Mater odorem panis e culina sentit.

the mother

Breakdown of Mater odorem panis e culina sentit.

• panis: the bread
• culina: the kitchen
• e: from

Questions & Answers about Mater odorem panis e culina sentit.

Why is mater not matrem or some other form?

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.

Why is it odorem and not odor?

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.

What is panis doing here? Why does it not mean just bread as a separate noun?

Here panis is in the genitive singular, so it means of bread rather than just bread.

So: