Servus pecuniam alienam non capit.

A quick breakdown:

• servus = slave / servant

  • nominative singular
  • this is the subject of the sentence

• pecuniam = money

  • accusative singular of pecunia
  • this is the direct object, the thing being taken

• alienam = another person’s / чужая / чужая? no—more exactly in Latin, someone else’s, foreign, or belonging to another

  • accusative singular feminine
  • it describes pecuniam

• non = not

  • it makes the statement negative

• capit = takes

  • 3rd person singular present active indicative
  • the main verb

So grammatically, the sentence is:

• servus = subject
• pecuniam alienam = object phrase
• non capit = does not take

Because pecuniam is in the accusative singular.

In Latin, the direct object usually goes in the accusative case. Since the verb capit means takes, the thing being taken must be in the accusative.

• dictionary form: pecunia = money
• accusative singular: pecuniam

So:

• pecunia = money, as a subject
• pecuniam = money, as a direct object

English mostly shows this by word order, but Latin shows it by the ending.

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

• gender
• number
• case

Here, pecuniam is:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

So alienam must also be:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

That is why both words have matching endings:

• pecuniam alienam

This agreement tells you they belong together.

Alienus, -a, -um can mean things like:

• belonging to another
• someone else’s
• foreign
• strange or not one’s own

With pecunia, it often means someone else’s money or another person’s money.

So pecuniam alienam is most naturally understood as:

• someone else’s money
• or money that belongs to another

The exact English wording depends on the translation you were given, but grammatically it is simply an adjective describing pecuniam.

Capit is the 3rd person singular present active indicative of capio.

Its basic meaning here is:

• he takes
• she takes
• it takes

Why 3rd person singular?

Because the ending -t typically marks a 3rd person singular present-tense verb in Latin.

So:

• capio = I take
• capis = you take
• capit = he/she/it takes

Since the subject here is servus, the sentence means:

• the slave takes / the slave does not take

Because Latin usually does not need a separate subject pronoun when the verb ending already tells you the person and number.

In capit, the ending -t already tells you:

• 3rd person
• singular

So Latin does not need to add is or another pronoun to mean he.

Also, in this sentence the subject is already stated explicitly as servus, so there is even less reason to add a pronoun.

English often requires a subject word like he or the slave, but Latin can often let the verb ending do that work.

Because servus is the subject of the sentence.

In Latin, the subject is normally in the nominative case.

• dictionary form: servus
• nominative singular: servus

So servus is the one doing the action of capit.

Compare the roles:

• servus = the doer of the action → nominative
• pecuniam = the thing affected by the action → accusative

Non usually comes before the word or phrase it negates. In a simple sentence like this, it commonly appears right before the verb:

• non capit = does not take

That is the most straightforward placement.

Latin word order is flexible, but putting non before the verb is very common and easy to understand.

Yes, the word order could be changed.

Latin relies much more on endings than on word order to show grammatical relationships. Because of that, several arrangements are possible, for example:

• Servus pecuniam alienam non capit
• Pecuniam alienam servus non capit
• Non capit servus pecuniam alienam

These all keep the same basic meaning, because:

• servus is still nominative
• pecuniam is still accusative
• alienam still agrees with pecuniam

However, changing the order can change the emphasis or style.

The order here is fairly natural and beginner-friendly:

• subject first
• object next
• verb near the end

Yes, Latin adjectives can go before or after the noun.

So both of these are possible:

• pecuniam alienam
• alienam pecuniam

In many textbook sentences, the adjective often comes after the noun, especially in simple examples. But Latin is flexible, and position can be used for style or emphasis.

The important thing is not the position, but the agreement:

• pecuniam = feminine singular accusative
• alienam = feminine singular accusative

That agreement shows the two words belong together.

The dictionary forms are:

• servus, servi = slave, servant
• pecunia, pecuniae = money
• alienus, aliena, alienum = belonging to another, someone else’s, foreign
• non = not
• capio, capere, cepi, captum = take, seize, capture

Learners often need the dictionary form because the sentence uses inflected forms:

• pecuniam comes from pecunia
• alienam comes from aliena as part of alienus, -a, -um
• capit comes from capio

Because this sentence is in the present indicative, not the subjunctive or future.

Here are some useful contrasts:

• capit = he/she/it takes → present indicative
• capiet = he/she/it will take → future
• capiat = may take / let him take or a subjunctive sense → present subjunctive

So capit is the ordinary plain statement form:

• the slave does not take

That is why it is the correct form here.

It is regular enough to learn as a standard pattern, but it belongs to the 3rd conjugation -io group, which learners often treat as a special sub-type.

Its present forms are:

• capio = I take
• capis = you take
• capit = he/she/it takes
• capimus = we take
• capitis = you all take
• capiunt = they take

So capit fits that pattern exactly.

A learner may notice that capio has -io in the 1st person singular, but capit in the 3rd person singular. That is normal for this verb type.

Yes, depending on context and translation choice.

The most direct historical meaning of servus is slave, especially in Roman contexts. But in some learning materials it may be translated more gently as servant.

Grammatically, nothing changes. The choice depends on:

• historical accuracy
• context
• translation style

So if your translation says servant, that is a vocabulary choice, not a grammatical difference.