Mercator pretium nimium poscit, sed mater tantum dare recusat.

The subjects are shown by the nominative case:

• mercator = the merchant
• mater = the mother

Each finite verb is third person singular:

• poscit = he/she asks, demands
• recusat = he/she refuses

So:

• Mercator ... poscit = The merchant asks/demands ...
• mater ... recusat = the mother refuses ...

Because Latin marks subjects with case endings, it does not need a fixed English-style word order to show who is doing what.

Because it is the direct object of poscit.

The verb poscere can take a thing demanded directly in the accusative, so pretium is the thing the merchant is asking for. In other words, he is demanding a price or payment.

Also, pretium is a neuter second-declension noun, and its nominative singular and accusative singular look the same: pretium.

Pretium literally means price, value, or payment.

In this sentence, it refers to the amount of money being asked. So the idea is not just a general abstract price, but the amount to be paid.

That is why the sentence can naturally be understood as something like The merchant is asking too much or The merchant is asking too high a price.

Nimium gives the idea of too much or too great.

In this sentence, it goes with pretium, so the phrase pretium nimium means something like:

• too high a price
• too much as a price

Formally, nimium is a neuter singular accusative form, which fits with pretium.

A learner may expect nimis, which is a very common adverb meaning too much. But Latin can also use nimium in this kind of expression. Here the sense is clear: the merchant is demanding an excessive amount.

It is usually a bit stronger than a mild English asks.

Poscere often means:

• demand
• ask for
• claim as due

So Mercator pretium nimium poscit suggests that the merchant is not merely making a polite suggestion; he is asking for or even demanding an amount he considers the proper price.

Depending on context, English may translate it as either asks or demands.

Because dare is a complementary infinitive with recusat.

Latin often uses an infinitive after verbs like:

• can
• want
• begin
• dare
• refuse

So:

• recusat dare = refuses to give

Here dare is the present active infinitive of do, dare = to give.

The understood subject of dare is the same as the subject of recusat, namely mater. So the sense is:

• mater ... dare recusat = the mother refuses to give ...

Here tantum means that much or so much.

It refers to the amount of money just mentioned in the first clause. So the second clause means that the mother refuses to give that much money.

Grammatically, tantum is a neuter singular accusative form used by itself, with an understood noun such as:

• pretium = price
• pecuniam = money

So Latin says simply tantum dare = to give that much.

Because Latin often leaves out words that are easy to understand from context.

After pretium nimium poscit, the reader already knows the discussion is about the amount demanded. So in the second clause, tantum alone is enough to mean:

• that much
• that large an amount
• so high a price

This kind of omission is very common in Latin and often sounds more natural than repeating the noun.

In some contexts, tantum can mean only, but that is probably not the best sense here.

In this sentence, the natural meaning is that much or so much, because it answers the first clause directly:

• the merchant asks too much
• but the mother refuses to give that much

If you took it as only, the sentence would be much less natural in context.

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

This sentence is arranged for emphasis and contrast:

• Mercator comes first to set up the first subject.
• sed marks the contrast: but
• mater then introduces the contrasting subject.
• recusat comes at the end of the second clause, which is a very common Latin position for a verb.

So the sentence is not random. Its order helps highlight the contrast between:

• what the merchant wants
• what the mother refuses to do

Because not all feminine Latin nouns belong to the first declension.

Mater is a third-declension noun. Its nominative singular is mater, and its genitive singular is matris.

So even though English speakers often first learn feminine nouns like puella, Latin also has many feminine nouns such as:

• mater = mother
• soror = sister
• nox = night

Their gender is feminine, but their endings are different because they belong to different declensions.