Mater annulum in cista deponit, ne infans eum capiat.

in

Breakdown of Mater annulum in cista deponit, ne infans eum capiat.

• mater: the mother
• infans: the baby
• ne: so that not

Questions & Answers about Mater annulum in cista deponit, ne infans eum capiat.

Why is mater in that form?

Mater is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative singular.

A native English speaker may not notice this right away because English usually depends more on word order than on endings. In Latin, the ending helps show the job a word is doing.

• mater = mother
• nominative singular = the person doing the action

So mater ... deponit means the mother puts/places.

Why is it annulum and not annulus?

Because annulum is the direct object of deponit.

The mother is putting the ring, so ring receives the action. In Latin, a direct object usually goes in the accusative case.

• annulus = nominative singular, ring as subject
• annulum = accusative singular, ring as object

So:

• annulus deponit would mean the ring puts down..., which makes no sense here
• mater annulum deponit means the mother puts down the ring

What case is cista, and why is it used after in?

Here cista is ablative singular, so means .