Puer conatur annulum capere, sed mater eum tacere iubet.

Because conor, conari, conatus sum is a deponent verb.

A deponent verb looks passive in its forms, but has an active meaning. So:

• conatur = he/she tries
• not he/she is tried

In this sentence, Puer conatur means The boy tries.

Because conatur is followed by a complementary infinitive.

Latin often uses an infinitive after verbs like try, want, be able, begin, and so on. English does something similar:

• The boy tries to seize the ring
• Latin: Puer conatur annulum capere

So capere means to seize / to catch / to take, and it completes the meaning of conatur.

Annulum is accusative singular of annulus.

It is in the accusative because it is the direct object of capere:

• capere annulum = to seize the ring

So the boy is trying to seize the ring, and that makes annulum the object.

Strictly speaking, annulum is the object of capere, not directly of conatur.

The structure is:

• Puer conatur = The boy tries
• annulum capere = to seize the ring

So the whole idea is The boy tries [to seize the ring].

This is very common in Latin: the infinitive has its own object.

Eum is the accusative singular masculine form of is, ea, id, meaning him.

Here it refers back to puer. So:

• mater eum ... iubet = the mother orders him ...

It is accusative because with iubeo Latin regularly puts the person being ordered in the accusative.

Because iubeo does not normally take the person ordered in the dative.

In English we say orders him, and Latin does something structurally similar here with the accusative:

• mater eum tacere iubet

That means:

• the mother orders him to be quiet

So:

• eum = accusative = correct here
• ei = dative = not what this construction usually uses

Because after iubet Latin often uses the construction:

• accusative + infinitive

So:

• eum tacere iubet = she orders him to be quiet / she orders him to keep quiet

Here:

• eum = the person being ordered
• tacere = what he is ordered to do

If Latin used tacet, that would mean he is quiet or he keeps quiet, which would turn it into a separate statement, not something dependent on iubet.

The understood subject of tacere is eum.

So the second part works like this:

• mater = subject of iubet
• iubet = orders
• eum = him
• tacere = to be quiet

In other words, he is the one who is supposed to be quiet.

Because mater is in the nominative singular, which is the normal case for the subject.

Also, the verb iubet is third person singular, matching a singular subject:

• mater iubet = the mother orders

Even though Latin word order is flexible, the case endings still show the grammatical roles.

Latin often leaves out possessive words like his, her, or their when the relationship is obvious from context.

So mater can naturally mean:

• the mother
• or more idiomatically in context, his mother

Since puer has just been mentioned, a reader easily understands that this is the boy’s mother.

Because Latin infinitives do not need a separate word like English to.

English says:

• to seize
• to be quiet

Latin just uses the infinitive form itself:

• capere
• tacere

So the meaning of English to is built into the Latin infinitive.

With iubeo, Classical Latin commonly uses the accusative + infinitive construction:

• eum tacere iubet

That is the standard, straightforward way to say she orders him to be quiet.

A clause with ut is more common after some other verbs of ordering, persuading, or warning, but iubeo very often prefers the accusative and infinitive.

The finite verbs are both present tense:

• conatur = is trying / tries
• iubet = orders / is ordering

The infinitives are present infinitives:

• capere = to seize
• tacere = to be quiet

So the whole sentence describes actions happening in the present.

The word order is natural, but Latin word order is fairly flexible.

This sentence is:

• Puer conatur annulum capere, sed mater eum tacere iubet.

A Latin speaker could move some words around and still keep the same basic meaning, because the endings show the grammar.

For example, annulum could be placed earlier or later for emphasis. But the given order is clear and readable:

• first clause: what the boy is trying to do
• second clause: what the mother tells him to do instead

They are:

• puer — boy
• conor, conari, conatus sum — try
• annulus — ring
• capio, capere, cepi, captum — seize, take
• sed — but
• mater — mother
• is, ea, id — he, she, it; this/that
• taceo, tacere, tacui — be quiet, keep silent
• iubeo, iubere, iussi, iussum — order

Knowing the dictionary form helps explain why the sentence uses forms like conatur, annulum, eum, capere, and tacere.