Pater malum dividere conatur, ut filiae et filio duo frusta det.

Pater is nominative singular, so it is the subject of the sentence: the father is the one who tries and the one who gives.

It is the dictionary form of the noun pater, patris.

Here malum is the direct object of dividere, so it is accusative singular: it is the thing being divided.

A learner may also notice that malum can mean either apple or evil depending on the word behind it. If macrons are written, mālum is apple. In this sentence, the meaning makes it clear that it means apple.

Because conatur often takes a complementary infinitive.

So:

• conatur = he tries
• dividere = to divide

Together, dividere conatur means he tries to divide.

This is very similar to English, where try is followed by to + verb.

Because conatur comes from conor, which is a deponent verb.

Deponent verbs:

• have passive-looking forms
• but active meanings

So conatur looks like a passive form, but it means he tries, not he is tried.

The ut clause gives the purpose of the action.

So:

• Pater malum dividere conatur = the father tries to divide the apple
• ut filiae et filio duo frusta det = so that / in order that he may give two pieces to his daughter and son

Latin very often uses ut + subjunctive to express purpose.

Because it is inside a purpose clause introduced by ut.

In Latin, purpose clauses normally use the subjunctive. So:

• dat = he gives as a simple statement
• det = that he may give / so that he may give

Here the father is trying to do something for the purpose of giving the pieces away, so Latin uses det.

Because they are the indirect objects of det.

With do, dare (to give), Latin usually has:

• the thing given in the accusative
• the person receiving it in the dative

So here:

• duo frusta = the two pieces being given
• filiae et filio = to the daughter and to the son

The form filiae is ambiguous by itself. It could be:

• genitive singular = of the daughter
• dative singular = to/for the daughter
• nominative plural = daughters

But in this sentence, the context makes it clear that it is dative singular:

1. it matches the function of filio, which is clearly dative
2. det needs recipients, and the dative is the normal case for recipients
3. et filio strongly suggests filiae is parallel: to the daughter and to the son

Because frusta is a neuter plural form, and the numeral must agree with it.

• singular: frustum = piece
• plural: frusta = pieces

Since frustum is neuter, the form of two must also be the neuter plural form:

• masculine: duo
• feminine: duae
• neuter: duo

So duo frusta is correct: two pieces.

Also, duo frusta is the accusative plural, because it is the direct object of det.

It strongly suggests that, but it does not spell it out in the most explicit possible way.

The sentence says that the father is trying to divide the apple so that he may give two pieces to the daughter and the son. Since there are two recipients and two pieces, the natural understanding is one piece each.

If Latin wanted to make the distribution especially explicit, it could use other wording, but the sentence as written is perfectly natural.

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

So the sentence could be rearranged in other ways without changing the basic meaning. For example, Latin can move words around for emphasis, rhythm, or style.

In this sentence:

• Pater comes first, which is a very natural place for the subject
• malum dividere conatur gives the main action
• the ut clause comes afterward and explains the purpose

So the order is natural, but not rigidly required in the way English word order often is.

Because Classical Latin does not have articles like English the and a/an.

Latin usually leaves that idea to be understood from context.

So:

• pater can mean father or the father
• malum can mean an apple or the apple
• filiae can mean to a daughter or to the daughter

The exact English article depends on the context and the intended meaning.