Canis os per hortum portat.

Because canis is a third-declension noun, not a second-declension one. Its dictionary form is canis, canis, and the nominative singular is canis. That is the form used for the subject of the sentence.

So in this sentence, canis is the one doing the action: the dog carries.

Here os is the thing being carried, so it is the direct object.

The noun is os, ossis meaning bone. It is a neuter third-declension noun, and in neuter nouns, the nominative and accusative singular are the same. So the form os can be either nominative or accusative singular.

In this sentence, the meaning and structure show that it is accusative: the dog carries the bone.

Yes, Latin has another noun, os, oris, which means mouth or face. So the form os is ambiguous by itself.

However, in this sentence, the intended meaning is bone, not mouth. Context usually makes this clear. If the meaning has already been given to the learner, then that settles it here.

So:

• os, ossis = bone
• os, oris = mouth

They look the same in some forms but belong to different nouns.

Because it comes after the preposition per, and per takes the accusative case.

So:

• per = through
• hortum = accusative singular of hortus, meaning garden

Together, per hortum means through the garden.

Because the sentence expresses movement through a place, not just location.

• per hortum = through the garden
• in horto = in the garden

So if the dog is moving through the garden while carrying the bone, Latin uses per plus the accusative.

Portat is:

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

It comes from portare, meaning to carry.

So portat means he/she/it carries or is carrying. Here it matches canis, which is a singular subject.

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

So canis can mean:

• a dog
• the dog

And os can mean:

• a bone
• the bone

You decide from context which English article is best.

Yes. Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because the endings show how the words function.

So this sentence could be rearranged in several ways without changing the basic meaning, for example:

• Canis os per hortum portat
• Per hortum canis os portat
• Os canis per hortum portat

However, different word orders can change the emphasis. The original order is a perfectly normal beginner-style sentence.

Because canis is in the nominative singular, which marks the subject, while os is understood here as the accusative singular, the direct object.

Also, the verb portat is singular, agreeing with canis as the subject.

If dog were the object, we would expect a form like canem, not canis.

Canis can be either masculine or feminine, depending on the sex of the dog. The form itself does not change here.

So the sentence could refer to:

• a male dog
• a female dog

Latin often leaves that unspecified unless the context makes it clear.

A common classroom pronunciation would be roughly:

KAH-nees oss pair HOR-toom POR-taht

More carefully:

• canis = KAH-nis or KAH-nees, depending on pronunciation system
• os = oss
• per = pair or pehr
• hortum = HOR-toom
• portat = POR-taht

The stress is on:

• CAnis
• HORtum
• PORtat