Breakdown of Pater filium reprehendit, quod servam offendit et deinde risit.
et
and
pater
the father
filius
the son
ridere
to laugh
Questions & Answers about Pater filium reprehendit, quod servam offendit et deinde risit.
Why is filium not filius?
Because filium is the direct object of reprehendit. The father is doing the rebuking, and the son is the person being rebuked.
So:
- pater = nominative singular, the subject
- filium = accusative singular, the direct object
A native English speaker often expects word order to show this, but in Latin the ending is what matters most.
Why is servam in the accusative too?
For the same reason: servam is the direct object of offendit.
In the clause quod servam offendit:
- the implied subject is the person who did the offending
- servam is the person affected by that action
So servam is accusative singular of serva.
What does quod mean here?