Medicus membrum fractum curat.

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

Here, medicus means doctor and is the one doing the action of curat.

So:

• medicus = the doctor / a doctor
• subject = the one who treats

Because membrum is in the accusative singular form here, so it is the direct object rather than the subject.

That means it is the thing being treated.

In this sentence:

• medicus = the doctor does the action
• membrum fractum = the broken limb receives the action

For a native English speaker, this is important because Latin uses word endings much more than word order to show the roles of words in the sentence.

Because fractum is an adjective modifying membrum, and in Latin adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here:

• membrum is neuter
• singular
• accusative

So the adjective must match it:

• fractum = broken in the neuter singular accusative form

That is why both words end in -um.

Fractum is an adjective, meaning broken.

It comes from fractus, fracta, fractum, the adjective meaning broken. In this sentence it describes membrum.

So:

• membrum = limb
• fractum = broken

Together:

• membrum fractum = broken limb

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

It is very common in Latin for an adjective to come after the noun:

• membrum fractum = broken limb

English usually prefers:

• broken limb

Latin can also sometimes place the adjective before the noun, but noun + adjective is extremely normal.

Because Latin often places the verb at the end, especially in simple statements.

So:

• Medicus membrum fractum curat.

is a very natural Latin order.

English usually prefers:

• The doctor treats the broken limb.

But Latin relies less on position and more on endings, so the verb can comfortably come last.

Curat is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood

It comes from the verb curare, meaning to care for, treat, attend to.

So curat means:

• he treats
• she treats
• it treats

In this sentence, because the subject is medicus, it means:

• the doctor treats

No. Classical Latin does not have articles like English the and a/an.

So medicus can mean:

• a doctor
• the doctor

And membrum fractum can mean:

• a broken limb
• the broken limb

The exact choice depends on context.

You learn it as part of the noun’s dictionary form. Membrum is a second-declension neuter noun.

A useful pattern is:

• many second-declension neuter nouns have -um in the nominative singular

Because it is neuter, the adjective describing it must also be neuter:

• membrum fractum

If the noun were masculine or feminine, the adjective form would be different.

Usually the basic meaning would stay the same, as long as the endings stay the same.

For example, these would still mean essentially the same thing:

• Medicus membrum fractum curat.
• Membrum fractum medicus curat.
• Curat medicus membrum fractum.

That is because:

• medicus still looks nominative
• membrum fractum still looks accusative

However, changing word order can change emphasis. Latin speakers often moved words around to highlight what mattered most.

Because fractum agrees directly with membrum, so the two words naturally belong together as a noun phrase.

Latin often does this very compactly:

• noun + agreeing adjective

So the listener understands:

• membrum fractum = the broken limb

rather than treating fractum as a separate statement.

Yes: in many Latin neuter nouns, the nominative and accusative forms are the same.

So membrum can be either:

• nominative singular
• accusative singular

In this sentence, we know it is accusative because:

• medicus is the clear nominative subject
• curat needs an object
• fractum matches membrum as an accusative adjective

So context and agreement help you understand the function.

A few important Latin basics all appear here:

• Case endings show function

  • medicus = subject
  • membrum fractum = object

• Adjectives agree with nouns

  • fractum matches membrum

• Verb endings show person and number

  • curat = he/she treats

• Latin word order is flexible

  • the verb often comes last
  • adjectives often come after nouns

So this short sentence is a very good example of how Latin works differently from English.