Post tempestatem pauci flores in horto manent.

Because post is a preposition that takes the accusative case when it means after.

So:

• post = after
• tempestatem = storm, in the accusative singular

The dictionary form is tempestas, but after post it becomes tempestatem.

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

Here it means in the garden in the sense of location, not motion, so Latin uses the ablative:

• in horto = in the garden

Compare:

• in horto = in the garden, inside the garden
• in hortum = into the garden, moving into it

So the ablative here shows place where.

You know it from the endings.

• pauci is nominative plural masculine
• flores is nominative plural masculine
• manent is third person plural, so it needs a plural subject

That makes pauci flores the subject: few flowers.

Even though English relies heavily on word order, Latin often shows the subject by case endings instead.

Because its subject, pauci flores, is plural.

Manent means they remain or they stay. Its singular form would be manet:

• flos manet = the flower remains
• flores manent = the flowers remain

So the plural verb agrees with the plural subject.

Pauci means few. It is an adjective describing flores.

Latin adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

So because flores is masculine nominative plural, the adjective also appears as masculine nominative plural:

• pauci flores = few flowers

Usually, yes, but it is good to notice that Latin pauci is a normal adjective meaning few, a small number of.

Like English few, it suggests that the number is small. In this sentence, it emphasizes that not many flowers are left after the storm.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show each word’s role in the sentence.

English strongly prefers:

• After the storm, few flowers remain in the garden.

Latin can say:

• Post tempestatem pauci flores in horto manent.

This order is perfectly natural. A Latin writer can move words around for emphasis, rhythm, or style, while the endings still make the grammar clear.

Often, yes. For example, these would still mean roughly the same thing:

• Pauci flores post tempestatem in horto manent.
• In horto pauci flores post tempestatem manent.
• Post tempestatem in horto pauci flores manent.

The exact emphasis may change, but the basic meaning stays the same because the cases still show the relationships.

Here are the basic forms:

• post = after
• tempestas, tempestatis = storm
• paucus, -a, -um = few
• flos, floris = flower
• in = in, into
• hortus, -i = garden
• maneo, manere, mansi, mansum = remain, stay

This is useful because the form you see in the sentence is often not the dictionary form.

Because flos belongs to the third declension, not the second.

That is why:

• singular nominative: flos
• plural nominative: flores

By contrast, hortus is second declension:

• singular nominative: hortus
• singular ablative: horto

So the different endings come from different declensions.

It is a prepositional phrase expressing time.

It tells you when the main action is true:

• post tempestatem = after the storm

So the structure of the sentence is roughly:

• post tempestatem = time phrase
• pauci flores = subject
• in horto = place phrase
• manent = verb

Yes. Depending on context, manent can be translated as:

• remain
• stay
• are left

In this sentence, all of these are close in meaning. Latin maneo often has the idea of continuing to be somewhere or still being present after something has happened.