Mater pectine capillos filiae parat.

Here is the grammatical job of each word:

• mater — mother; nominative singular, so it is the subject
• pectine — with a comb; ablative singular, showing the instrument/means
• capillos — hair; accusative plural, so it is the direct object
• filiae — of the daughter; genitive singular here, showing possession
• parat — prepares / arranges; 3rd person singular present active, so she prepares/arranges

So the structure is basically:

Mother + with a comb + the daughter’s hair + arranges

Because Latin often uses the ablative of means/instrument to show what something is done with.

So:

• pectine = with a comb

Latin often does this without a preposition when the tool is an inanimate object.

Examples:

• gladio pugnat = he fights with a sword
• stilō scrībit = he writes with a pen
• pectine capillos parat = she arranges the hair with a comb

So English needs with, but Latin can simply use the ablative form.

Because filiae is most naturally a genitive singular here, showing possession:

• capillos filiae = the daughter’s hair or the hair of the daughter

The form filiae can be several things in Latin, including:

• genitive singular
• dative singular
• nominative plural
• vocative plural

But in this sentence, genitive singular makes the best sense.

Why not the others?

• nominative plural would not fit, because the verb parat is singular, and mater is already the subject.
• dative singular would give something like for/to the daughter, which is much less natural here than possession.

So context and syntax tell you that filiae means of the daughter.

Latin often uses the plural capillī / capillōs where English uses the mass noun hair.

So:

• capillos literally = hairs
• natural English = hair

This is very normal. Latin is thinking of the individual strands, while English usually treats hair as a single uncountable thing.

So capillos filiae is best translated naturally as the daughter’s hair, not the daughter’s hairs.

Yes, parat literally comes from parō, which often means:

• prepare
• get ready
• arrange

With hair, English usually prefers a more idiomatic verb such as:

• arranges
• does
• sometimes combs

So the Latin verb is broader than just comb. The sentence suggests that the mother is getting the daughter’s hair ready, and the phrase pectine tells you a comb is the instrument being used.

A very literal translation might be:

• Mother prepares the daughter’s hair with a comb.

A more natural English translation might be:

• The mother arranges her daughter’s hair with a comb.

Because mater is in the nominative singular, which is the normal case for the subject.

Also, the verb parat is 3rd person singular, so it matches a singular subject:

• mater parat = the mother prepares/arranges

Meanwhile:

• capillos is accusative, so it is the object, not the subject
• pectine is ablative, so it is an instrument
• filiae is genitive, so it shows possession

Latin relies heavily on case endings, not just word order, to show who is doing what.

Classical Latin has no articles like English the or a/an.

So a noun like mater can mean:

• mother
• a mother
• the mother

The correct choice in English depends on context.

The same is true for the other nouns:

• pectine = with a comb / with the comb
• capillos = hair / the hair
• filiae = of a daughter / of the daughter

When translating into English, you supply the article that sounds most natural from the context.

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

This sentence has:

• Mater first — introducing the subject
• pectine next — giving the instrument
• capillos filiae — the object phrase
• parat last — a very common place for the verb in Latin prose

Latin could rearrange the sentence in other ways and still keep the same basic meaning, for example:

• Mater filiae capillos pectine parat
• Capillos filiae mater pectine parat
• Pectine mater capillos filiae parat

The emphasis might shift a little, but the grammar would still be clear because of the endings.

Because capillos filiae is a noun phrase meaning the daughter’s hair.

In Latin, a genitive often comes after the noun it depends on:

• capilli puellae = the girl’s hair
• domus patris = the father’s house

So capillos filiae is a very normal Latin order.

English usually prefers:

• the daughter’s hair

but Latin often likes:

• hair of the daughter

even when English later translates it more smoothly.

Yes, often English will say her daughter’s hair or simply the daughter’s hair, even though Latin does not use a separate word for her here.

Latin expresses the relationship through filiae:

• capillos filiae = the daughter’s hair

Since mater is the subject, English may naturally turn this into:

• her daughter’s hair

But the Latin itself does not explicitly say her with a separate possessive adjective. The relationship is understood from the sentence.

Formally, yes: filiae can be dative singular. But in this sentence, that is not the best reading.

A dative reading would suggest something like:

• Mother prepares hair for the daughter with a comb

That is possible as a bare grammatical idea, but it is much less natural here than:

• Mother arranges the daughter’s hair with a comb

Because:

• capillos already works naturally as the direct object
• filiae fits very well as a possessive genitive attached to capillos
• the overall meaning strongly points to the daughter’s hair

So learners should recognize that some Latin forms are ambiguous in isolation, but the sentence usually makes the intended case clear.