Mater stragulum novum in cubili sternit, quia hospes cras ventura est.

It has two parts:

• the main clause: Mater stragulum novum in cubili sternit
• a subordinate clause of cause introduced by quia: quia hospes cras ventura est

So the structure is basically:

• Mater = subject
• sternit = main verb
• stragulum novum = direct object
• in cubili = prepositional phrase showing location
• quia... = reason for the action

Latin often puts words in a different order from English, but the cases and verb forms show how the sentence fits together.

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

A useful point here is that mater is a third-declension noun, not a first-declension one. Its dictionary form is mater, matris.

So even though it means mother and is feminine, it does not end in -a like many feminine nouns.

Because it is the direct object of sternit.

The verb sternit takes something that is being spread or laid out, and that thing is stragulum novum.

• stragulum is accusative singular neuter
• novum is also accusative singular neuter

The adjective novum matches stragulum in:

• gender: neuter
• number: singular
• case: accusative

A beginner may wonder why stragulum looks the same as a nominative form. That happens because many neuter nouns have the same form in the nominative and accusative singular.

Because Latin word order is much freer than English word order.

Both of these are possible:

• stragulum novum
• novum stragulum

The adjective often comes after the noun in a neutral way, but it can also come before it for emphasis or style. The important thing is not the position, but the agreement of the adjective with the noun.

Cubili is ablative singular.

Here in means location, so Latin uses in + ablative. In other words, it means something like in/on the bed or in the sleeping place, depending on how the sentence is being interpreted.

A very important contrast is:

• in + ablative = location, in/on
• in + accusative = motion into, into/onto

So here it is in cubili, not in cubile, because the blanket is being spread there, not moving into it in the grammatical sense.

Sternit is:

• present
• active
• indicative
• third person singular

It comes from sterno, sternere, meaning to spread, to lay out, or to strew.

Because the subject is mater = mother/she, the verb is singular: sternit = she spreads or she is spreading.

Depending on context, Latin present tense can often be translated in English as either:

• she spreads
• she is spreading

Quia means because.

It introduces a clause giving the reason for the action in the main clause. So the mother is spreading the blanket because the guest is coming tomorrow.

With quia, Latin often uses the indicative when the reason is presented as a straightforward fact. That is what you have here.

By itself, hospes does not tell you clearly.

Hospes is a third-declension noun of common gender. It can refer to:

• a male guest
• a female guest
• sometimes a host, depending on context

In this sentence, the word that tells you the gender is ventura. Since ventura is feminine singular, the guest is understood as female.

If the guest were male, Latin would say venturus est.

Ventura est is made of:

• ventura = future active participle of venio
• est = is

Together, this is often called the active periphrastic.

It means something like:

• is going to come
• is about to come
• will come

Latin could also have used veniet. That would also mean she will come.

The difference is mostly one of expression:

• veniet = simple future
• ventura est = a periphrastic way of expressing future action, often a bit more descriptive

So a learner should recognize that both can point to future time, but ventura est is built differently.

Because it agrees with hospes.

Even though hospes itself does not visibly show feminine gender here, the participle must agree with it in:

• gender
• number
• case

So:

• ventura = nominative singular feminine
• hospes = nominative singular subject, understood here as feminine

If the guest were male, it would be:

• hospes cras venturus est

Cras is an adverb meaning tomorrow.

It modifies ventura est, telling you when the guest is going to come.

Its placement is fairly flexible. Latin could also say things like:

• hospes ventura est cras
• cras hospes ventura est

The word order can shift for rhythm, emphasis, or style. The meaning stays basically the same.

Because Latin has no articles.

So Latin does not have separate words for:

• the
• a/an

That means a noun like mater can mean:

• mother
• the mother
• sometimes even a mother

And hospes can mean:

• guest
• the guest
• a guest

English must choose an article, but Latin usually leaves that to the context.