Mater puerum mane excitat, et pater puellam deinde excitat.

Because Latin usually shows grammatical roles with case endings, not mainly with word order.

• mater is in the nominative case, which is the normal case for the subject
• puerum is in the accusative case, which is the normal case for the direct object

So mater puerum excitat means the mother wakes the boy, not the boy wakes the mother.

The same pattern appears in the second clause:

• pater = subject
• puellam = direct object

So pater puellam excitat means the father wakes the girl.

Because Latin nouns change form depending on their job in the sentence.

Here:

• puer is the basic form, but puerum is the accusative singular
• puella is the basic form, but puellam is the accusative singular

That accusative form is used because the boy and the girl are the ones being acted on: they are being woken.

So:

• puer = boy
• puerum = boy as direct object

and

• puella = girl
• puellam = girl as direct object

They do change in other cases, but here they are in the nominative singular, their subject form.

A beginner may expect all Latin subjects to end in something obvious like -a or -us, but not all nouns work that way. Mater and pater belong to the third declension, so their nominative forms already look a bit less predictable.

For example:

• mater = mother, as subject

• matrem = mother, as direct object

• pater = father, as subject
• patrem = father, as direct object

So they are not unchanging words; they just happen to be in their subject form here.

Excitat is a third-person singular present active indicative form of the verb excitare, meaning to wake up, to rouse, or to awaken.

In this sentence, it means:

• she wakes in the first clause, because the subject is mater
• he wakes in the second clause, because the subject is pater

So the same Latin verb form can be translated differently in English depending on the subject.

By itself, excitat means he/she/it wakes.

Latin verb endings usually tell you:

• person: first, second, or third
• number: singular or plural

But they usually do not tell you gender.

So:

• with mater, excitat = she wakes
• with pater, excitat = he wakes

The noun tells you whether the subject is male or female, not the verb ending.

They are adverbs.

• mane means in the morning or early in the morning
• deinde means then, next, or afterward

They modify the action of the verb:

• Mater puerum mane excitat = the mother wakes the boy in the morning
• pater puellam deinde excitat = the father then wakes the girl afterward / next

Unlike adjectives, adverbs do not agree with nouns in case, number, or gender.

It matters for emphasis and style, but less for basic grammar than in English.

Because Latin uses case endings, you can often move words around without changing the core meaning. For example, these would still mean essentially the same thing:

• Mater puerum mane excitat
• Mane mater puerum excitat
• Puerum mater mane excitat

The current order is straightforward and easy to follow:

• subject
• object
• adverb
• verb

That makes it especially suitable for learners.

Yes, Latin can sometimes leave out a repeated word if it is easy to understand from context. So a shortened version could be:

• Mater puerum mane excitat, et pater puellam deinde.

The second excitat would be understood.

However, repeating the verb is completely normal and often clearer. In a teaching sentence especially, repeating excitat helps the learner see the full structure of both clauses.

Et is the ordinary Latin word for and. It joins the two clauses:

• Mater puerum mane excitat
• et pater puellam deinde excitat

So the sentence has two coordinated statements:

1. the mother wakes the boy in the morning
2. and the father then wakes the girl

There are none in this sentence, because Classical Latin does not have articles like English the and a/an.

So:

• mater can mean mother, the mother, or sometimes a mother
• puerum can mean the boy or a boy
• puellam can mean the girl or a girl

English usually has to add an article, but Latin often leaves that idea to context.