Amicus harundine piscatur.

Amicus is nominative singular. It is the subject of the sentence: the person who is doing the action.

The basic dictionary form is amicus, amici = friend.

Because it is nominative singular, we understand one friend is fishing.

Harundine is ablative singular of harundo, harundinis.

Here it is an ablative of means/instrument, which tells you what tool the friend is using. So harundine means with a reed or, in context, with a fishing rod.

Latin often uses the ablative by itself for this idea, without needing a separate word for with.

Because Latin can express with by using the ablative case alone when the meaning is by means of / with the help of something.

So:

• harundine = with a rod, by means of a rod

This is very common in Latin. English usually needs a preposition like with, but Latin often does not.

Literally, harundo means reed. But it can also refer to something made from a reed, including a fishing rod.

So in this sentence, harundine most naturally means with a fishing rod rather than just with a reed plant.

Context often tells you which nuance is meant.

Piscatur is a deponent verb form.

It comes from piscor, piscari, piscatus sum, meaning to fish.

Deponent verbs are important in Latin because they:

• look passive in form
• but have an active meaning

So even though piscatur has a passive-looking ending, it means he/she fishes or he/she is fishing, not he/she is fished.

The ending -tur is the normal third person singular passive ending in Latin. But because piscor is a deponent verb, those passive endings are used with an active meaning.

So:

• piscatur = he/she fishes or is fishing

This is one of the first things learners notice about deponent verbs: the form looks passive, but the translation is active.

It can mean either one.

The Latin present tense often covers both:

• he/she fishes
• he/she is fishing

English usually forces you to choose between simple present and progressive present, but Latin does not always make that distinction.

So the exact English translation depends on context.

Latin usually does not need a subject pronoun unless it is being emphasized.

The ending of the verb already tells you the subject is third person singular:

• piscatur = he/she fishes

And because amicus is present, we already know who the subject is: the friend.

So adding a separate pronoun would usually be unnecessary.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin uses endings to show each word’s role.

Placing the verb at the end is very common in Latin prose, although not required.

So:

• Amicus harundine piscatur

is a very normal Latin arrangement: subject + instrument + verb.

English relies much more heavily on word order, but Latin relies more on inflection.

Yes, often they could.

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

• Harundine amicus piscatur
• Piscatur amicus harundine
• Amicus piscatur harundine

The case endings still show the grammatical roles:

• amicus = subject
• harundine = means/instrument
• piscatur = verb

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

Grammatically, yes: amicus is a masculine noun and normally means male friend.

If the friend were female, Latin would usually use amica.

So a learner should normally understand amicus here as a male friend.

No. Classical Latin has no definite or indefinite article.

So amicus could be understood as:

• a friend
• the friend

Which one sounds best depends on context.

The same is true for many Latin nouns: Latin leaves article-like meanings for the reader to infer.