Sed pater respondet vitam privatam quoque curas habere et officium commune familiae numquam deesse.

Because Latin often uses indirect statement after verbs of speaking, thinking, hearing, or answering.

So instead of an English pattern like he answers that..., Latin commonly uses:

• an accusative subject
• plus an infinitive

Here both habere and deesse belong to that indirect statement and depend on respondet.

So the structure is basically:

• pater respondet = the father answers
• vitam privatam quoque curas habere = that private life also has cares
• et officium commune familiae numquam deesse = and that common duty to the family is never lacking

Because in an indirect statement, the subject of the infinitive goes into the accusative.

So in vitam privatam ... habere, the phrase vitam privatam is the subject of habere, even though it is accusative.

That feels strange to an English speaker, because English does not normally do this. But in Latin it is very standard after verbs like dicit, putat, audit, respondet, and many others.

This is a very common learner question.

In vitam privatam quoque curas habere:

• vitam privatam = subject of habere in indirect statement
• curas = direct object of habere

Both are accusative, so you often have to rely on:

• meaning
• context
• normal sense

Here, private life has cares makes sense.
The reverse, cares have private life, does not.

Latin sometimes expects you to sort this out from logic when the forms do not clearly distinguish the roles.

Quoque means also or too.

It usually comes after the word or phrase it emphasizes. Here it is attached to vitam privatam, so the sense is:

• private life too
• private life also

That is why it appears after privatam instead of before the phrase, as English would usually do.

Yes. Cura can mean:

• care
• worry
• concern
• responsibility

So curas habere is a natural Latin expression meaning something like:

• to have worries
• to have concerns
• to involve responsibilities

The plural curas is also normal. Latin often uses the plural where English might say worries or cares.

Yes. Et joins two infinitive clauses that both depend on respondet.

The two parts are:

• vitam privatam quoque curas habere
• officium commune familiae numquam deesse

So the father answers both of these things:

1. that private life also has cares
2. that common duty to the family is never lacking

Because it is neuter singular.

For neuter nouns and adjectives in Latin, the nominative and accusative singular are often identical in form.

So:

• officium can be nominative or accusative
• commune can also be nominative or accusative

In this sentence, because the phrase is part of indirect statement after respondet, it functions as the accusative subject of deesse. It just happens to look exactly like a nominative.

Because deesse normally takes the dative of the person or thing to whom something is lacking.

So:

• alicui deesse = to be lacking to someone
• familiae deesse = to be lacking to the family

That is why Latin uses familiae, not familiam.

This is one of the most important things to remember about deesse: it does not take a normal direct object.

Deesse is the infinitive of desum, a compound of sum.

Its basic meanings are:

• to be absent
• to be lacking
• to fail

In this sentence, the idea is that officium commune is not lacking to the family.

Because it is an infinitive, it matches the indirect-statement pattern after respondet, just like habere does in the first clause.

Latin word order is flexible, and adverbs often stand near the word they emphasize.

Here numquam naturally goes with deesse, so the sense is:

• never to be lacking

English would often place never earlier in the clause, but Latin does not need to copy English order.

It is normal for Latin, even if it feels unusual in English.

A few things to notice:

• pater respondet gives the main clause first
• the two infinitive clauses come afterward
• quoque follows the phrase it emphasizes
• numquam stands near deesse
• case endings, not word order alone, show the grammar

So an English speaker should try not to read the sentence as if Latin had to follow English order. In Latin, endings and verb patterns do much more of the work.