Quotiens pater ad stabulum venit, totiens equa hinnire videtur.

They form a correlative pair:

• quotiens = whenever / as often as
• totiens = so often / that often / each time

So the pattern is:

• Quotiens ..., totiens ...
• Whenever ..., each time ...

This is a very common Latin way to express repeated matching actions. English often translates it more smoothly as whenever ... (then) each time rather than keeping both words very literally.

Pater is nominative singular because it is the subject of venit:

• pater = the father
• venit = comes

So pater venit means the father comes.

Because ad with the accusative is the normal way to express motion toward a place.

• ad = to, toward
• stabulum = accusative singular of stabulum, stable

So:

• ad stabulum = to the stable

Latin often uses a preposition for this kind of movement, especially with common nouns like stabulum.

It is accusative singular.

The noun stabulum is a second-declension neuter noun. In the singular, its nominative and accusative forms are both stabulum. Here it is accusative because it follows ad:

• nominative: stabulum
• accusative: stabulum

Even though the form looks the same, the function is accusative because of the preposition.

Latin often uses the present tense for actions that happen regularly or habitually.

Here the meaning is not just one specific arrival, but a repeated pattern:

• Quotiens pater ad stabulum venit = Whenever the father comes to the stable

So venit is present because the sentence describes what typically happens.

Also, venit can mean either he comes or sometimes he has come, depending on context, but here the repeated-action sense makes he comes / whenever he comes the natural reading.

Because equa is the subject of videtur.

This is an important construction:

• equa = nominative singular, the mare
• videtur = seems
• hinnire = to neigh

So the Latin structure is:

• equa hinnire videtur = the mare seems to neigh

In English, this also works with a subject plus seems plus infinitive. Since the mare is doing the seeming, it stays in the nominative in Latin.

Because it depends on videtur.

After verbs like videtur (seems), Latin commonly uses an infinitive:

• equa hinnire videtur = the mare seems to neigh

If you said hinnit, that would mean the mare neighs, which would be a complete separate statement. But here the idea is not simply that she neighs; it is that she seems to neigh.

So:

• hinnit = she neighs
• hinnire videtur = she seems to neigh

Videtur is the 3rd person singular present passive indicative of video.

Literally, videtur means is seen, but with an infinitive it often has the idiomatic meaning seems.

So:

• equa hinnire videtur literally: the mare is seen to neigh naturally: the mare seems to neigh

This is a very common Latin usage. English also turns is seen to ... into seems to ... in many contexts.

No. It is related in feel, but it is not the normal accusative-and-infinitive construction.

In an accusative-and-infinitive construction, the subject of the infinitive is in the accusative, for example after verbs of saying or thinking.

But here we have a personal construction with videtur:

• equa is nominative
• hinnire is infinitive
• videtur is the main verb

So this means the mare seems to neigh, not someone sees the mare neighing.

If Latin wanted a more impersonal version, it could use a different structure, but this sentence uses the personal one.

Because Latin word order is much freer than English word order.

The core idea is still:

• equa = subject
• hinnire = infinitive
• videtur = main verb

Latin often places the infinitive before the finite verb, especially near the end of the clause. So equa hinnire videtur is perfectly normal.

English usually prefers:

• the mare seems to neigh

But Latin can arrange the words more flexibly without changing the basic meaning.

Yes. Quotiens can be used in a direct question to mean how often?

For example:

• Quotiens venit? = How often does he come?

But in this sentence it is not a question. It introduces a subordinate clause and is paired with totiens, so here it means whenever / as often as.

So the meaning depends on context:

• question: How often?
• correlative clause: Whenever / as often as

Yes: equa means mare (a female horse), while equus means horse or more specifically stallion in some contexts.

So the sentence is specifically about a female horse.

Forms:

• equa = mare
• equus = horse / stallion

This is just vocabulary choice, not a special grammatical point.

It has two main parts:

1. Quotiens pater ad stabulum venit

   • subordinate clause
   • Whenever the father comes to the stable

2. totiens equa hinnire videtur

   • main clause
   • the mare seems to neigh each time

So the whole sentence is built as:

• Whenever X happens, Y happens

More literally:

• As often as the father comes to the stable, so often the mare seems to neigh

That is a very Latin way of expressing repeated correlation between two actions.