Mater arbitratur vitam publicam difficiliorem esse quam vitam privatam.

to be

Breakdown of Mater arbitratur vitam publicam difficiliorem esse quam vitam privatam.

• mater: the mother
• quam: than
• vita: the life

Questions & Answers about Mater arbitratur vitam publicam difficiliorem esse quam vitam privatam.

What is the basic structure of this sentence?

The sentence has two parts:

• Mater arbitratur = Mother thinks / judges / considers
• vitam publicam difficiliorem esse quam vitam privatam = the thing she thinks

So the whole sentence is:

• main clause: Mater arbitratur
• indirect statement: vitam publicam difficiliorem esse quam vitam privatam

This is a very common Latin pattern.

Why is mater the subject?

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

So mater is the person doing the thinking:

• mater = mother
• arbitratur = thinks / considers

Also, Latin has no word for the or a, so mater can mean either mother or the mother, depending on context.

Why is arbitratur translated actively, even though it looks passive?

Because arbitratur comes from arbitror, which is a deponent verb.

A deponent verb:

• has passive-looking forms
• but an active meaning

So: