Puella pulvinum in cubili ponit, ut hospes bene dormiat.

It has two parts:

• a main clause: Puella pulvinum in cubili ponit
• a purpose clause: ut hospes bene dormiat

So the first part tells you what the girl does, and the ut clause tells you why she does it.

Puella is the subject of ponit, so it is in the nominative singular.

Latin usually marks the subject with the nominative case. Here, puella is the one performing the action of putting the pillow down.

Pulvinum is the direct object of ponit. It is the thing being placed, so Latin puts it in the accusative singular.

This is very common in Latin:

• nominative = subject
• accusative = direct object

So puella does the action, and pulvinum receives it.

Here in takes the ablative because cubili expresses the place where the pillow is situated: in/on the bed.

A very useful rule is:

• in + ablative = location, position
• in + accusative = motion into

Beginners sometimes expect the accusative after a verb like ponit, since something is being moved. But Latin can use in + ablative when the focus is on the place where the object is set.

Cubili is ablative singular of cubile, a third-declension neuter noun.

So the dictionary form is cubile, and in this sentence the preposition in requires the ablative, giving in cubili.

Ponit is:

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

It comes from pono, ponere, meaning to place, put, set.

Because it is third person singular, it matches puella: the girl places.

Here ut introduces a purpose clause. It means so that or in order that.

So the sentence is not just saying what happens; it is explaining the girl's purpose. She places the pillow so that the guest may sleep well.

Because after ut in a purpose clause, Latin normally uses the subjunctive.

So dormiat is not just a plain statement like he sleeps. It expresses the intended result or purpose: so that the guest may sleep well.

This is one of the most important early subjunctive patterns to learn:

• ut + subjunctive = purpose

Dormiat is present subjunctive, from dormio, dormire.

It is present because the main verb ponit is also present, and the purpose is understood as happening at the same time or afterward. In other words, she is placing the pillow now with the aim that the guest sleep well.

Because hospes is the subject of dormiat.

Even inside a subordinate clause, the subject still goes in the nominative. So:

• puella = subject of ponit
• hospes = subject of dormiat

The fact that it comes after ut does not change its case.

Hospes is a third-declension noun. Its nominative singular is hospes, and its accusative singular would be hospitem.

That matters because a learner might wonder why it does not look like a first- or second-declension nominative. Its form is perfectly normal for the third declension.

Bene is an adverb, meaning well. It modifies dormiat.

So it tells you how the guest is supposed to sleep. It does not describe the guest; it describes the action of sleeping.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because the endings show each word's function.

English depends heavily on position:

• The girl puts the pillow...

Latin can move words around more freely because:

• puella shows the subject
• pulvinum shows the object
• cubili shows the object of the preposition
• dormiat shows the verb in the purpose clause

So the sentence does not need English-style fixed order to be understood.

Classical Latin has no articles. It does not have separate words for the or a/an.

So puella can mean the girl or a girl, depending on context. The same is true for pulvinum, cubili, and hospes.