Post cenam pueri frusta panis e pavimento colligunt, ne feles ea capiat.

Because post is a preposition that takes the accusative when it means after.

So:

• cena = dinner, meal
• cenam = dinner/meal in the accusative singular

Therefore post cenam means after dinner.

This is very common in Latin:

• post bellum = after the war
• post meridiem = after midday

Pueri is nominative plural.

It is the subject of colligunt, so it means the boys.

You can tell from the verb too:

• colligunt = they gather
• so the subject must be plural

With puer:

• singular: puer = the boy
• plural: pueri = the boys

This is a very common Latin pattern: a noun meaning a piece/part/amount followed by a genitive noun telling you what the piece is of.

So here:

• frusta = pieces, bits
• panis = of bread

Together: frusta panis = pieces of bread

This is similar to English expressions like:

• a piece of bread
• a cup of water
• a group of soldiers

In Latin, the second noun is often put in the genitive for this idea.

Because bread is being treated as a mass noun: pieces of bread, not pieces of breads.

So Latin uses:

• frusta panis = pieces of bread

Here panis is genitive singular.

Even though there are multiple pieces, they are pieces of bread as a substance. English works similarly: we normally say pieces of bread, not pieces of breads.

Pavimento is ablative singular.

It is used after the preposition e:

• e pavimento = from the floor

The preposition e/ex means out of, from, and it takes the ablative.

So:

• pavimentum = floor
• pavimento = from the floor

Both e and ex mean the same thing here: out of / from.

Latin often uses:

• e before consonants sometimes
• ex before vowels or sometimes just by preference

In many contexts, either form can appear. So e pavimento and ex pavimento would both be acceptable in sense.

A learner should mainly remember that:

• e/ex takes the ablative
• it means from, out of

Because ea refers back to frusta, and frusta is neuter plural.

So the pronoun must match it in gender and number:

• frusta = neuter plural
• ea = them/those things, neuter plural

This often feels strange to English speakers because English them does not show grammatical gender. Latin does.

So:

• ea here does not mean she
• it means them or those things, referring to the bread pieces

Because eos is masculine plural, while frusta is neuter plural.

Latin pronouns must agree with the noun they refer to:

• masculine plural noun → eos
• feminine plural noun → eas
• neuter plural noun → ea

Since frusta is neuter plural, Latin uses ea.

Because ne feles ea capiat is a purpose clause, and Latin normally uses the subjunctive in purpose clauses.

So:

• capit = she/he/it catches
• capiat = may catch / would catch, subjunctive

With ne, the clause means:

• so that the cat may not catch them
• more naturally: lest the cat catch them or so the cat doesn’t catch them

This is one of the most important uses of the subjunctive in Latin:

• ut
  • subjunctive = positive purpose
• ne
  • subjunctive = negative purpose

Not exactly.

Here ne introduces a negative purpose clause. So it means something like:

• so that ... not
• lest

So ne feles ea capiat is not simply a flat negation like the cat does not catch them. It expresses the boys’ purpose in gathering the bread pieces:

• they gather them so that the cat will not catch them
• or more idiomatically, lest the cat catch them

That is different from ordinary negation.

Because the verb agrees with the subject, not with the object.

In the clause:

• feles = the cat = subject
• ea = them = object

So the verb is singular because feles is singular:

• feles ... capiat = the cat may catch

The fact that ea is plural does not affect the number of the verb.

Here feles is nominative singular: the cat.

Its dictionary form is:

• feles, felis = cat

This is a third-declension noun. A learner might expect something like felis for the subject, but felis is the genitive singular, while feles is the nominative singular.

So:

• feles = cat
• felis = of the cat

Classical Latin does not have a definite article like English the.

So Latin simply says:

• pueri = boys / the boys
• feles = cat / the cat

You figure out from context whether English should use a, an, the, or no article at all.

That is very normal in Latin, and learners need to get used to supplying the article in English when translating.

Latin word order is much freer than English word order because Latin shows grammatical relationships mostly through endings, not just position.

So in this sentence:

• Post cenam comes first to set the scene: after dinner
• pueri is the subject
• frusta panis is the object
• e pavimento adds where the pieces are taken from
• ne feles ea capiat comes at the end as the purpose

Latin often places the purpose clause at the end, and it often arranges words for emphasis or style rather than sticking to rigid English-like order.

Colligunt is the present active indicative, third person plural:

• they gather
• they collect

Latin often uses the present tense in straightforward statements and narratives. Depending on context, English might translate it as:

• gather
• are gathering
• sometimes even a more natural past in a story, though the literal form is present

The key thing grammatically is:

• colligo = I gather
• colligunt = they gather

It literally means they gather together, they collect, or they pick up.

It comes from:

• con- = together
• lego = gather, pick

In this sentence, a natural English meaning is pick up or gather up, since the boys are taking bread pieces from the floor.

Because the main verb is in a primary tense:

• colligunt = present

In standard sequence of tenses, a purpose clause after a primary tense normally uses the present subjunctive:

• ne ... capiat

If the main verb were in a past tense, Latin would often use the imperfect subjunctive instead.

For example:

• colligebant ... ne feles ea caperet = they were gathering ... so that the cat would not catch them

So capiat fits the present-tense main verb.

Both are correct in sense.

More literal:

• so that the cat may not catch them

More natural English:

• so that the cat doesn’t catch them
• lest the cat catch them

Lest is a very neat match for Latin ne in a purpose clause, but it sounds a bit formal or old-fashioned in modern English. So a textbook may use either version.