Augustus quoque calidus est, sed avus mense Augusto in umbra sedere mavult.

Quoque means also or too.

In Latin, quoque usually comes after the word it emphasizes. So:

• Augustus quoque = August too
• not quoque Augustus in normal prose

That is different from English, where also often comes before the word or later in the clause.

Because the word is in different cases.

• Augustus is nominative singular, because it is the subject of est
• Augusto is ablative singular, because it goes with mense, which is also ablative

So:

• Augustus ... est = August is ...
• mense Augusto = in the month of August

Latin changes endings to show the job a word is doing in the sentence.

In Latin, month names are treated as masculine, because the understood word is mensis (month), which is masculine.

So Augustus is masculine, and the adjective agreeing with it must also be masculine:

• Augustus calidus est

If the noun were feminine, the adjective would need a feminine form instead.

Mense Augusto literally means in the August month or more naturally in the month of August.

Here:

• mense = in the month
• Augusto = August, agreeing with mense

Latin often expresses time with the ablative, and adding mense makes the time expression very explicit. A learner should notice that Latin does not need a preposition like English in here.

Mavult means prefers.

It is the 3rd person singular present tense of malo, malle, malui, meaning to prefer. It is an irregular verb.

So:

• avus ... mavult = grandfather prefers

Historically, mavult comes from magis vult — literally something like wants more — but you should learn mavult simply as the normal form meaning prefers.

Because after a verb like mavult (prefers), Latin commonly uses an infinitive to say what someone prefers to do.

So:

• mavult sedere = prefers to sit

Here sedere is the present active infinitive of sedeo.

This is very similar to English prefers to sit, except Latin uses the infinitive directly without needing a separate word like to in quite the same way.

Because in takes different cases depending on meaning:

• in + ablative = in/on a place, with no movement
• in + accusative = into/onto a place, with movement toward it

Here the idea is location, not motion:

• in umbra sedere = to sit in the shade

If it meant to go into the shade, you would expect in umbram instead.

There isn’t one, because Latin has no articles like English the or a/an.

So umbra can mean:

• shade
• the shade
• a shadow/shade

The context tells you which English article to use in translation. Here in umbra is naturally in the shade.

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

English depends heavily on position:

• The grandfather prefers...

Latin can move words around more easily because endings already show what each word is doing.

In this sentence:

• Augustus quoque calidus est puts quoque after the word it emphasizes
• in umbra sedere stays together as a natural phrase
• mavult comes at the end, which is a very common and natural place for the main verb in Latin

So the order is not random; it reflects Latin style and emphasis rather than English habits.