Mater filium ad scholam comitatur.

Because mater is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.

• mater = mother as the doer of the action
• matrem would be mother as a direct object

In this sentence, the mother is the one accompanying someone, so Latin uses mater.

Filium is the direct object of comitatur, so it appears in the accusative case.

Here, the son is the person being accompanied:

• mater = the mother
• filium = the son

Even though in English we say accompanies her son, Latin marks her son with the accusative ending -um.

Latin often uses ad + accusative to mean to or toward a place.

So:

• ad = to, toward
• scholam = school (accusative singular)

Together, ad scholam means to school.

In many contexts of movement, Latin prefers a preposition like ad unless the noun is a city, town, small island, or a few special words such as domum.

Because the preposition ad takes the accusative case.

So:

• ad scholam = to school
• ad urbem = to the city
• ad villam = to the house/farm

This accusative is not because scholam is the direct object of the verb. It is accusative because it follows ad.

Comitatur is a deponent verb form.

That means it:

• looks passive in form
• but has an active meaning

So comitatur looks like he/she/it is accompanied, but it actually means he/she accompanies.

The dictionary form is comitor, comitari, comitatus sum = to accompany.

This is one of the most important things to notice in the sentence.

Because deponent verbs use passive endings but keep active meanings.

So in the present tense:

• comitor = I accompany
• comitaris = you accompany
• comitatur = he/she accompanies
• comitamur = we accompany

The ending -tur normally suggests a passive form, but with a deponent verb like comitor, you translate it actively.

By itself, comitatur can mean he accompanies, she accompanies, or it accompanies.

We know it is she because the subject is mater, and mater refers to a mother.

So the verb form gives the person and number:

• third person singular = he/she/it

The noun mater tells us the natural gender, so we translate she accompanies.

Latin often leaves out words that English requires.

So:

• mater can mean mother, the mother, or a mother
• filium can mean son, the son, or a son

Also, Latin does not normally use a separate word for her in a sentence like this unless it needs emphasis or clarity.

The relationship is often understood from context. So Mater filium ad scholam comitatur can naturally mean The mother accompanies her son to school.

Yes. Latin word order is much freer than English word order because the case endings show each word’s function.

For example, these could all mean essentially the same thing:

• Mater filium ad scholam comitatur.
• Filium mater ad scholam comitatur.
• Ad scholam mater filium comitatur.

The endings tell you:

• mater = subject
• filium = direct object
• scholam after ad = destination

Even so, word order can affect emphasis. The given order is neutral and natural.

Yes. Comitor commonly takes a direct object in the accusative.

So:

• filium comitatur = she accompanies her son
• amicum comitatus est = he accompanied his friend

This is worth learning because not every Latin verb matches English structure exactly, but here the pattern is fairly straightforward: the person accompanied is often in the accusative.

Mater is a third-declension noun.

Its basic forms are:

• nominative singular: mater
• genitive singular: matris

That genitive form matris is what tells you it belongs to the third declension.

Some useful forms:

• mater = mother (subject)
• matrem = mother (object)
• matris = of the mother

Filium is the accusative singular of filius, a second-declension masculine noun.

Its basic forms are:

• nominative singular: filius = son
• accusative singular: filium = son (as object)

So in this sentence, filium shows that the son is receiving the action of accompanying.

Yes, but the meaning would be a little different.

• comitatur = accompanies, goes with
• ducit = leads, takes

So Mater filium ad scholam comitatur suggests the mother goes along with her son to school.

If you used ducit, it might sound more like she is leading or taking him there:

• Mater filium ad scholam ducit = The mother leads/takes her son to school

Both can be possible in context, but comitatur emphasizes accompanying rather than leading.