Breakdown of Mater infantem intro fert; cum imber desinit, puellae iterum foras exeunt.
puella
the girl
mater
the mother
iterum
again
infans
the baby
Questions & Answers about Mater infantem intro fert; cum imber desinit, puellae iterum foras exeunt.
Why is mater the subject, even though it does not end in -a like many feminine nouns?
Because mater, matris is a third-declension noun, not a first-declension one. Its nominative singular form is mater, and here it is the subject because it goes with the singular verb fert.
So:
- mater = nominative singular, mother
- fert = she carries / brings / takes
Latin noun class and grammatical gender do not always match the patterns English speakers first expect.
Why is infantem spelled that way?
Infantem is the accusative singular of infans, infantis. It is in the accusative because it is the direct object of fert: the mother is carrying the baby/child.
So the pattern is:
- mater = subject
- infantem = object
A native English speaker often has to get used to the fact that Latin shows the job of the noun mainly by its ending, not by word order.
Why does Latin use intro and foras without a preposition?