Mater filio ignoscit, si crimen suum aperte fatetur.

the mother

Breakdown of Mater filio ignoscit, si crimen suum aperte fatetur.

• filius: the son
• si: if
• suus: his

Questions & Answers about Mater filio ignoscit, si crimen suum aperte fatetur.

Why is mater the subject of the sentence?

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

Even though mater does not have the very common -a nominative ending, it is still nominative. It is a third-declension noun:

• mater = mother
• nominative singular: mater

The verb ignoscit is third person singular, so it matches mater: the mother forgives.

Why is filio not accusative?

Because the verb ignoscere takes the dative of the person being forgiven.

So Latin says, literally, something like:

• mater filio ignoscit = the mother grants forgiveness to the son

This is different from English, where forgive usually takes a direct object: the mother forgives the son.

So:

• filio = to/for the son = dative singular

What case is crimen, and why?

Crimen is accusative singular.

That is because it is the direct object of fatetur:

• fatetur crimen = he admits/confesses the crime