Puella harundinem piscatoriam portat et squamam videt.

Puella is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative singular. It means girl.

Latin often marks a noun’s job in the sentence by its ending, and -a here tells you it is nominative singular for a first-declension noun.

Because harundinem is the direct object of portat (carries), so it must be in the accusative singular.

The dictionary form is harundo, but this noun belongs to the third declension, so its accusative singular ends in -em:

• nominative: harundo
• accusative: harundinem

So harundinem means a fishing rod / reed as the thing being carried.

Because piscatoriam is an adjective describing harundinem, and Latin adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Since harundinem is:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

the adjective must also be:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

So:

• harundinem piscatoriam = fishing rod

Yes. More literally, harundo originally means reed, but in context it can be used for a rod, including a fishing rod.

So harundinem piscatoriam is understood as a fishing rod. The adjective piscatoriam means for fishing or fisherman’s/fishing.

Because it is the direct object of videt (sees).

Just like harundinem is the thing the girl carries, squamam is the thing she sees.

The dictionary form is squama (scale), but as a direct object in the singular it becomes squamam.

Because both portat and videt are third-person singular present tense forms.

They mean:

• portat = she carries
• videt = she sees

The -t ending is a very common sign of he/she/it in the present tense.

Because Latin has no articles. It does not have separate words for a, an, or the.

So:

• puella can mean girl, a girl, or the girl
• squamam can mean a scale or the scale

You decide from the context which English translation sounds best.

Not as much as in English. Latin word order is fairly flexible because the endings show what each word is doing.

This sentence is:

• Puella = subject
• harundinem piscatoriam = object
• portat = verb
• et = and
• squamam = object
• videt = verb

A very common Latin pattern is to place the verb near the end of its clause, as happens here. But other word orders are possible, especially for emphasis.

Because et simply joins the two parts of the sentence: carries and sees.

The subject puella applies to both verbs, so Latin does not need to repeat it:

• Puella ... portat
• et ... videt

This is like English: The girl carries a fishing rod and sees a scale.

Yes, it could, but it usually would not unless there were some special reason for emphasis or clarity.

Latin often leaves the subject stated once when the same subject continues across multiple verbs. Since portat and videt are both singular and clearly refer to the same subject, repeating puella is unnecessary.

You know from agreement.

Piscatoriam is:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

In this sentence, harundinem is also feminine singular accusative, so they match perfectly.

It does not match puella, because puella is nominative, not accusative. And it does not match either verb, because adjectives modify nouns, not verbs.

Because Latin often relies on verb endings and context instead of repeating subjects.

Once puella has been introduced as the subject, the forms portat and videt already show that the subject is he/she/it singular. So Latin can smoothly continue with the same subject without restating it.

They are not all from the same declension:

• puella — first declension
• harundo, harundinis — third declension
• squama — first declension

That is why the accusative singular forms are different:

• puella would become puellam
• harundo becomes harundinem
• squama becomes squamam

This is a very common thing for learners to notice: Latin nouns do not all form their cases the same way.