Mater aliquot mala et pira in canistro portat, sed plerique fructus domi manent.

Because mala can come from two different words:

• malum, mali = apple
• malus, -a, -um = bad

In this sentence, mala is a noun, not an adjective. It means apples.

You can tell from the context too: mala et pira means apples and pears, which clearly names two kinds of fruit.

Grammatically, mala here is the neuter plural accusative form of malum, because it is one of the things being carried.

Pira is the plural of pirum, which means pear.

It is a second-declension neuter noun, so its plural nominative and accusative ending is -a:

• singular: pirum
• plural: pira

Here it is accusative plural, because it is another direct object of portat: the mother carries apples and pears.

Aliquot means some or several.

It is an indeclinable word, which means it does not change its ending to match case, gender, or number. So Latin simply says:

• aliquot mala = some apples
• aliquot pira = some pears

A learner might expect it to agree like an adjective, but aliquot does not.

They are in the accusative because they are the direct objects of portat.

The verb porto means I carry, and the thing being carried goes into the accusative case. So:

• Mater ... portat = Mother carries ...
• what does she carry? mala et pira

Since both nouns are neuter plural, their accusative plural forms are:

• mala
• pira

Because in can take different cases depending on its meaning.

• in + ablative = in / on a place, showing location
• in + accusative = into / onto, showing motion toward

Here the fruit is being carried in a basket, meaning inside the basket, not into the basket. So Latin uses the ablative:

• in canistro = in the basket

Also, canistro is the ablative singular of canistrum.

Domi is a special form called the locative, and it means at home.

A few words in Latin keep this special case for place where, especially:

• domi = at home
• Romae = at Rome
• ruri = in the countryside

So:

• domi manent = they remain at home

Latin can also use in domo in some contexts, but domi is the common idiomatic way to say at home.

Plerique means most or very many, and it is an adjective that is usually used only in the plural.

Here it describes fructus, so it must agree with it in case, number, and gender.

• fructus is masculine plural nominative
• so the adjective is plerique, also masculine plural nominative

Together they mean:

• plerique fructus = most of the fruits / most fruits

Because fructus is a fourth-declension noun, not a second-declension noun.

Its basic forms are:

• singular nominative: fructus
• plural nominative: fructus (more precisely fructūs, with a long ū)

So in ordinary spelling, singular and plural often look the same. You tell the difference from the context.

Here it must be plural because:

• it goes with plerique = most
• the verb is manent, which is plural

So fructus here means fruits, not fruit in the singular.

Because each verb agrees with its own subject.

• Mater ... portat
  Mater is singular, so the verb is singular: portat = she carries

• plerique fructus ... manent
  fructus is plural, so the verb is plural: manent = they remain

This is normal Latin agreement: verbs match their subjects in number.

We know from the case form and the verb ending.

• mater is nominative, so it can be the subject
• portat is third person singular, so it needs a singular subject

That makes mater the subject of portat.

Latin does not depend on word order as heavily as English does. The endings usually tell you the grammar. So even if the sentence were rearranged, mater would still be the subject as long as its form stayed nominative.

Classical Latin has no articles like English the or a/an.

So a noun like mater can mean:

• mother
• a mother
• the mother

The exact sense depends on context.

The same is true for:

• canistro = in a basket or in the basket
• fructus = fruits or the fruits

When reading Latin, you often have to supply a or the naturally in English based on the context.

Sed means but.

It joins two clauses and shows a contrast:

• the mother carries some apples and pears
• but most of the fruit stays at home

So sed marks the change in idea between what is being taken and what is not being taken.

Yes, to a large extent.

Because Latin uses case endings, the sentence could be rearranged without completely changing the basic meaning. For example, Latin could place words differently for emphasis.

In the given sentence, the order is fairly straightforward:

• Mater first gives the topic
• aliquot mala et pira gives the objects
• in canistro adds where they are
• sed plerique fructus domi manent gives the contrast

So while the meaning would stay mostly the same with another order, this order is natural and clear.