Post meridiem mater in horto sedet et librum legit.

Post meridiem means after midday / in the afternoon. It is a time expression, so it sets the scene first: In the afternoon, mother sits in the garden and reads a book.

Latin often puts time expressions near the beginning of the sentence, but it does not have to. Because Latin word order is flexible, post meridiem could appear elsewhere too.

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

• dictionary form: meridies = midday
• accusative singular: meridiem

So:

• post meridies = incorrect here
• post meridiem = correct

Mater is in the nominative case, which is the case normally used for the subject of a sentence.

Here, mater is the one doing the actions:

• she sedet = sits
• she legit = reads

That is why mater is the subject.

Because mater is the normal nominative singular form of the noun meaning mother. It belongs to a group of nouns that do not follow the very common -a pattern of first-declension nouns.

Its forms include things like:

• nominative: mater
• accusative: matrem
• genitive: matris

So even though many Latin feminine nouns end in -a, mater does not.

Because in with the ablative often means in or on in the sense of location.

So:

• in horto = in the garden

If in is used with the accusative, it often means into and shows motion toward something:

• in hortum = into the garden

Here the mother is sitting in the garden, not moving into it, so horto is ablative.

Because the sentence describes where the mother is, not where she is going.

• in horto = in the garden where she is sitting
• in hortum = into the garden if she were moving into it

That difference is very important in Latin.

Because librum is the direct object of legit.

The verb legere means to read, and the thing being read goes in the accusative case:

• liber = book (subject form)
• librum = book as direct object

So librum legit means she reads a book.

Because Latin has no articles like English the and a/an.

So:

• mater can mean mother or the mother
• in horto can mean in the garden
• librum can mean a book or the book

You figure out the best English translation from the context.

Because the subject, mater, is singular: mother.

In Latin, verbs must agree with their subject in person and number. Both verbs here are third person singular:

• sedet = she sits
• legit = she reads

Since one person is doing both actions, both verbs are singular.

Sedet is third person singular present active indicative of sedere, meaning to sit.

So sedet means:

• he sits
• she sits
• it sits

In this sentence, because the subject is mater, we translate it as she sits.

Here legit is third person singular present active indicative of legere, meaning to read.

So in this sentence it means she reads.

A useful thing to know: without macrons, legit can look ambiguous, because it could also represent the perfect form lēgit, meaning she read. In a beginner sentence like this, the context and the matching present tense sedet make it clear that the intended meaning is present: reads.

Yes. Et is the ordinary Latin word for and.

It links the two actions:

• sedet = sits
• legit = reads

So sedet et legit means sits and reads.

Because the verb ending already tells you the subject is third person singular.

For example:

• sedet = he/she/it sits
• legit = he/she/it reads

Since the noun mater is present, you know specifically that the subject is mother, so English uses she in translation, but Latin does not need to say ea or another pronoun here.

No. Latin word order is much more flexible because the endings show the grammatical roles of the words.

So this sentence could be rearranged in different ways without changing the basic meaning very much, for example:

• Mater post meridiem in horto sedet et librum legit.
• In horto mater post meridiem sedet et librum legit.

The endings still show that:

• mater is the subject
• librum is the object
• horto goes with in as location

However, word order can affect emphasis and style.

A simple classroom-style pronunciation would be something like:

post meh-RID-ee-em MAH-ter in HOR-toh SEH-det et LEE-broom LEH-git

A few helpful notes:

• c is always hard in Classical Latin, but there is no c here.
• v would sound like w in Classical Latin, but there is no v here either.
• g in legit is always hard, as in get.
• h in horto is lightly pronounced in careful Classical pronunciation.

Usually sedet means is sitting or sits, not specifically sits down.

If Latin wants to emphasize the action of sitting down, it more often uses a verb like considit or a context that clearly shows movement into a seated position.

So here the natural meaning is that the mother is seated / sits in the garden.

Because both verbs are in the present tense as intended here:

• sedet = sits / is sitting
• legit = reads / is reading

Latin present tense often covers both the simple present and the progressive present in English. So depending on context, you might translate:

• mater in horto sedet as mother sits in the garden
• or mother is sitting in the garden

Likewise:

• librum legit can be reads a book
• or is reading a book

Both are possible ways to express the Latin present in English.