Mater hodie votum in templo facit.

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

Here, mater means mother and is the person doing the action of facit (makes / does).

So the basic structure is:

• mater = the subject
• facit = the verb
• votum = the thing being made

Votum is accusative singular.

It is accusative because it is the direct object of facit. In other words, it is the thing the mother is making or performing.

A very common pattern in Latin is:

• subject in the nominative
• direct object in the accusative
• verb

So in this sentence:

• mater = nominative subject
• votum = accusative object
• facit = verb

Literally, it means she makes a vow.

In Latin, facere is often used in expressions where English might use a different verb. So votum facere is an idiomatic way to say make a vow or offer a vow.

That means you should learn votum facere as a useful phrase, not just translate each word mechanically every time.

Because in can take two different cases depending on the meaning:

• in + ablative = in / inside / at a place, with no motion
• in + accusative = into a place, showing motion toward it

Here the mother is already in the temple, so Latin uses the ablative:

• in templo = in the temple

If the sentence meant into the temple, it would use in templum.

Templo is ablative singular.

It is ablative because it follows in in the sense of location: in the temple.

The noun is templum, templi (a neuter second-declension noun), and its ablative singular form is templo.

Hodie is an adverb.

It means today, and it tells you when the action happens.

Adverbs do not change their endings for case, number, or gender. So hodie stays the same no matter what else is happening in the sentence.

Yes, the word order could be different.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because the endings show what each word is doing. So all of these could be possible, depending on emphasis:

• Mater hodie votum in templo facit.
• Hodie mater votum in templo facit.
• Mater votum hodie in templo facit.
• In templo mater hodie votum facit.

The original order is perfectly natural, but Latin often moves words around for emphasis, style, or rhythm.

It can mean either one, depending on context.

Facit is present tense, third person singular, from facere. In English, a Latin present tense can often be translated as:

• she makes
• she is making
• sometimes even she does make, if emphasis is needed

So here facit could be understood as either makes or is making, depending on how the sentence is being translated.

By itself, facit only means he/she/it makes. The verb ending -t tells you it is third person singular, but not the gender.

We know it is she here because the subject is mater, which refers to mother.

So:

• facit = he/she/it makes
• mater facit = mother makes, so naturally she makes

Classical Latin does not have articles like English the or a/an.

So a noun like mater can mean:

• mother
• the mother
• sometimes even a mother

Likewise, templum can mean:

• temple
• the temple
• a temple

The exact sense depends on context. When translating into English, you usually add the or a where it sounds natural.

Latin often leaves out possessive words like my, your, or his when the meaning is obvious from context.

So mater can often mean:

• mother
• the mother
• my mother

If Latin wanted to be explicit, it could say mea mater, but that is not always necessary.

This is very common in Latin, especially with family relationships and body parts.

You would normally look them up like this:

• mater, matris = mother
• hodie = today
• votum, voti = vow
• templum, templi = temple
• facio, facere, feci, factum = make, do

This is useful because the sentence uses inflected forms:

• mater is already the dictionary nominative singular
• templo is not the dictionary form; the dictionary form is templum
• facit is a conjugated form; the dictionary form is facio

Yes, depending on the context and the style of translation.

The basic verb is still facere (to make / do), but with votum the phrase can be translated more naturally as:

• makes a vow
• utters a vow
• offers a vow

A more literal translation helps you see the Latin structure, while a smoother translation helps you understand the idiom. Both approaches can be useful for learners.