Breakdown of Infans matri osculum dat antequam dormiat.
Questions & Answers about Infans matri osculum dat antequam dormiat.
Here is a quick parse:
- infans — nominative singular; the subject of the sentence
- matri — dative singular of mater, matris; the indirect object
- osculum — accusative singular; the direct object
- dat — 3rd person singular present active indicative of dare; gives
- antequam — conjunction meaning before
- dormiat — 3rd person singular present active subjunctive of dormire; goes to sleep / may go to sleep
So the structure is basically:
subject + indirect object + direct object + verb + before-clause
Because matri is the person to whom something is given.
With dare, Latin normally uses:
- the accusative for the thing given
- the dative for the recipient
So:
- osculum = the thing given
- matri = to the mother
That is why Latin uses matri, not matrem.