Mater filiam benigne consolatur.

the mother

Breakdown of Mater filiam benigne consolatur.

• filia: the daughter
• consolari: to comfort
• benigne: kindly

Questions & Answers about Mater filiam benigne consolatur.

Why does mater mean mother even though it does not end in -a like many feminine nouns?

Because mater belongs to the third declension, not the first declension.

Many feminine Latin nouns do end in -a in the nominative singular, such as puella. But mater is a very common third-declension noun, with forms like:

• mater = mother
• matris = of the mother
• matrem = mother as a direct object

So its gender is feminine, but its declension pattern is different.

Why is filiam spelled with -am at the end?

The ending -am shows that filiam is accusative singular.

That tells you it is the direct object of the verb: the person receiving the action. In this sentence, the mother is comforting the daughter, so filiam is in the accusative.

This comes from the noun filia:

• filia = daughter
• filiam = daughter as a direct object

How do I know who is doing the action and who is receiving it?

Latin usually shows that through case endings, not mainly through word order.

Here:

• mater is → the