Lanius carnem porci in macello vendit, et mater rogat utrum recens sit necne.

Because lanius is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of a sentence.

So in Lanius carnem porci in macello vendit, lanius means the butcher and is the one doing the action of vendit (sells).

Latin often shows grammatical function by case endings rather than by word order, so the ending -us here helps identify lanius as the subject.

Latin here expresses the idea as the meat of a pig:

• carnem = meat, flesh
• porci = of a pig

So carnem porci literally means the meat of a pig.

This is a very normal Latin way to express what English often gives as a single word, pork. English uses a specialized food word, but Latin commonly uses a noun plus a genitive: meat of X.

Carnem is accusative singular.

It is accusative because it is the direct object of vendit. In other words, it is the thing the butcher is selling.

• vendit = he/she sells
• What does he sell? carnem porci

So carnem is in the accusative because it receives the action of the verb.

Porci is genitive singular, meaning of a pig.

The genitive is often used to show possession, relationship, or source. Here it tells you what kind of meat it is:

• carnem porci = the meat of a pig

A native English speaker may think of this as similar to pig’s meat, though in natural English we usually say pork.

Because in with the ablative usually means in or at a place where something happens.

So:

• in macello = in/at the market

If in were followed by the accusative, it would usually suggest motion into a place instead.

Here there is no movement into the market. The selling is happening there, so the ablative is used.

Also, macellum often means a market, especially a meat market or provision market, which fits the context very well.

Utrum ... necne means whether ... or not.

So:

• mater rogat utrum recens sit necne
• the mother asks whether it is fresh or not

This is a standard Latin way to introduce an indirect yes/no question.

You can think of it like this:

• utrum = introduces the whether
• necne = or not

Because this is an indirect question, and Latin normally uses the subjunctive in indirect questions.

The direct question would be:

• Recens est?
• Is it fresh?

But when that question is reported after a verb like rogat (asks), Latin changes the verb to the subjunctive:

• rogat utrum recens sit necne
• she asks whether it is fresh or not

So sit is the present subjunctive of esse.

The subject is understood rather than stated. It refers to the meat being discussed, namely carnem porci.

So the sense is:

• mater rogat utrum recens sit necne
• the mother asks whether it is fresh or not
• more literally: whether the meat is fresh or not

Latin often leaves out a subject pronoun when it is clear from context.

Recens means fresh.

It is an adjective describing the understood subject of sit, namely the meat. The reason the agreement is not obvious at a glance is that recens is a third-declension adjective, and some of its forms look the same in different genders.

Here it is functioning as a predicate adjective:

• recens sit = it is fresh

So even though the noun itself is not repeated, recens still refers back to the meat.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin relies heavily on case endings.

The second clause is:

• et mater rogat utrum recens sit necne

This simply means:

• and the mother asks whether it is fresh or not

Putting mater after et is completely normal. Latin often arranges words for emphasis, rhythm, or style rather than following a fixed English-like order.

Not necessarily. Rogat can introduce the act of asking without explicitly naming the person being asked.

Here the sentence focuses on what the mother asks, not whom she asks:

• mater rogat utrum recens sit necne
• the mother asks whether it is fresh or not

The person being asked is left unstated because it is easy to infer from the context, probably the butcher.

Yes, in this context lanius clearly means butcher.

The word can have other associations in different contexts, but here the clues are unmistakable:

• carnem porci = pork / pig meat
• in macello = in the market
• vendit = sells

So the natural meaning is butcher.

Very literal, if you break it into parts:

• Lanius = the butcher
• carnem porci = the meat of a pig
• in macello = in the market
• vendit = sells
• et = and
• mater = the mother
• rogat = asks
• utrum = whether
• recens = fresh
• sit = is (subjunctive in indirect question)
• necne = or not

So the sentence is built quite logically, even though English would often smooth it out more idiomatically:

The butcher sells pork in the market, and the mother asks whether it is fresh or not.