Learn Hardcore Latin: Filius in horto ludit, soror autem in domo legit. - The son plays in the garden, but the sister reads in the house.

Hortus = nominative singular (used for the subject: the garden does something)
Hortō = ablative singular (among other uses, it expresses location: in the garden)

After the preposition in:

in
- ablative = in / on (location: where something is)
in
- accusative = into / onto (motion: where something is going)

Here we are talking about where the son is playing (location), not where he is going, so Latin uses the ablative:

in hortō = in the garden

Why is it in domo and not in domus?

Domus means “house, home.” Its forms are a bit irregular because it mixes 2nd- and 4th-declension patterns, but in the singular:

domus = nominative singular (subject)
domō = ablative singular (among other things, used for place where)

With in + ablative of place where, we get:

in domō = in the house

So domō is simply the ablative form, parallel to hortō in in hortō.

What does autem mean, and why isn’t it at the beginning of the clause like “however” or “but” in English?

Autem is a conjunction that most often means “but,” “however,” “on the other hand.”

Latin has a group of little words (like autem, enim, igitur, quoque) that are postpositive: they usually come in the second position of their clause, not at the very start.

So instead of:

Autem soror in domo legit. (which sounds unusual in classical Latin)

you normally say:

Soror autem in domō legit.

In English we put however / but at the beginning: However, the sister reads in the house. Latin follows a different convention for these particular words.

Why aren’t there words for “the” (the son, the sister, the garden, the house) in the Latin sentence?

Classical Latin has no separate words for “the” or “a/an”. It simply doesn’t use definite or indefinite articles the way English does.

So:

filius can mean “a son” or “the son”
soror can mean “a sister” or “the sister”
hortō can mean “a garden” / “the garden” (in the garden)
domō can mean “a house” / “the house” (in the house)

Context decides whether you should translate with “a” or “the” in English. Here, English idiom suggests “The son plays in the garden, but the sister reads in the house.”

Why isn’t there a word for “his” or “her” (as in “his garden” or “her house”)?

Latin can express possession (e.g. suus, eius), but it doesn’t have to if the context already makes it clear.

In this sentence, we are just describing where the son and sister are; nothing in the Latin says whose garden or whose house it is. It could be their family garden and house, or someone else’s. English often likes to be more specific, but Latin can leave that open.

If you wanted to say “The son plays in his garden, but the sister reads in her house”, you could say, for example:

Filius in hortō suō ludit, soror autem in domō suā legit.

What are ludit and legit grammatically (person, number, tense), and what do they literally mean?

Both ludit and legit are 3rd person singular, present tense, active, indicative verb forms.

ludit
- from ludō, ludere = to play
- ludit = “he/she/it plays” or “is playing”
legit (present tense)
- from legō, legere = to read (also to pick, to choose, but here: to read)
- legit (present) = “he/she/it reads” or “is reading”

So literally:

Filius … ludit = The son plays / The son is playing
soror … legit = the sister reads / the sister is reading

I’ve seen legit translated as “he/she read” (past) as well. Which is it here, and how can I tell?

The form legit is ambiguous in writing: it can be either:

present: “he/she reads” (from legit, present 3rd singular)
perfect (past): “he/she read / has read” (from lēgit, perfect 3rd singular)

In Classical pronunciation:

Present: legit = LEH-git (short e)
Perfect: lēgit = LAA-git (long ē)

In a simple teaching sentence like Filius in hortō ludit, soror autem in domō legit, the context and parallel structure with ludit (clearly present) strongly indicate the present meaning: “the sister reads.”

Why are filius and soror in different forms (one ends in -us, the other doesn’t), and what case are they?

Both filius and soror are in the nominative singular, used for the subject of the verb.

They look different because they belong to different declensions:

filius
- 2nd declension masculine noun
- nominative singular ending: -us
- filius = son (as the subject)
soror
- 3rd declension feminine noun
- nominative singular often has no obvious ending (here -or)
- soror = sister (as the subject)

In the sentence:

Filius … ludit = The son plays
soror … legit = the sister reads

Both are doing the action, so both are in the nominative case, even though they have different-looking endings.

How does Latin word order work here? In English we say “The son plays in the garden,” but Latin says Filius in horto ludit. Could we move the words around?

Latin word order is much more flexible than English because the endings show who is doing what.

Filius in hortō ludit is a very natural order:
- Filius (subject) – in hortō (place) – ludit (verb)

But you could also say, for example:

In hortō fīlius ludit.
Ludit fīlius in hortō.

All of these still mean essentially: “The son plays in the garden.”

The basic information (who is subject, what is place) is carried by the endings: -us in filius, -ō in hortō, and -it in ludit, not by the word order. Word order in Latin is often used for emphasis or style, not for basic grammar.

What is the difference between in horto and in hortum, or in domo and in domum?

This is about case and the meaning of in:

in
- ablative = in, on (location: where something is)
in
- accusative = into, onto, to (motion: where something is going)

So:

in hortō (ablative) = in the garden
in hortum (accusative) = into the garden
in domō (ablative) = in the house
in domum (accusative) = into the house

Our sentence uses in hortō and in domō, so it describes where they are playing/reading, not where they are going.

How do you pronounce the words in this sentence in Classical Latin?

Approximate Classical pronunciation (stressed syllable in bold):

Fīlius: FEE-lee-oos
- fī (long ee), li, us (oo + s)
in: like English in
hortō: HOR-toh
- hor as in English hor- of horde, tō with a long o
ludit: LOO-dit
- lū (long oo), dit with short i
soror: SOH-ror
- both o’s short, rolled r
autem: OW-tem
- au like ow in now, tem as in template (short e)
domō: DOH-moh
- both o’s long in careful pronunciation
legit (present): LEH-git
- short e, hard g as in get

So the whole sentence, roughly:

FEE-lee-oos in HOR-toh LOO-dit, SOH-ror OW-tem in DOH-moh LEH-git.