Questions & Answers about Mater odorem panis e culina sentit.
Mater is in the nominative singular, which is the case used for the subject of the sentence—the person doing the action.
Here, mater is the one who senses/smells, so it stays in the nominative:
- mater = mother as subject
If mother were the object instead, you would expect a different case, such as matrem.
Because odorem is the direct object of sentit.
The verb sentit means she feels / perceives / smells, and what she smells is the smell. In Latin, a direct object usually goes in the accusative case.
So:
- odor = nominative, smell as subject
- odorem = accusative, smell as object
In this sentence, mother is perceiving the smell, so Latin uses odorem.
Here panis is in the genitive singular, so it means of bread rather than just bread.
So: