Mater filiae suae credit, quia illa veritatem semper dicit.

With credere, Latin often uses the dative for the person believed or trusted.

So:

• alicui credere = to believe someone / trust someone
• aliquid credere = to believe something

In this sentence, filiae suae is dative singular, meaning to her daughter. So Mater filiae suae credit literally means The mother believes her daughter or The mother trusts her daughter.

This is different from English, where believe someone looks like a direct object.

Mater is nominative singular, because it is the subject of credit.

Latin does not have articles like the or a/an. So:

• mater can mean mother, a mother, or the mother

You understand which one is meant from context.

Suae is the reflexive possessive adjective. It refers back to the subject of its own clause.

Here, in the main clause, the subject is mater, so:

• filiae suae = to her own daughter (the mother's own daughter)

If Latin used eius instead, it would usually mean:

• to her daughter = the daughter of some other female person already mentioned

So suae shows that the daughter belongs to the subject mater.

Yes, Latin often does leave subject pronouns out, because the verb ending already shows the person and number.

So dicit by itself already means she says.

Using illa adds something extra, usually one of these:

• emphasis: she says it
• contrast: the mother believes her daughter, because that one / she always tells the truth
• clarity: it helps make clear that the daughter, not someone else, is the subject of dicit

So illa is not required for grammar, but it is useful for emphasis or distinction.

In normal reading, yes, that is the most natural interpretation.

Why?

• The daughter is the most likely person the mother believes.
• The reason clause explains why the mother believes her.
• illa naturally points to the female person just mentioned as the one who always tells the truth.

Grammatically, a pronoun can sometimes be ambiguous if context is missing, but here the intended referent is almost certainly the daughter.

Also, if Latin wanted to keep talking about the mother as the subject of the second clause, it would very often just omit the pronoun rather than use illa.

Because it is the direct object of dicit.

• dicere = to say
• what does she say? veritatem = the truth

So:

• veritas = nominative, truth
• veritatem = accusative, the truth as the object of the verb

Because the subject of the second clause is illa, which is third person singular feminine: she.

So:

• illa ... dicit = she says
• if it were they say, Latin would use dicunt

Even though two female people appear in the whole sentence (mater and filia), the actual subject of this clause is just one person.

Because quia here introduces a straightforward reason stated as a fact:

• because she always tells the truth

In ordinary Latin, quia commonly takes the indicative when the speaker presents the reason as real or factual.

So:

• quia ... dicit = because ... she says

You may sometimes see the subjunctive after words like quia in more special contexts, especially when the reason is reported as someone else's idea rather than stated as fact, but the normal form here is the indicative.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because the endings show the grammatical roles.

This sentence is arranged as:

• Mater = subject
• filiae suae = dative with credit
• credit = main verb
• quia = introduces the reason clause
• illa = subject of the subordinate clause
• veritatem = object
• semper = adverb
• dicit = verb

A more English-like order would be something like:

• Mater credit filiae suae...

But Latin often places words for emphasis, balance, or style rather than following a rigid subject-verb-object order.

In the second clause, putting veritatem semper dicit is perfectly natural Latin. The verb often comes late in the clause.

Semper means always, and it modifies the verb dicit.

So:

• illa veritatem semper dicit = she always tells the truth

Yes, Latin could place semper in other positions, for example:

• illa semper veritatem dicit
• semper illa veritatem dicit

The basic meaning stays the same, but the emphasis can shift slightly depending on placement. Latin adverbs are fairly mobile.

Yes, there is a slight nuance.

With alicui credere, Latin can mean:

• to believe someone
• to trust someone

In this sentence, both work well:

• The mother believes her daughter
• The mother trusts her daughter

Because the reason is quia illa veritatem semper dicit (because she always tells the truth), English believes her daughter may feel especially natural. But trusts her daughter also fits the Latin very well.