Mater monet ne aranea laedatur, quia etiam araneae utiles sunt.

Latin does not have articles like English the and a/an.

So:

• Mater can mean mother, a mother, or the mother
• aranea can mean a spider or the spider

You figure out which one is meant from context.

Mater means mother. It is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of the sentence.

Here, mater is the one doing the warning/advising, so it is the subject of monet.

Monet is from moneo, monere, and it can mean things like:

• warns
• advises
• reminds

In this sentence, warns or advises fits best.

So Mater monet... means Mother warns/advises...

Grammatically, monet is:

• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood
• 3rd person singular

So literally: she warns / advises

After verbs like monet, Latin often uses ut or ne with the subjunctive to express an indirect command or warning.

• ut = that
• ne = that ... not

So:

• monet ut... = warns/advises that ... should
• monet ne... = warns/advises that ... should not

Here, ne aranea laedatur means that the spider should not be harmed.

This is why Latin uses ne, not non.
Non usually just negates a word or statement directly; ne is the normal word in this kind of clause.

Because it is in a clause introduced by ne after monet.

This construction is an indirect command or jussive-type subordinate clause, and Latin normally uses the subjunctive there.

So laedatur is not just a plain statement like is harmed. It means something more like:

• should be harmed
• be harmed

With ne, the sense becomes:

• should not be harmed

Because the spider is receiving the action, not doing it.

• laedat = may harm / should harm someone or something
• laedatur = may be harmed / should be harmed

Here the idea is not the spider should not harm someone.
The idea is the spider should not be harmed.

So the passive is exactly what Latin needs.

Because aranea is the subject of the passive verb laedatur.

In English, compare:

• Someone harms the spider → the spider is object
• The spider is harmed → the spider is subject

Latin does the same thing.

So:

• active version: ne aliquis araneam laedat = that no one should harm the spider
• passive version: ne aranea laedatur = that the spider should not be harmed

Since the sentence uses the passive, aranea is nominative.

Laedatur comes from laedo, laedere, meaning to harm, injure, or hurt.

Its form is:

• present tense
• subjunctive mood
• passive voice
• 3rd person singular

So it means may be harmed or should be harmed, and with ne it becomes should not be harmed.

This is very natural.

• ne aranea laedatur refers to a/the spider in the immediate situation
• quia etiam araneae utiles sunt gives a general reason about spiders as a class

So the logic is:

• do not harm this spider,
• because spiders in general are useful.

English does this too:

• Don’t kill that spider, because spiders are useful.

Here araneae is nominative plural.

It is the subject of sunt, so the clause means:

• spiders are useful

This is a good form to notice, because araneae could also be:

• genitive singular = of the spider
• dative singular = to/for the spider
• nominative plural = spiders

Context tells you which one it is. Since it goes with utiles sunt, it must be nominative plural.

Utiles is the adjective useful.

It agrees with araneae in:

• number: plural
• gender: feminine
• case: nominative

So:

• araneae = feminine nominative plural
• utiles = feminine nominative plural

Because utilis is a 3rd-declension adjective, the masculine and feminine nominative plural are both utiles.

Quia means because.

It introduces the reason:

• quia etiam araneae utiles sunt
• because spiders are also/even useful

So the whole sentence gives both:

1. the warning/advice: do not harm the spider
2. the reason: because spiders are useful

Etiam usually means also, even, or too.

Here it adds emphasis to the reason. Depending on context, it can feel like:

• because spiders too are useful
• because even spiders are useful

That even sense works well if the speaker expects the listener to think spiders are unpleasant or unimportant.

Yes. The structure monet ne + subjunctive is a standard way to express an indirect command, warning, or admonition.

So instead of a direct command like:

• Noli araneam laedere = Do not harm the spider

Latin gives the content through a subordinate clause:

• Mater monet ne aranea laedatur
• Mother warns/advises that the spider should not be harmed

Yes. Latin word order is more flexible than English, because endings show the grammatical relationships.

For example, these would still be understandable Latin:

• Mater ne aranea laedatur monet
• Quia etiam araneae utiles sunt, mater monet ne aranea laedatur

But the original order is clear and natural.

Latin often moves words around for emphasis, rhythm, or style, while English depends much more on fixed word order.

Yes. An active version could be something like:

• Mater monet ne quis araneam laedat
• Mother warns that no one should harm the spider

That version focuses on the possible doer of the action.

The original passive version:

• ne aranea laedatur

focuses more on the spider itself, which fits the message well.