Pater ei panem dat.

Father gives bread to him.

Breakdown of Pater ei panem dat.

• pater: the father
• panis: the bread
• dare: to give
• ei: him

Questions & Answers about Pater ei panem dat.

How do I know which word is the subject, the direct object, and the indirect object in Pater ei panem dat?

Latin uses endings (cases) instead of word order to show each word’s function.

• pater = nominative singular → this is the subject: the father
• panem = accusative singular → this is the direct object: bread
• ei = dative singular → this is the indirect object: to him / to her

So the structure is:

• pater (subject) ei (to him/her) panem (bread) dat (gives).

Why is it pater and not patrem?

Because pater is the nominative form, used for the subject of the sentence.

The noun is:

• pater (nominative, “father” as subject)
• patris (genitive, “of the father”)
• patrem (accusative, “father” as direct object), etc.

In Pater ei panem dat, father is doing the action (he is the giver), so it must be nominative: pater, not patrem.

Why is panem ending in -em?

The -em ending shows that panem is accusative singular, so it is the direct object of the verb.

The noun is:

• panis = bread (nominative, subject form)
• panem = bread (accusative, object form)

Because the bread is what is being given, it is the object of dat, so Latin uses the accusative: panem.

What exactly does ei mean, and why is there no separate word for “to” like in English?

ei is a dative singular form of the pronoun is, ea, id (“he, she, it”).
In this sentence it means “to him” or “to her”.

Latin usually does not use a separate word for “to” when it means “to/for someone” (indirect object).
Instead, it changes the ending of the pronoun or noun to the dative case:

• ei = to him / to her
• puerō = to the boy
• puellae = to the girl

So ei already includes the idea of “to”; you do not say ad ei here.

How can ei mean both “to him” and “to her”? Isn’t that confusing?

Context normally clears it up.

ei (dative singular) can mean:

• to him (when referring to a masculine noun, like puer “boy”)
• to her (when referring to a feminine noun, like puella “girl”)
• to it (for a neuter noun)

Since Latin pronouns agree in gender with what they refer to, you usually know from the wider context who ei refers to. In an isolated sentence, you can translate it as “to him/her”.

What tense is dat, and how do I know?

dat is present tense, 3rd person singular of dare (“to give”):

• do – I give
• das – you give
• dat – he/she/it gives
• damus – we give
• datis – you (pl.) give
• dant – they give

So Pater ei panem dat = The father gives (or is giving) him/her bread.

Why is the verb dat at the end? Could it go somewhere else?

Yes, it can move. Latin word order is flexible because endings show who is doing what.

You could say:

• Pater ei panem dat.
• Pater panem ei dat.
• Panem ei pater dat.

All still mean essentially “The father gives him/her bread.”
The most neutral or typical order in simple prose is often Subject – Indirect Object – Direct Object – Verb, as in the original sentence, but Latin allows rearrangement for emphasis or style.

Where is the word “the” or “a”? Why isn’t it The father gives him a bread in Latin?

Latin has no separate words for “the” or “a/an”. Nouns appear without articles, and the context decides how you translate them:

• pater can be “a father” or “the father”
• panem can be “bread”, “a loaf of bread”, or “the bread”

So Pater ei panem dat can be translated:

• “The father gives him bread”
• “A father gives him bread”
• “The father gives him a piece/loaf of bread”

English articles are added in translation according to context.

Could this sentence ever mean “The bread gives him a father”?

No, the endings prevent that reading.

• pater is nominative → only this can be the subject (giver).
• panem is accusative → this is the direct object (thing given).
• ei is dative → indirect object (recipient).

So grammatically:

• pater = the father (subject)
• ei = to him/her (indirect object)
• panem = bread (direct object)
• dat = gives

Latin case endings fix the roles, regardless of the word order, so the bread cannot be the giver here.

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say “The father gives them bread”?

You would change ei (dative singular) to eīs (dative plural):

• Pater eis panem dat. = The father gives them bread.

Forms:

• ei = to him / to her (singular)
• eīs (often written iis in older spelling) = to them (plural)

What if I want to say “The father gives the bread to him” with emphasis on “the bread”?

Latin usually uses word order for emphasis, not articles. To emphasize “the bread”, you could place panem earlier in the sentence:

• Panem ei pater dat. – Bread he gets from the father (focus on bread).
• Panem pater ei dat. – also putting extra weight on bread.

The basic meaning does not change, but the focus of the sentence shifts.

Why is pater not capitalized in the middle of a Latin sentence? Do Latin nouns get capital letters?

In classical Latin, almost nothing was capitalized in the way we do in modern languages. In modern printed Latin:

• The first word of the sentence is capitalized: Pater.
• Proper names (e.g. Marcus, Roma) are usually capitalized.

Common nouns like pater and panem are not capitalized unless they start the sentence. So Pater ei panem dat is capitalized only because Pater is the first word.

How can I tell that pater is masculine? It doesn’t look obviously male like some Latin words ending in -us.

You mainly know from the dictionary form and the meaning.

The noun is listed as:

• pater, patris, m.

The m. stands for masculine. Many words for male family members or male people are naturally masculine:

• pater – father
• frater – brother
• filius – son
• vir – man

So the subject of dat here is grammatically and naturally masculine: “he gives”.