Mater sex pira et novem ficos eligit, quia convivae mox venturi sunt.

Mater is nominative singular. It is the subject of eligit, so it tells you who is doing the action.

So:

• mater = the mother / mother
• eligit = chooses, picks, selects

Together, mater eligit means mother picks/chooses.

Because its subject, mater, is singular.

Eligit is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• active voice
• from eligere

So it means she chooses/picks or the mother chooses/picks.

Because pira comes from pirum, a neuter noun.

In Latin, neuter plural nominative and accusative usually end in -a. Since pira is the direct object of eligit, it is accusative plural.

So:

• singular: pirum
• plural nominative/accusative: pira

This is a very common neuter pattern.

Because the two nouns belong to different noun types.

• pira is from pirum, a neuter noun, so its accusative plural is -a
• ficos is accusative plural of ficus in this sentence, and it is not neuter here, so it takes -os

So both words are direct objects, but they do not form their accusative plural in the same way.

A beginner-friendly way to think about it is:

• pira = accusative plural of a neuter noun
• ficos = accusative plural of a non-neuter noun

Yes. Both are direct objects of eligit.

The mother is choosing/picking:

• sex pira
• et novem ficos

So the verb eligit has a compound object: two things joined by et.

Because sex and novem are indeclinable cardinal numbers. That means their forms stay the same no matter what case the noun is in.

So:

• sex pira
• novem ficos

The numbers themselves do not change, but the nouns after them still take the form the sentence requires.

Convivae is nominative plural here, because it is the subject of sunt in the clause quia convivae mox venturi sunt.

So:

• convivae = the guests
• sunt = are

That gives the guests are ...

Because conviva is one of those Latin nouns that can be masculine even though it belongs to the first declension.

Beginners often learn:

• first declension = usually feminine

That is often true, but not always. Conviva can refer to:

• a male guest
• a female guest
• a mixed group in the plural

Here venturi is masculine plural, so the guests are being treated as:

• male, or
• mixed, or
• gender-unspecified with masculine as the default

If the guests were clearly all female, you would expect venturae instead.

Venturi sunt is made of:

• venturi = future active participle of venire
• sunt = are

Literally, it means they are about to come or they are going to come.

In smoother English, it often becomes:

• will soon come
• are coming soon
• are soon to arrive

This construction is a common Latin way to express a future action with a sense of imminence or expectation.

Both can refer to future coming, but venturi sunt often feels a bit more like:

• are going to come
• are about to come
• are expected to come

It can sound slightly more descriptive than the simple future venient.

So:

• venient = they will come
• venturi sunt = they are going to come / are soon to come

In many contexts the difference is small, but this form is very common and worth recognizing.

Because it agrees with convivae.

Participles in Latin behave a lot like adjectives, so they must agree with the noun they describe in:

• number
• gender
• case

Here:

• convivae = nominative plural
• venturi = nominative masculine plural

So venturi matches convivae.

Quia means because and introduces a reason clause.

So the sentence structure is:

• main clause: Mater sex pira et novem ficos eligit
• reason clause: quia convivae mox venturi sunt

In other words: Mother picks six pears and nine figs because guests are coming soon.

Because sunt belongs to the expression venturi sunt, not by itself to a simple present statement.

The future idea is carried by venturi, the future participle. So together:

• venturi sunt = are going to come

This is why the whole phrase refers to the future even though sunt itself is present tense.

Mox means soon.

It is an adverb, so it modifies the idea of coming:

• convivae mox venturi sunt = the guests are soon going to come

Latin word order is flexible, so mox could appear in different places without changing the basic meaning very much. Here it naturally goes with venturi sunt.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order, because the endings show each word’s role.

This sentence is perfectly normal Latin:

• Mater sex pira et novem ficos eligit, quia convivae mox venturi sunt.

But other orders could also be grammatical.

The given order is straightforward:

1. subject first: mater
2. objects next: sex pira et novem ficos
3. verb: eligit
4. reason clause after that

So the order is natural, but not the only possible one.

Because Latin has no articles.

So mater can mean:

• mother
• the mother
• sometimes even a mother

You decide from the context which English article sounds best.

The same is true for:

• convivae = guests / the guests
• pira = pears / the pears
• ficos = figs / the figs