

What tense is claudit and manet, and how should I understand it in English?

Both claudit and manet are:

• Present tense
• 3rd person singular
• From claudere (to close) and manēre (to remain, stay)

So they can be translated:

• “closes” / “is closing” / “does close”
• “stays” / “is staying” / “does stay”

Latin present tense can cover:

• a simple present: “The mother closes the window.”
• a progressive: “The mother is closing the window.”
• a habitual: “The mother (always) closes the window in the evening and stays at home.”

Context decides which English present form sounds best. Here, all three readings are possible; habitual is very natural.