Mater aut pater cum puero domi manet.

the boy

Breakdown of Mater aut pater cum puero domi manet.

• pater: the father
• mater: the mother
• cum: with

Questions & Answers about Mater aut pater cum puero domi manet.

Does this sentence mean that both the mother and the father stay at home, or just one of them?

The Latin sentence Mater aut pater cum puero domi manet means that exactly one of them stays at home, not both.

• aut … aut (or just aut linking two words) normally means either … or in a mutually exclusive way.
• So the sense is: “Either the mother or the father stays at home with the boy.”

If Latin wanted to say both stay at home, it would typically use et:

• Mater et pater cum puero domi manent.
  The mother and the father stay at home with the boy.

Why is manet singular, and not plural manent, when there are two possible subjects (mater aut pater)?

The verb is singular because only one of them is actually doing the action at any given time.

• mater aut pater = the mother or the father (one or the other, not both).
• Since the meaning is that one person stays at home, the verb agrees with that single subject in sense, so it is 3rd person singular: manet (“stays / remains”).

If the subject were clearly plural, Latin would use a plural verb:

• Mater et pater … manent.
  The mother and the father … stay.

What cases are mater, pater, puero, and , and why are those cases used?