Infans nudus in balneo ridet, sed mater vestem madidam statim mutat.

Nudus agrees with infans in gender, number, and case. Here it is nominative singular masculine, so it describes a male infant.

A useful point: infans can refer to either a male or female child, because the noun itself is not tied to one fixed natural gender in all contexts. The adjective tells you more clearly how the writer is treating the child here. If the child were female, you would expect infans nuda.

Infans is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of ridet.

In this clause:

Infans nudus in balneo ridet

the infant is the one doing the action of laughing, so infans must be nominative.

Also, nudus matches it in the nominative singular masculine, which helps confirm that analysis.

After in, Latin uses:

• ablative for location: in the bath / in the bathroom
• accusative for motion into: into the bath / into the bathroom

So in balneo means in the bath/bathroom, showing where the infant is laughing.

Because balneo is from balneum, a 2nd-declension neuter noun, its ablative singular form is balneo.

Balneo is the ablative singular of balneum.

The dictionary form you would usually learn is balneum, meaning something like bath or bathroom depending on context.

Its basic singular forms are:

• nominative: balneum
• accusative: balneum
• ablative: balneo

So after in with location, Latin uses in balneo.

Because it is the direct object of mutat.

The mother is changing the wet garment/clothing item, so vestem is the thing directly affected by the action. That makes it accusative singular.

The adjective madidam also has to agree with vestem, so it is likewise accusative singular feminine.

Because madidam agrees with vestem.

• vestem is accusative singular feminine
• therefore the adjective describing it must also be accusative singular feminine

So:

• nominative singular feminine: madida
• accusative singular feminine: madidam

This is a very common Latin pattern: adjectives must match the nouns they describe in gender, number, and case.

Because Latin normally does not have articles like English the and a/an.

So:

• infans can mean the infant or an infant
• mater can mean the mother or a mother
• vestem can mean the garment or a garment

You figure out the best English article from the context.

Both are present tense, third person singular, active indicative.

• ridet = he/she laughs or is laughing
• mutat = he/she changes or is changing

Here:

• infans ... ridet = the infant laughs / is laughing
• mater ... mutat = the mother changes / is changing

Latin present tense can often be translated either as a simple present or a present progressive in English, depending on context.

Because mater is the subject of the second clause.

The sentence has two parts:

1. Infans nudus in balneo ridet
2. sed mater vestem madidam statim mutat

In the second part, mater is the one doing the action of changing, so it must be nominative.

The conjunction sed simply means but and connects the two clauses. It does not change the case of mater.

Statim is an adverb, meaning immediately, at once, or right away.

It modifies the verb mutat, telling you when or how quickly the mother changes the wet garment.

Because Latin word order is flexible, statim can often move around without changing the basic meaning very much. Here it is placed just before mutat, which feels natural and emphasizes the immediacy of the action.

Latin has a much freer word order than English because the endings show what each word is doing.

English relies heavily on word order:

• The mother changes the garment

Latin can show the same relationships through case endings:

• mater = subject
• vestem = direct object

So mater vestem madidam statim mutat could be rearranged in several ways without changing the core meaning, for example:

• Mater statim vestem madidam mutat
• Vestem madidam mater statim mutat
• Statim mater vestem madidam mutat

The writer’s choice of order often affects emphasis, not the basic grammar.

Vestem is singular because it comes from vestis, which usually means clothing, a garment, a robe, or a piece of clothing.

Latin often uses a singular noun where English might use either:

• garment
• clothing
• sometimes even clothes, depending on context

So the singular in Latin is perfectly normal here. It suggests one item of clothing, though English translation may vary depending on how natural you want it to sound.

In this sentence, sed is the ordinary coordinating conjunction but.

It connects two independent clauses:

• Infans nudus in balneo ridet
• mater vestem madidam statim mutat

It signals a contrast: the infant is laughing, but the mother is immediately changing the wet garment.

There is nothing grammatically unusual about sed here; it simply joins the two thoughts.