Parvus infans in domo dormit, sed mater vigilat.

The little baby sleeps in the house, but mother keeps watch.

Breakdown of Parvus infans in domo dormit, sed mater vigilat.

• in: in
• domus: the house
• mater: the mother
• sed: but
• dormire: to sleep
• vigilare: to keep watch
• parvus: little
• infans: the baby

Questions & Answers about Parvus infans in domo dormit, sed mater vigilat.

Why is there no word for “the” in parvus infans or mater? How do I know it means “the small baby” and “the mother” and not “a small baby”, “a mother”?

Latin has no separate words for “the” or “a/an”. Nouns appear without articles, and the context tells you whether to understand them as definite (“the”) or indefinite (“a/an”).

So:

• parvus infans can mean “a small baby” or “the small baby”
• mater can mean “a mother” or “the mother”

You decide which article to use in English based on the situation or on information from surrounding sentences. The Latin itself simply says “small baby … mother …” and leaves the “the / a” question to the reader.

Why is the adjective parvus placed before infans? Could I also say infans parvus?

Yes, you could also say infans parvus. Latin word order is flexible, especially for adjectives:

• parvus infans – literally “small baby”
• infans parvus – also “small baby”

Both are correct. Adjectives can come before or after the noun. The difference is often one of style, rhythm, or emphasis, not of basic grammar.

In this sentence, parvus infans is a straightforward way to say “the small baby”. You will see both orders often as you read more Latin.

Why is it parvus infans and not parva infans? Isn’t infans sometimes feminine?

Infans is a third-declension noun that can be either masculine or feminine, depending on the person being talked about. The adjective must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun.

Here we have:

• infans – nominative singular (subject of dormit)
• The speaker is apparently thinking of the baby as masculine, so the adjective is:
  • parvus – nominative singular masculine

If the writer wanted to emphasize that it is a girl, they could use a feminine adjective:

• parva infans – “a small (female) baby”

So the -us ending in parvus is masculine; -a (parva) would be feminine. The gender is a matter of meaning/context, not of a visible ending on infans itself.

How do I know that parvus is not “the baby is small”, but “the small baby”?

You tell this by position and structure:

• parvus infans – adjective directly next to the noun: this is an attributive use, meaning “the small baby”, just like “small baby” in English.
• infans parvus est – here parvus is separated from infans by est and follows it; this is a predicate use, meaning “the baby is small.”

In your sentence, there is no form of “to be” (est) linking parvus as a description after the noun. Instead, parvus stands with infans as a unit, so it functions like an adjective in front of a noun in English: “small baby.”

Why is it in domo and not in domum? What’s the difference?

The preposition in can take either the ablative or the accusative, with different meanings:

• in
  • ablative → place where (location) = “in / on / at”
• in
  • accusative → motion toward a place = “into / onto”

In your sentence:

• in domō – domō is ablative singular of domus (house)
• So in domo means “in the house” (location, no movement)

If the sentence were about moving into the house, it would be:

• in domum – accusative singular → “into the house”

Here the baby is already located inside the house, so the ablative is used.

What exactly is the form domo? Is domus a regular noun?

Domus, domūs (house, home) is a somewhat irregular 4th-declension noun that also shows some 2nd-declension features in classical Latin. In your sentence, domo is:

• ablative singular of domus → “in the house”

A simplified part of its paradigm (classical usage) looks like:

• Nominative sg.: domus – “house” (as subject)
• Genitive sg.: domūs – “of the house”
• Dative sg.: domuī – “to/for the house”
• Accusative sg.: domum – “(into) the house” / “house” as object
• Ablative sg.: domō – “from / in / by the house” (here: in domō, “in the house”)

So domō is the form you expect after in when it expresses location.

What do the verb endings -t in dormit and vigilat tell me?

The -t ending in both dormit and vigilat marks:

• person: 3rd person (“he / she / it”)
• number: singular
• tense: present
• voice: active
• mood: indicative

So:

• dormit – “he/she/it sleeps,” “is sleeping”
• vigilat – “he/she/it is awake / keeps watch”

Latin does not usually require subject pronouns (is, ea, etc.) because the verb ending already tells you who is performing the action. The nouns infans and mater show which specific people are doing what; the -t confirms that each is 3rd person singular.

Why doesn’t Latin say something like “is sleeping” or “is watching” with a separate verb “to be,” the way English does?

Latin usually expresses the English ideas “sleeps” and “is sleeping” with the same simple present form:

• dormit can mean both:
  • “he/she sleeps” and
  • “he/she is sleeping”

Similarly, vigilat can mean:

• “she keeps watch / she watches”
• “she is awake / she stays awake”

Latin does have ways to express ongoing or repeated action more vividly (e.g. using context, or sometimes periphrastic constructions), but in ordinary prose the simple present is broad enough to cover both your English present simple and present continuous. So dormit by itself is sufficient; you don’t need est dormiens unless you want a special nuance.

Why is there no word for “she” in sed mater vigilat? How do I know it doesn’t mean “but the mother watches it”?

Latin usually drops subject pronouns (like English “I, you, he, she”) unless you need to emphasize them. The subject is normally understood from:

1. The verb ending (here -t for “he/she/it”)
2. The nearest suitable noun in the right case (here mater, nominative)

In sed mater vigilat:

• mater is nominative singular: “mother” as subject
• vigilat is 3rd person singular: “he/she/it is awake / keeps watch”

So together: “but the mother is awake / keeps watch” (subject: the mother).

If you wanted “she watches it / her / him”, you would add an object:

• mater eam vigilat – “the mother watches her” (rare/poetic construction, more usual would be matrem vigilat = “watches over the mother,” but with different subject)
• More common is to use vigilare without a direct object for “to be awake / to keep watch.”

In this beginner-style sentence, vigilat is intransitive: “is awake / keeps watch,” not “watches something.”

What exactly does vigilat mean? Is it just “is awake,” or “keeps watch,” or something else?

The verb vigilat comes from vigilare, which means:

• to be awake, not sleeping
• to stay alert, keep watch, be on guard

So mater vigilat can be understood as:

• “the mother is awake”, with the idea that she is not asleep and probably alert, or
• “the mother keeps watch / keeps vigil,” suggesting that she is actively watching over the baby or the house.

In your context (baby sleeping, mother awake), both ideas blend nicely: she is awake and watching over him. Latin often compresses that richer meaning into the one verb vigilare.

What does sed mean, and how strong is the contrast with dormit?

Sed is a coordinating conjunction meaning “but”. It introduces a contrast with what comes before.

In your sentence:

• Parvus infans in domo dormit – “The small baby sleeps in the house”
• sed mater vigilat – “but the mother is awake / keeps watch”

So the contrast is:

• baby → sleeping
• mother → not sleeping, awake and alert

Sed is a straightforward, neutral “but.” There are other Latin conjunctions that can introduce different shades of contrast (like autem, verum, at), but sed is the basic one you’ll see all the time.

Does the word order Parvus infans in domo dormit, sed mater vigilat matter? Could the words be rearranged?

The word order in Latin is more flexible than in English. In your sentence, the order is:

• Parvus infans – small baby (subject)
• in domo – in the house (location)
• dormit – sleeps (verb)
• sed – but
• mater – mother (subject)
• vigilat – is awake (verb)

Common variations that would still be correct and natural include:

• Infans parvus in domo dormit, sed mater vigilat.
• Parvus infans dormit in domo, sed mater vigilat.
• In domo parvus infans dormit, sed mater vigilat.

Latin often places the verb near the end of the clause, but not always; emphasis, rhythm, and style influence the choice. However, the endings on nouns and adjectives (like -us, -ans, -ō) show their grammatical roles, so the basic meaning survives rearrangement much better than it would in English.

How do you pronounce this sentence in Classical Latin?

In Classical Latin pronunciation, you would say roughly:

• Parvus infans in domō dormit, sed māter vigilat.

Guidelines:

• parvus → PAHR-woos
  
  • a as in “father”; r trilled; u like “oo” in “book” but shorter; v like English w
• infans → IN-fans
  
  • i as in “machine” but short; a as in “father”; final -s clearly pronounced
• in → in (like English “in” but shorter)
• domō → DOH-moh
  
  • o as in “hope”; final -ō is long and held slightly longer
• dormit → DOR-mit
  
  • or like “or” in “orbit” (but with a trilled r); short i as in “bit”
• sed → sed (like English “said,” but with clear e)
• māter → MAH-ter
  
  • ā long as in “father” held slightly longer; e short as in “get”
• vigilat → WIH-gi-lat
  
  • v like w; g always hard as in “go”; all vowels clear and short

So, with word stress (capitalized syllables):

• PAR-vus IN-fans in DO-mō DOR-mit, sed MĀ-ter WI-gi-lat.