In die festo mater filiae coronam tradit, et puella valde gaudet.

Because in takes the ablative when it means location or time where/when, not motion toward something.

Here in die festo means on a festival day or on the feast day, so Latin uses:

• in
  • ablative
• die = ablative singular of dies
• festo = ablative singular of festus, agreeing with die

If in were followed by the accusative, it would usually suggest motion into something instead.

Because the adjective must agree with the noun it describes in case, number, and gender.

So:

• die = ablative singular
• therefore festo must also be ablative singular

The dictionary form is festus, festa, festum, but in the sentence it changes form to match die.

Here filiae is most naturally dative singular, meaning to the daughter.

That is because tradit often takes:

• a direct object in the accusative: coronam
• an indirect object in the dative: filiae

So the structure is:

• mater = the mother, subject
• coronam = the crown, direct object
• filiae = to the daughter, indirect object

It is true that filiae could also be genitive singular or nominative plural in other contexts, but here the verb and sentence structure make the dative the best reading.

Because coronam is the direct object of tradit.

The accusative is commonly used for the thing that is directly affected by the verb. In this sentence, the mother is handing over the crown, so coronam is accusative singular.

Its dictionary form is corona, but as a direct object it becomes coronam.

Tradit is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood

It comes from trado, tradere, meaning hand over, give, pass on, or deliver.

Because it is 3rd person singular, the subject must be singular too, and that matches mater.

Depending on context, English might translate the Latin present as:

• gives
• is giving
• sometimes even does give

Gaudet is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood

It comes from gaudeo, gaudere, meaning rejoice, be glad, or be happy.

So puella valde gaudet means that the girl is very happy or rejoices greatly.

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

Whether a noun is understood as a mother, the mother, a crown, or the crown depends on context.

So:

• mater can mean mother or the mother
• coronam can mean a crown or the crown
• puella can mean a girl or the girl

This is very normal in Latin, even though it feels strange to English speakers at first.

Because Latin relies much more on endings than on word order.

In English, word order is crucial:

• The mother gives the daughter a crown is not the same as rearranging the words.

In Latin, the endings already show each word’s job:

• mater = subject
• filiae = indirect object
• coronam = direct object

That means the writer has more freedom to arrange words for style, emphasis, or rhythm. The sentence could be rearranged in other ways and still mean basically the same thing, as long as the forms stay clear.

Most likely, yes.

The first clause refers to the daughter as filiae because she is the indirect object. In the second clause, the same person is probably referred to again as puella, now in the nominative, because she becomes the subject of gaudet.

So the sentence moves from:

• to the daughter in clause 1 to
• the girl in clause 2

Latin often repeats a noun instead of using a pronoun, especially when that keeps the sentence clear.

Valde means very or greatly.

Here it modifies gaudet, so it tells us how much the girl is rejoicing:

• puella gaudet = the girl is happy / rejoices
• puella valde gaudet = the girl is very happy / rejoices greatly

Latin adverbs like valde can often move around more freely than English adverbs, but here its function is clear.

Yes. Latin often uses the ablative of time when without a preposition, so die festo by itself could also mean on a festival day.

So both of these are possible:

• in die festo
• die festo

A learner may meet both patterns. The version with in is still understandable and grammatical, especially in teaching materials, but Latin often prefers the simple ablative for time expressions.