Mater comam filiae ornat.

The noun endings tell you.

• Mater is nominative singular, so it is the subject: mother
• comam is accusative singular, so it is the direct object: hair
• filiae is genitive singular here, so it shows possession: of the daughter / the daughter’s
• ornat is the verb: adorns / arranges

So the structure is:

• Mater = the mother
• comam = the hair
• filiae = of the daughter
• ornat = adorns

In other words: The mother adorns the daughter’s hair.

Because mater belongs to the third declension, not the first.

Its dictionary form is:

• māter, mātris = mother

The nominative singular is simply mater. Not all feminine nouns look like puella. Latin gender and declension are different things:

• gender = masculine, feminine, neuter
• declension = the pattern of endings a noun uses

So mater is feminine, but third-declension.

Because it is the direct object of the verb ornat.

The verb ornare means to adorn, decorate, arrange. The thing being adorned is put in the accusative case.

So:

• ornat comam = adorns the hair

The ending -am is a very common sign of the accusative singular in first-declension nouns.

Here filiae is best understood as genitive singular:

• fīlia, -ae = daughter
• filiae = of the daughter

The genitive often shows possession, so:

• comam filiae = the daughter’s hair or the hair of the daughter

This is a very common Latin pattern:

• thing possessed + possessor in the genitive

Yes. On its own, filiae is ambiguous. It could be:

• genitive singular = of the daughter
• dative singular = to/for the daughter
• nominative plural = daughters
• vocative plural = O daughters

But in this sentence, genitive singular makes the best sense, because it naturally goes with comam:

• comam filiae = the daughter’s hair

The context and the sentence structure tell you which meaning is intended.

Classical Latin has no definite article and no indefinite article.

So Latin does not normally have separate words for:

• the
• a / an

That means mater can mean:

• mother
• the mother
• sometimes even a mother

And comam filiae can mean:

• the daughter’s hair
• a daughter’s hair

In practice, context tells you what sounds natural in English. In a simple sentence like this, English usually uses the:

• The mother adorns the daughter’s hair.

Latin word order is more flexible because the endings show each word’s role.

English depends heavily on word order:

• The mother adorns the daughter’s hair

Latin can move words around more freely:

• Mater comam filiae ornat
• Mater filiae comam ornat
• Comam filiae mater ornat

These all can mean basically the same thing.

In this sentence, comam filiae is kept together as a unit: the daughter’s hair. Also, putting the verb ornat at the end is very common in Latin.

Ornat is:

• third person singular
• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood

It comes from:

• ornō, ornāre = to adorn, decorate, equip, arrange

So ornat means:

• he/she/it adorns
• in this sentence: she adorns, because the subject is mater

Because the accusative shows the direct object, and here the accusative is comam, not filiam.

Compare:

• comam = hair as direct object
• filiam = daughter as direct object

If Latin wanted to say The mother adorns the daughter, it would use something like:

• Mater filiam ornat.

But the actual sentence says:

• Mater comam filiae ornat.
• The mother adorns the daughter’s hair.

So the daughter is not the thing being adorned directly; her hair is.

Yes, Latin can use possessive adjectives such as suus, sua, suum when needed, but often it simply uses the genitive.

Here filiae clearly shows possession:

• comam filiae = the daughter’s hair

Latin often prefers this simple genitive construction.

Also, using a possessive adjective here could create a slightly different emphasis or require extra clarity about whose hair is meant. The genitive is straightforward and natural.

They are:

• māter, mātris = mother
• coma, -ae = hair
• fīlia, -ae = daughter
• ornō, ornāre = adorn, decorate, arrange

These dictionary forms are important because they tell you how the words decline or conjugate.

In reconstructed Classical pronunciation, roughly:

• Māter comam fīliae ornat

Approximate English-style guide:

• MAH-ter KO-mahm FEE-lee-eye OR-naht

A few notes:

• ā is a long a
• ae is usually pronounced like eye in Classical Latin
• c is always hard, like k
• t is always a plain t, never like the English sh sound in nation

It can be, yes, especially for hair as a mass, head of hair, or styled hair. In poetry and prose, coma often refers to hair in a somewhat elegant or literary way.

Another common word is:

• capillus, -ī = hair, often a hair or the hair of the head, commonly in the plural capillī

So this sentence’s use of comam suits the idea of arranging or adorning someone’s hair.

Yes, grammatically Latin leaves that open, because it has no articles.

So depending on context, you could translate it as:

• The mother adorns the daughter’s hair
• A mother adorns a daughter’s hair

But in a basic textbook sentence, the most natural English translation is usually:

• The mother adorns the daughter’s hair.