Cum tonitrus auditur, mater infantem in gremio tenet et leniter consolatur.

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Breakdown of Cum tonitrus auditur, mater infantem in gremio tenet et leniter consolatur.

• et: and
• mater: the mother
• infans: the baby

Questions & Answers about Cum tonitrus auditur, mater infantem in gremio tenet et leniter consolatur.

What does cum mean here?

Here cum means when or whenever. It introduces a time clause:

Cum tonitrus auditur = When thunder is heard

Because the verb is in the indicative (auditur), this is a straightforward temporal clause, not a more literary cum clause with the subjunctive.

Why is auditur passive instead of active?

Auditur is the present passive indicative of audire, meaning is heard.

Latin often uses a passive expression where English might say either:

• thunder is heard
• one hears thunder
• people hear thunder

The sentence does not name who hears the thunder, so the passive works naturally.

What case is tonitrus, and what is its job in the sentence?

Tonitrus is nominative singular, and it is the subject of auditur.

So the structure is:

• tonitrus = the thing being heard
• auditur = is heard

Even though English often treats thunder more like a mass noun, Latin here presents it as the subject of the passive verb.