Pater filium reprehendit, quod servam offendit et deinde risit.

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.

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.

Here quod means because. It introduces the reason why the father rebukes the son.

So the structure is:

• main clause: Pater filium reprehendit
• reason clause: quod servam offendit et deinde risit

Latin quod can mean other things in other contexts, such as which or the fact that, but here it is clearly causal: because.

The subject is understood, not stated. Latin often leaves out subject pronouns when the reader can work them out from context.

Here, the natural understanding is that the son is the one who:

• offended the slave woman
• then laughed

That is why the father rebukes him.

English often wants an explicit he, but Latin does not need to say it.

Because Latin is a language that often omits subject pronouns. The verb ending plus the context usually gives enough information.

So instead of writing something like because he offended... and then he laughed, Latin can simply write:

• quod servam offendit et deinde risit

The missing he is understood.

Latin often leaves out possessive words like his, her, or their when the relationship is obvious.

So pater filium reprehendit naturally means something like:

• the father rebukes his son or
• a father rebukes his son

Because father and son are already in a clear family relationship, Latin does not need to add a separate possessive.

Because Latin has no articles. It does not have separate words for the or a/an.

So:

• pater can mean the father or a father
• filium can mean the son or a son
• servam can mean the slave woman or a slave woman

You decide from the context which English article sounds right.

Latin word order is much freer than English word order because Latin uses endings to show grammatical function.

English depends heavily on position:

• The father rebukes the son is not the same as The son rebukes the father

Latin can move words around more easily, because:

• pater tells you who the subject is
• filium tells you who the object is

So Pater filium reprehendit is a natural Latin order, but other orders would also be possible with different emphasis.

This is a very common question, because some Latin verb forms are spelled the same in the present and the perfect.

• reprehendit can be either he rebukes or he rebuked, depending on context
• offendit can be either he offends or he offended, depending on context
• risit is clearly perfect, meaning he laughed

So the first two forms are potentially ambiguous by themselves, and the translation or context tells you which meaning is intended here.

Deinde means then, after that, or next. It shows the sequence of actions.

So the idea is:

1. he offended the slave woman
2. then he laughed

It helps connect the two verbs and makes the order of events clear.