Puer tonitrum multum timet.

• Puer = the subject, the boy / a boy
• tonitrum = the direct object, thunder
• multum = an adverbial word meaning very much / greatly
• timet = the verb, fears / is afraid of

So the structure is basically:

boy + thunder + greatly + fears

which English expresses more naturally as The boy is very afraid of thunder or The boy fears thunder very much.

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

In other words, puer is the one doing the fearing.

Because timet is a verb that takes a direct object, and the direct object in Latin usually goes in the accusative case.

So:

• puer = the one who fears
• tonitrum = the thing feared

English can say fears thunder or is afraid of thunder, but Latin simply uses the accusative object after timet.

Because Latin does not need a preposition here.

English often says afraid of + something, but Latin uses the verb timeo with a direct object:

• tonitrum timet = he fears thunder / he is afraid of thunder

So the idea of English of is built into the Latin construction.

Here multum modifies the verb timet, not the noun tonitrum.

So multum timet means:

• fears very much
• is greatly afraid

It tells you how much the boy fears, not what kind of thunder it is.

Because here it is not being used as an adjective meaning many/much agreeing with a noun. It is being used in an adverbial sense, meaning very much or greatly.

So:

• multus would be an adjective form
• multum here works like very much

This is a very common Latin pattern with verbs.

Because the sense of the sentence points that way, and because multum commonly modifies verbs like this.

So the meaning is:

• The boy fears thunder very much

not:

• The boy fears much thunder

A learner should get used to the fact that Latin often places words more freely than English, so you must look at grammar and sense, not just the nearest word.

Timet is third person singular present active indicative of timeo, timere, meaning to fear.

So timet means:

• he fears
• she fears
• it fears

Here, because the subject is puer, it means he/the boy fears.

Because the ending of the Latin verb already tells you the person and number.

The -t in timet shows that the verb is third person singular.

So Latin does not need to say he fears with a separate pronoun unless it wants extra emphasis. The noun puer already tells us who the subject is.

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

So puer can mean:

• the boy
• a boy

and context tells you which is better in translation.

The same is true for tonitrum:

• thunder
• sometimes, depending on context, the thunder

Latin often likes to put the verb near or at the end of the sentence, although it does not have to.

So Puer tonitrum multum timet is a very natural Latin order.

But Latin word order is flexible. You could rearrange the words and still keep the basic meaning, though the emphasis might change.

Yes, often they could.

For example, Latin could also say things like:

• Puer multum tonitrum timet
• Tonitrum puer multum timet

The cases and verb ending still show who is doing what. Word order in Latin often affects emphasis more than basic meaning.

Yes. That is often the most natural English.

Latin uses a simple verb, timet, but English may translate it in different ways:

• The boy fears thunder
• The boy is afraid of thunder
• The boy is very afraid of thunder

All of these can represent the Latin well, depending on style.

In a simple classroom-style Classical pronunciation, you could say it roughly as:

PU-er to-NI-trum MUL-tum TI-met

A few helpful points:

• puer has two vowel sounds: pu-er
• ti in timet is a plain ti, not English sh
• every letter is pronounced clearly

The stress is usually:

• PU-er
• to-NI-trum
• MUL-tum
• TI-met