Frater quoque esurit, sed mater dicit cenam nondum paratam esse.

Quoque means also or too, and in Latin it often comes after the word it emphasizes.

So:

• Frater quoque esurit = The brother too is hungry / The brother is also hungry

A native English speaker may expect also before the verb, but Latin commonly uses quoque after the word it belongs to.

Compare:

• frater quoque = the brother too
• mater quoque = the mother too

So its position is normal and very common.

Yes. Esurit is from the verb esurire, which means to be hungry or to feel hunger.

Here:

• esurit = he/she is hungry
• it is 3rd person singular present active indicative

Because the subject is frater, it means:

• the brother is hungry

English often uses to be hungry, with an adjective. Latin can express the same idea with a verb: esurire.

Sed means but.

It introduces a contrast:

• Frater quoque esurit = one situation
• sed mater dicit... = contrasting or balancing idea

So the sentence sets up:

• the brother is hungry,
• but the mother says something that explains why food is not ready yet.

This is a very basic and common coordinating conjunction in Latin.

This is a classic Latin construction called the accusative and infinitive for indirect statement.

After verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, hearing, and so on, Latin often does not use a separate word for that. Instead, it uses:

• an accusative subject
• plus an infinitive

So:

• mater dicit cenam nondum paratam esse

literally works like:

• mother says the dinner not yet to-be-prepared

More naturally, English says:

• Mother says that dinner is not ready yet

This is one of the most important sentence patterns in Latin.

Because in indirect statement, the subject of the infinitive goes into the accusative case.

Here the thing that is not yet prepared is dinner, so dinner is the subject of esse in the indirect statement. But since Latin uses the accusative-and-infinitive construction, that subject becomes accusative:

• nominative: cena = dinner
• accusative: cenam = dinner as the accusative subject of the infinitive

So:

• cenam ... esse = that dinner is...

This often feels strange to English speakers, because English keeps dinner as a normal subject after that.

Paratam agrees with cenam.

• cena is feminine singular
• in the indirect statement it becomes cenam, accusative singular
• the adjective/participle describing it must match that case, number, and gender

So:

• cenam paratam = dinner prepared / dinner ready

Because cenam is:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

the participle must also be:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

Hence paratam.

Paratam esse means to be prepared or to be ready.

It is made of:

• paratam = prepared, a perfect passive participle
• esse = to be

Together they form an infinitive phrase meaning:

• to be prepared
• more naturally in this sentence, to be ready

In the indirect statement after dicit, this becomes:

• cenam nondum paratam esse = that dinner is not yet ready

So although the form is literally prepared, English often translates it as ready.

Nondum means not yet.

Here it modifies paratam esse:

• cenam nondum paratam esse = that dinner is not yet ready

Its position is flexible, but here it appears just before the participle:

• nondum paratam

That is a very natural placement.

Because Latin usually does not need one in this kind of sentence.

English says:

• Mother says that dinner is not ready yet

But Latin normally uses indirect statement instead of a that-clause:

• mater dicit cenam nondum paratam esse

So the idea of that is understood from the construction itself.
A learner should get used to this pattern:

• dicit
  • accusative + infinitive

which often translates into English with that.

A very literal breakdown is:

• Frater = brother
• quoque = also / too
• esurit = is hungry
• sed = but
• mater = mother
• dicit = says
• cenam = dinner
• nondum = not yet
• paratam = prepared / ready
• esse = to be

So the structure is roughly:

• Brother too is hungry, but mother says dinner not yet ready to be

That sounds unnatural in English, but it helps show how Latin builds the sentence.

Latin word order is fairly flexible because the endings show the grammatical relationships.

This sentence could be rearranged in various ways without changing the basic meaning, though the emphasis might change. For example:

• Mater cenam nondum paratam esse dicit
• Cenam mater nondum paratam esse dicit

The original sentence is perfectly natural, but Latin authors often move words for emphasis, rhythm, or style.

A useful lesson here is:

• do not rely only on word order
• pay close attention to endings and constructions

Putting the infinitive esse at the end is very common in Latin, especially in indirect statement.

Since paratam esse belongs together, Latin often lets the descriptive word come first and finishes with the infinitive:

• nondum paratam esse

This final esse can feel delayed to English speakers, but it is normal Latin style.

Either is possible, depending on context.

Latin has no article like the or a. So cenam can mean:

• dinner
• the dinner
• sometimes even a dinner, depending on context

In this sentence, English usually says:

• Mother says dinner is not ready yet
• or Mother says the dinner is not ready yet

Both are reasonable translations.