Vir autem, qui primo asper videbatur, postea voce blanda puero locutus est.

Autem is a very common Latin conjunction meaning something like however, but, now, or on the other hand, depending on context.

It often comes second in its clause, not first. That is normal Latin word order for autem. So:

• Vir autem = the man, however / but the man

It does not always signal a dramatic contrast; sometimes it just lightly shifts attention to a new person or point.

Qui is a relative pronoun, meaning who.

It refers back to vir:

• vir = the man
• qui = who

So qui primo asper videbatur means who at first seemed harsh.

A key point: qui is masculine singular nominative because it refers to vir and is the subject of videbatur inside the relative clause.

Because the adjective is asper, aspera, asperum = rough, harsh, stern.

Its masculine nominative singular form is simply asper. That is the correct dictionary form for the masculine.

So:

• vir asper = a harsh man
• qui ... asper videbatur = who seemed harsh

Not all Latin masculine adjectives end in -us in the nominative singular.

Here primo means at first.

Although it looks like a normal ablative/dative form of primus, in this sentence it is being used adverbially. Latin often uses forms like this as adverbs.

So:

• primo = at first
• postea = afterwards / later

Together they create a clear contrast in time:

• at first he seemed harsh
• later he spoke gently

Videbatur is the imperfect passive of video.

Normally video means I see, and the passive literally means I am seen. But very often, especially with adjectives or infinitives, the passive of video has the idiomatic meaning seem.

So:

• asper videbatur = he seemed harsh
• literally, something like he was being seen as harsh

This is a very common Latin usage.

The tenses help show the flow of the situation.

• videbatur is imperfect: it describes an ongoing appearance or state in the past — he seemed / he appeared
• locutus est is perfect: it describes a completed action — he spoke

So the sentence presents:

1. an earlier background impression: he seemed harsh
2. a later completed action: he spoke

This is very natural Latin tense usage.

Voce blanda is ablative because it expresses the means or manner by which he spoke:

• vox, vocis = voice
• voce blanda = with a gentle voice

This is often called an ablative of manner or something close to it.

So:

• postea voce blanda ... locutus est = afterwards he spoke with a gentle voice

Latin can express manner in two common ways:

• cum
  • ablative
• ablative alone

When there is an adjective, Latin often omits cum, especially in a neat phrase like this:

• voce blanda = with a gentle voice

You could compare this to other Latin phrases where an ablative with an adjective is enough to show manner.

Because loquor takes the dative of the person spoken to.

So:

• puero locutus est = he spoke to the boy

This is a common feature of certain Latin verbs: where English uses to + person, Latin often uses the dative directly.

Because loquor, loqui, locutus sum is a deponent verb.

Deponent verbs:

• have passive-looking forms
• but active meanings

So:

• loquitur = he speaks
• locutus est = he spoke

The perfect tense of a deponent verb is formed with:

• a perfect participle
  • a form of sum

That is why you see locutus est rather than an active form like you might expect from a non-deponent verb.

Because locutus is a perfect participle and it agrees with the subject, vir.

Since vir is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

the participle is also:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

So:

• vir ... locutus est = the man ... spoke

If the subject were feminine, you would get locuta est; if plural masculine, locuti sunt.

It breaks down like this:

• Vir autem = the man, however
• qui primo asper videbatur = who at first seemed harsh
• postea voce blanda puero locutus est = later spoke to the boy with a gentle voice

So the core sentence is:

• Vir ... locutus est = The man ... spoke

And the relative clause qui primo asper videbatur adds extra information about the man.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order. The verb often comes near the end, especially in narrative prose.

So locutus est at the end is perfectly normal.

Latin uses word order more for emphasis and style than for basic grammar, since endings already show the grammatical relationships.

Yes. Latin word order is flexible, so the phrase could be placed differently without changing the basic meaning.

For example, the author could have written something like:

• Vir autem ... puero voce blanda locutus est

But the given order is elegant because it keeps postea voce blanda together and leads smoothly into puero locutus est.

Here it is most naturally figurative: harsh, stern, or rough in manner, not physically rough.

That fits well with the contrast:

• at first he seemed asper
• later he spoke voce blanda

So the sentence contrasts a harsh first impression with gentle speech.