Mater dicit: “Far cribrato et fermentum parvum addito.”

They are future imperatives.

A beginner often first learns present imperatives such as cribra and adde. But Latin also has a future imperative, and forms like cribrato and addito are especially common in:

• recipes
• formal instructions
• laws
• maxims

So this sentence has a slightly formal, instructional feel. In English, we usually still translate them as ordinary commands.

Here it is a verb, not a participle.

Specifically, cribrato is the future imperative of cribrare, and addito is the future imperative of addere.

A learner might hesitate because -to can look participial, but the structure shows that these are verbs:

• far is the object of cribrato
• fermentum parvum is the object of addito
• the two forms are clearly parallel commands joined by et

Also, if you tried to read far cribrato as something like an ablative phrase, that would not work well, because the ablative of far is not far.

In context, it is addressed to one person.

The forms cribrato and addito are singular command forms. So the sense is that one person is being told what to do.

If Latin wanted to command several people in this same style, it could use plural forms such as -tote.

Far is accusative singular, the direct object of cribrato.

The dictionary form is far, farris, a neuter noun. In neuter nouns, the nominative and accusative singular are often the same, so far can look unchanged even though its role in the sentence is object.

Fermentum parvum is also accusative singular.

• fermentum is the direct object of addito
• parvum agrees with fermentum in gender, number, and case

So both are:

• neuter
• singular
• accusative

This is standard adjective agreement in Latin. Also, in English parvum may be translated idiomatically as a little, but grammatically it is just the adjective small agreeing with fermentum.

It connects two commands, not two nouns inside one object phrase.

The structure is:

• far cribrato
• et
• fermentum parvum addito

So the sense is:

• first command: sift the far
• second command: add the fermentum parvum

Each part has its own object and its own verb.

Because Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order.

English usually depends heavily on order:

• verb first in a command
• object after it

Latin depends much more on word endings. Since far and fermentum parvum are recognizable as objects from their forms and function, they can come before the verb without causing confusion.

In recipe-like or instructional language, putting the ingredient first can feel quite natural.

Because Latin usually leaves the subject you unstated in commands.

The verb form itself already tells you that this is an instruction directed at someone, so tu is unnecessary unless the speaker wants special emphasis or contrast.

So Latin commonly says simply:

• addito rather than
• tu addito

Dicit is just the present tense, meaning that the sentence presents the mother as speaking now: mother says.

Latin, like English, can introduce direct speech with a present tense very naturally. If the surrounding story were being told as a past event, dixit would also be possible, but dicit is perfectly normal for introducing the quotation.