Mater cito domum redibit.

the mother

Breakdown of Mater cito domum redibit.

• domus: the home
• redire: to return
• cito: soon

Questions & Answers about Mater cito domum redibit.

Why is mater in that form?

Because mater is the subject of the sentence: mother is the one doing the action.

It is in the nominative singular, which is the case Latin normally uses for the subject. Mater is a third-declension noun, and its nominative singular happens to look like this.

So in Mater cito domum redibit, mater means mother or the mother as the subject.

Why doesn’t Latin use a word for the or a here?

Latin has no articles. There is no ordinary word that directly corresponds to English the or a/an.

So mater can mean:

• mother
• a mother
• the mother

Which one is best depends on the context. The same is true for domum, which can be understood as home or the home, depending on the situation.

What exactly is cito doing in the sentence?