Mater fabas et lenticulas lente coquit, ut cena simplex sed bona sit.

Mater is the subject of coquit because it is the person doing the action. It is in the nominative singular, the normal case for the subject of a sentence.

This is a good example of how Latin often does not need a separate word like English she. The noun itself can serve as the subject, and the verb ending also helps confirm it.

Fabas and lenticulas are both in the accusative plural because they are the direct objects of coquit. They are the things being cooked.

• fabas = beans
• lenticulas = lentils

In Latin, direct objects usually take the accusative case. English mostly shows this by word order, but Latin shows it with endings.

Lente is an adverb, meaning slowly. It describes how the mother cooks.

• lentus, lenta, lentum = slow, sluggish
• lente = slowly

If you used lenta, that would usually be an adjective in the feminine singular, and it would need to describe a feminine noun. But here the word is modifying the verb coquit, not a noun, so Latin uses the adverb lente.

Coquit is the 3rd person singular present active indicative of coquere, meaning to cook.

The -t ending tells you the subject is he/she/it. Since the subject is mater, the meaning is the mother cooks.

So:

• coquo = I cook
• coquis = you cook
• coquit = he/she/it cooks

Here ut introduces a purpose clause. It means so that or in order that.

So the structure is:

• main clause: Mater fabas et lenticulas lente coquit
• purpose clause: ut cena simplex sed bona sit

The idea is that the mother cooks the beans and lentils slowly so that the meal may be simple but good.

Sit is subjunctive, while est is indicative.

After ut in a purpose clause, Latin normally uses the subjunctive. That is why you get sit, not est.

• est = is
• sit = may be / might be / be

In English, we often do not mark this very clearly, but Latin does. The subjunctive here does not mean doubt; it is simply the normal grammar for a purpose clause.

Cena is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of sit in the purpose clause.

In other words, in ut cena simplex sed bona sit, the dinner is the thing that is simple but good.

So even though cena comes later in the sentence, it is still the grammatical subject of its own clause.

Both simplex and bona are adjectives modifying cena.

They are both:

• nominative
• singular
• feminine

because they agree with cena.

They look different because adjectives do not all decline the same way.

• bona comes from bonus, bona, bonum
• simplex comes from simplex, simplicis

So even though both adjectives agree with cena, their dictionary forms and endings belong to different adjective patterns.

Because simplex belongs to a different adjective class from bonus.

Its nominative singular form is simplex for masculine, feminine, and neuter in many uses. So the feminine nominative singular is still simplex.

That can feel strange to an English speaker, because English adjectives do not change at all, while Latin adjectives often do—but not always in the same way.

Sed means but. It connects the two adjectives:

• simplex = simple
• bona = good

So simplex sed bona means simple but good.

This shows contrast: the meal may be plain or modest, but it is still good.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin uses endings to show grammatical roles.

So this sentence could be rearranged in various ways without changing the basic meaning, for example to emphasize different words. However, the given order is natural and clear:

• Mater first, introducing the subject
• fabas et lenticulas next, the objects
• lente coquit finishing the main clause
• then ut introduces the purpose clause

So the word order matters more for style and emphasis than for basic grammar.

The comma separates the main clause from the purpose clause.

• main clause: Mater fabas et lenticulas lente coquit
• purpose clause: ut cena simplex sed bona sit

In modern printed Latin, punctuation is used to help the reader, much as it is in English. Ancient Latin manuscripts did not use punctuation in the same consistent way.

Yes. That is a very helpful literal way to understand the grammar.

A more natural English translation might smooth it out a bit, but grammatically:

• ut = so that
• cena = the dinner / meal
• simplex sed bona = simple but good
• sit = may be / be

So so that the meal may be simple but good is an excellent way to see how the Latin is built.