Agricola arvum arat.

Each word has a different job:

• agricola = the subject, the one doing the action
• arvum = the direct object, the thing affected by the action
• arat = the verb, the action itself

So the structure is:

• Agricola = farmer
• arvum = field
• arat = plows / ploughs

A very natural literal breakdown is:

• The farmer
  • the field
    • plows

Latin often puts the verb at the end, so this word order is very normal.

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

In Latin, the ending of a noun helps show its function. Here, agricola is the form meaning farmer as the subject.

Also, the verb arat is third person singular, so it matches a singular subject like agricola.

Because in Latin, grammatical declension and natural gender are not the same thing.

Agricola is a masculine noun even though it belongs to the first declension, which often has nouns ending in -a.

This is very common with certain masculine first-declension nouns, especially words for jobs or roles, such as:

• agricola = farmer
• nauta = sailor
• poeta = poet

So the ending -a does not automatically mean a noun is feminine.

Arvum is a second-declension neuter noun.

The form arvum can be either:

• nominative singular
• accusative singular

That happens because neuter nouns in Latin have the same form in the nominative and accusative singular.

In this sentence, arvum is understood as the direct object because:

• agricola is already the subject
• arat is a transitive verb here, so it naturally takes an object
• semantically, the farmer is plowing the field

So although arvum could theoretically be nominative in another context, here it functions as the object.

Arat is:

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

It comes from the verb arō, arāre, meaning to plow / to plough.

The ending -t is the important clue here: it marks third person singular, meaning he, she, or it does the action.

So arat means:

• he plows
• she plows
• it plows

In this sentence, because the subject is agricola, it is naturally translated as the farmer plows.

It can mean either, depending on context.

The Latin present tense often covers both:

• simple present: plows
• progressive present: is plowing

So Agricola arvum arat could be understood as:

• The farmer plows the field
• The farmer is plowing the field

English usually forces you to choose one, but Latin often leaves that distinction to context.

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

So agricola can mean:

• a farmer
• the farmer

And arvum can mean:

• a field
• the field

Context tells you which is best in translation.

That means Agricola arvum arat could be translated in several ways, such as:

• The farmer plows the field
• A farmer plows a field
• The farmer is plowing a field

Yes. Latin word order is much freer than English word order because the endings already show the grammatical roles.

So these can all mean basically the same thing:

• Agricola arvum arat
• Arvum agricola arat
• Arat agricola arvum

The difference is usually one of emphasis or style, not basic meaning.

That said, subject + object + verb is a very common and straightforward order in simple Latin prose, so Agricola arvum arat is a very natural beginner sentence.

It is singular.

You can tell in two ways:

1. agricola is the nominative singular form
2. arat is third person singular, so it matches a singular subject

If the subject were plural, you would expect something like:

• agricolae = farmers
• arant = they plow

So:

• Agricola arvum arat = The farmer plows the field
• Agricolae arvum arant = The farmers plow the field

The dictionary forms are:

• agricola, agricolae = farmer
• arvum, arvī = field
• arō, arāre, arāvī, arātum = to plow / to plough

For nouns, Latin dictionaries usually give:

• the nominative singular
• the genitive singular

For verbs, they usually give the principal parts, which help you recognize and build other forms.

In a common Classical pronunciation, approximately:

• agricola = ah-GRI-ko-la
• arvum = AR-wum
• arat = A-rat

A few useful points:

• the stress in agricola falls on GRI
• v in Classical Latin is pronounced like English w
• c is always hard, like k

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like:

ah-GRI-ko-la AR-wum A-rat