Mater cultrum sub mensa relinquit, ne infans eum capiat.

the mother

Breakdown of Mater cultrum sub mensa relinquit, ne infans eum capiat.

• mensa: the table
• infans: the baby
• ne: so that not

Questions & Answers about Mater cultrum sub mensa relinquit, ne infans eum capiat.

Why is mater the subject of the sentence?

Because mater is in the nominative case, which is the case normally used for the subject of a Latin sentence.

• mater = mother
• It is the person doing the action of relinquit.

So mater relinquit means the mother leaves.

Why is cultrum spelled with -um?

Cultrum is in the accusative singular, because it is the direct object of relinquit.

The verb relinquit means leaves or leaves behind, and the thing being left is the knife:

• culter = knife
• cultrum = knife as a direct object

So:

• mater cultrum relinquit = the mother leaves the knife

Why is it sub mensa and not sub mensam?

Because sub can take either the ablative or the accusative, depending on the meaning.

• sub + ablative = under in the sense of location
• sub + accusative = to a place under in the sense of