Mater cum eo de epistula loquitur.

the mother

Breakdown of Mater cum eo de epistula loquitur.

• cum: with
• de: about
• loqui: to talk

Questions & Answers about Mater cum eo de epistula loquitur.

Why does loquitur end in -tur if the sentence is not passive?

Because loquitur comes from loquor, loqui, locutus sum, which is a deponent verb.

Deponent verbs look passive in form, but they have an active meaning. So:

• loquitur = he/she speaks or is speaking
• not is spoken

This is one of the first things learners notice in this sentence, because in many Latin verbs -tur would suggest a passive meaning, but with loquor it does not.

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What person and number is loquitur?

Loquitur is third person singular present indicative.

That means it goes with a singular subject such as:

• he
• she
• it
• or a singular noun like mater

So in this sentence, mater is the subject, and loquitur means she speaks / she is speaking / she talks.

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Why is there no separate Latin word for she?

Latin often does not need an expressed subject pronoun, because the verb ending already tells you the person and number.

Here, loquitur already tells you: