Puer tonitrum audit et matrem statim vocat.

Because puer is in the nominative case, which is the case normally used for the subject in Latin. The nominative singular of this noun is puer, meaning boy.

Also, the verb endings help confirm this: both audit and vocat are third-person singular, so they match puer as the subject.

Because matrem is a direct object, not the subject. In Latin, a direct object usually goes in the accusative case.

For the noun mater, matris meaning mother, the forms are:

• nominative singular: mater
• accusative singular: matrem

So Latin changes the form of the noun to show its job in the sentence.

Tonitrum is a neuter noun of the second declension, and many neuter nouns have the same form in the nominative singular and accusative singular.

So even though tonitrum is the object of audit, it still appears as tonitrum, not with a different ending.

This is a very common Latin pattern:

• neuter nominative singular = neuter accusative singular

We know from both case endings and sentence structure:

• tonitrum is the object of audit
• matrem is the object of vocat

Latin often marks objects with the accusative case. Here:

• tonitrum is accusative singular
• matrem is accusative singular

Each object belongs to its own verb:

• audit → hears the thunder
• vocat → calls his mother

Both are:

• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood
• third-person singular

So they mean:

• audit = he/she/it hears
• vocat = he/she/it calls

Since the subject is puer, we understand them here as the boy hears and the boy calls.

In Latin, -t is the normal ending for the third-person singular in the present tense.

For example:

• audit = he/she hears
• vocat = he/she calls

This is similar to English he hears and he calls, where English adds -s. Latin uses -t instead.

Latin often leaves out possessive words like his, her, or their when the meaning is obvious from the context.

So matrem vocat naturally means he calls his mother, not just he calls a mother. Since the subject is the boy, Latin assumes the mother being called is his own unless there is some reason to say otherwise.

If Latin wanted to be more explicit, it could say something like matrem suam, but that is often unnecessary.

Statim is an adverb, meaning immediately, at once, or right away.

It modifies vocat, telling us when the boy calls his mother:

• matrem statim vocat = he calls his mother immediately

Adverbs in Latin are often quite movable, so statim could appear in different positions without changing the basic meaning.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because Latin uses endings to show grammatical roles.

So the sentence could be rearranged in several ways and still mean basically the same thing, for example:

• Puer tonitrum audit et matrem statim vocat
• Tonitrum puer audit et matrem statim vocat
• Puer audit tonitrum et statim matrem vocat

However, word order can affect emphasis and style. The given order is natural and easy to follow.

Et means and. It links the two parts of the sentence:

• puer tonitrum audit
• matrem statim vocat

So it connects two actions done by the same subject:

• he hears
• and he calls

It is one of the most common Latin conjunctions.

They come from different declensions:

• puer, pueri = second declension masculine
• tonitrum, tonitri = second declension neuter
• mater, matris = third declension feminine

This sentence is useful because it shows that different noun types use different endings, but they can all appear together in one sentence.

In reconstructed Classical Latin, puer is usually pronounced roughly POO-er, with the two vowels clearly heard.

Important points:

• pu- sounds like poo
• -er is a separate part, not merged into one English-style syllable like in pure
• the u and e are both pronounced

So it is closer to POO-er than to English pure.

Classical Latin has no definite article like English the and no indefinite article like a/an.

So:

• puer can mean the boy or a boy
• matrem can mean the mother or a mother, depending on context

The context tells you which English article makes the most sense. In this sentence, English naturally uses the boy, the thunder, and his mother.