Mater infanti cubile parat.

Because Latin often uses the dative case where English uses for.

So infanti is the dative singular of infans, infantis and means for the infant or to the infant, depending on context.

In this sentence, parat means prepares, and the person something is prepared for is put in the dative:

• Mater infanti cubile parat = The mother prepares a bed for the infant

Latin does not always need a preposition where English does.

Mater is nominative singular, and that makes it the subject: the mother.

You can tell it is the subject because:

• the verb parat is third person singular: he/she/it prepares
• mater is a singular noun in the nominative
• it makes sense as the doer of the action

So mater is the one doing the preparing.

Cubile is accusative singular, because it is the direct object of parat.

It is the thing being prepared:

• mater = the mother
• parat = prepares
• cubile = the bed / couch / resting place

So the sentence answers What does the mother prepare?
Answer: cubile.

A useful detail: cubile is a neuter noun, and in many neuter nouns the nominative and accusative singular have the same form. So cubile could look nominative or accusative by itself, but in this sentence it is accusative because it is the object.

Cubile is a third-declension neuter noun.

Its basic meaning is something like:

• bed
• couch
• resting place
• place for lying down

Because it is neuter:

• nominative singular = cubile
• accusative singular = cubile

That is why the object does not have a different visible ending here.

Parat is:

• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood
• third person singular

It comes from paro, parare, meaning:

• prepare
• make ready
• get ready
• sometimes provide

So parat means he/she/it prepares.
Here, because the subject is mater, it means she prepares.

Latin has no articles like English the and a/an.

So:

• mater can mean mother or the mother
• infanti can mean for an infant or for the infant
• cubile can mean a bed or the bed

The exact wording in English depends on context. In a simple sentence like this, The mother prepares a bed for the infant is a very natural translation.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because the endings show each word’s function.

English usually depends heavily on position:

• The mother prepares a bed for the infant

Latin can move words around more freely:

• Mater infanti cubile parat
• Mater cubile infanti parat
• Cubile mater infanti parat

All of these can mean the same basic thing, though the emphasis may shift.

In this sentence, putting parat at the end is very normal Latin style.

In this sentence, it is best understood as dative singular.

A learner may wonder because some Latin forms can be ambiguous, but here the sense is clear:

• prepare a bed for the infant

That is a classic dative idea: the person for whom something is done.

So the grammar and the meaning both point to dative.

It is related to English infant, but Latin infans can be a little broader.

It can mean:

• infant
• baby
• very young child

So infanti could be translated as for the infant, for the baby, or for the child, depending on context.

You would look them up like this:

• mater, matris — mother
• infans, infantis — infant, baby, young child
• cubile, cubilis or simply cubile in many dictionaries — bed, couch, resting place
• paro, parare, paravi, paratus — prepare, make ready

For nouns, dictionaries usually give:

• the nominative singular
• the genitive singular

Those two forms help you determine the declension and the stem.

For verbs, dictionaries usually give the main parts, beginning with the first person singular present form, so parat is found under paro.

The form mater is singular. Its plural is matres.

Also, the verb helps:

• parat = she prepares / he prepares = singular
• if the subject were plural, you would expect parant = they prepare

So mater ... parat clearly means the mother prepares, not the mothers prepare.