Mane mater prima surgit et aquam calidam parat.

In the morning mother gets up first and prepares warm water.

Breakdown of Mane mater prima surgit et aquam calidam parat.

• et: and
• mater: the mother
• aqua: the water
• mane: in the morning

Questions & Answers about Mane mater prima surgit et aquam calidam parat.

Why is mane translated as in the morning even though there is no word for in?

Because mane is an adverb meaning in the morning or early in the morning. Latin often uses a single word where English needs a prepositional phrase.

So:

• mane = in the morning
• not in + morning as two separate words

This is very normal in Latin.

Why is there no word for the in mater?

Latin does not have articles like English the and a/an.

So mater can mean:

• mother
• the mother
• sometimes even a mother

The exact meaning depends on context. In this sentence, English naturally uses mother or the mother, but Latin does not need a separate word for that.

What case is mater, and how do we know it is the subject?

Mater is nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of the sentence.

We know it is the subject because:

• surgit = she gets up / rises
• parat = she prepares
• both verbs are third person singular
• is the noun that matches that role