Mater vaccas in prato pascit, dum filia aquam portat.

Because vaccas is the direct object of pascit.

• pascit = feeds / grazes
• The thing being fed is the cows
• In Latin, a direct object often goes in the accusative case

The noun vacca, vaccae is a first-declension noun, and its accusative plural form is vaccas.

So:

• vacca = cow
• vaccae = cows / of the cow / to the cow, depending on context
• vaccas = cows as a direct object

Here, mater vaccas pascit means the mother feeds the cows.

Because mater is the subject of the sentence, not the object.

In Latin, the subject is usually in the nominative case. The nominative singular of mater is just mater.

Compare:

• mater = mother as the subject
• matrem = mother as the direct object

So in this sentence:

• mater is the one doing the action
• vaccas is receiving the action

That is why Latin uses:

• mater vaccas pascit not
• matrem vaccas pascit

Because in can take two different cases, depending on the meaning.

• in + ablative = in / on a place, showing location
• in + accusative = into / onto a place, showing motion toward

Here, in prato means in the meadow, so it describes where the action happens. That requires the ablative.

• prato is the ablative singular of pratum

So:

• in prato = in the meadow
• in pratum = into the meadow

Since the cows are being fed there, not moved into it, in prato is correct.

Pascit comes from pascere, which means to feed, to pasture, or to graze.

In this sentence, it could be understood as:

• feeds
• is feeding
• sometimes even pastures or grazes

Latin present tense often covers both a simple present and a progressive present in English:

• pascit can mean she feeds
• or she is feeding

So mater vaccas in prato pascit can be understood as the mother feeds/is feeding the cows in the meadow.

Because filia is the subject of the second clause.

The sentence has two parts:

1. Mater vaccas in prato pascit
2. dum filia aquam portat

In the second part, filia is the one doing the carrying, so it is in the nominative case.

• filia = daughter as subject
• aquam = water as direct object

So:

• filia portat = the daughter carries
• filiam portat would mean someone carries the daughter

Because aquam is the direct object of portat.

• portat = carries
• What does the daughter carry? water

The noun aqua, aquae is first declension. Its accusative singular is aquam.

So:

• aqua = water as a subject
• aquam = water as a direct object

That is why Latin says filia aquam portat.

Here, dum means while.

It introduces a clause that gives the background action happening at the same time:

• Mater vaccas in prato pascit
• dum filia aquam portat
• The mother feeds the cows in the meadow, while the daughter carries water

With this meaning, dum commonly takes the present indicative, as it does here with portat.

So this is a very normal pattern:

• dum
  • present verb = while ... is/does ...

Because verbs agree with their subjects, not with their objects.

First clause:

• subject = mater = singular
• verb = pascit = singular

Second clause:

• subject = filia = singular
• verb = portat = singular

Even though vaccas is plural, it is the object, not the subject. So it does not control the verb ending.

This is similar to English:

• The mother feeds the cows not
• The mother feed the cows

The verb matches mother, not cows.

Because Latin does not have articles like English the, a, or an.

So a noun like mater can mean:

• mother
• the mother
• sometimes even a mother

The exact English wording depends on context.

That means:

• mater = the mother or a mother
• filia = the daughter or a daughter
• vaccas = the cows or cows
• aquam = water / the water

When translating into English, we usually add the article that sounds most natural.

It is important for emphasis and style, but less important for basic grammar than in English.

Latin relies heavily on case endings to show each word’s job in the sentence. That means the sentence could be rearranged without changing the core meaning very much.

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

• Mater vaccas in prato pascit
• Vaccas mater in prato pascit
• In prato mater vaccas pascit

The endings tell you that:

• mater is the subject
• vaccas is the object
• prato goes with in as location

So Latin word order is more flexible than English word order.

Because not all feminine nouns belong to the same declension.

A beginner often expects feminine nouns to look like filia, but mater is different.

• filia, filiae is first declension
• mater, matris is third declension

Both nouns are feminine, but they follow different patterns.

So grammatical gender and declension are not the same thing:

• feminine tells you the noun’s gender
• first/third declension tells you how it changes form

That is why mater is feminine even though it does not end in -a.

Yes. Latin present tense often covers both ideas.

So:

• pascit can mean feeds or is feeding
• portat can mean carries or is carrying

English often chooses between:

• a simple present: feeds
• a progressive: is feeding

Latin usually just uses the present tense form and lets context do the rest.

So this sentence could be translated naturally as either:

• The mother feeds the cows in the meadow while the daughter carries water or
• The mother is feeding the cows in the meadow while the daughter is carrying water

A simple classroom pronunciation would be something like:

MAH-ter WAHK-kahs in PRAH-toh PAHS-kit, doom FEE-lee-ah AH-kwam POR-taht

A few helpful notes:

• c in classical Latin is always hard, like k
  • so vaccas sounds like wahk-kahs
  • pascit has a hard c too
• qu sounds like kw
  • so aquam sounds like ah-kwam
• dum is pronounced with a clear u, roughly doom
• filia is often pronounced FEE-lee-ah

If your course uses macrons, they would help show vowel length, but even without them, the basic pronunciation above is a good start.