Femina tunicam candidam portat.

Because in Latin, the case ending shows the word’s job in the sentence.

Here, femina is in the nominative singular, which is the usual case for the subject.

For many first-declension nouns:

• -a = nominative singular
• -am = accusative singular

So:

• femina = the woman as subject
• feminam = the woman as direct object

English mostly uses word order to show this, but Latin often uses endings instead.

They both end in -am because they are both in the accusative singular.

• tunicam is the direct object: it is the thing being carried/worn.
• candidam describes tunicam, so it must match it in case, number, and gender.

This is called agreement.

So:

• tunicam = accusative singular feminine
• candidam = accusative singular feminine

The adjective has to “agree with” the noun it describes.

Because it describes tunicam, and tunica is a feminine noun.

In Latin, adjectives change form to match the noun they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

So if the noun is feminine singular accusative, the adjective must also be feminine singular accusative.

That is why you get:

• tunica candida in the nominative
• tunicam candidam in the accusative

Because Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order.

An adjective can come:

• after the noun
• before the noun

So both of these are possible:

• tunicam candidam
• candidam tunicam

The endings still show which words belong together. In simple textbook Latin, adjectives are often placed after the noun, so tunicam candidam is very normal.

Portat is the verb, and its ending gives useful information.

It means:

• he/she/it carries
• or, depending on context, he/she/it wears

The -t ending shows:

• third person singular
• present tense

So portat means she carries/wears, he carries/wears, or it carries. Here, since the subject is femina, we understand it as she.

Classical Latin has no articles like English a, an, or the.

So femina can mean:

• a woman
• the woman

And tunicam candidam can mean:

• a white tunic
• the white tunic

Which one is best depends on context. Latin often leaves that for the reader to infer.

Yes, often they could.

Because Latin uses endings rather than fixed word order, these can all mean basically the same thing:

• Femina tunicam candidam portat.
• Tunicam candidam femina portat.
• Portat femina tunicam candidam.

However, changing the order can change emphasis or style. A learner should usually first focus on the endings, then later on the effects of word order.

You can tell from agreement.

Both words are:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

That strongly suggests that candidam is describing tunicam.

A very common beginner strategy is:

1. Find the verb.
2. Find the nominative subject.
3. Find the accusative object.
4. See which adjectives match which nouns.

That process works well here.

It can mean either, depending on context.

The basic meaning of porto is carry, but in many contexts it can also mean wear or have on, especially with clothing.

Since the object here is tunicam candidam, a piece of clothing, the sense wears is very natural.

So the verb’s meaning is broad enough to cover both ideas.

They are both first-declension nouns.

Typical first-declension singular endings are:

• nominative: -a
• accusative: -am

So:

• femina → feminam
• tunica → tunicam

That is why this sentence is a nice early example for learners: it shows a very common first-declension pattern.

In a dictionary, the adjective would usually be listed in its basic nominative forms, such as:

• candidus, candida, candidum

The form candida is the feminine nominative singular form.

But here the adjective is describing tunicam, which is feminine accusative singular, so the adjective must change to:

• candidam

So:

• dictionary form: candida
• sentence form: candidam

A common classroom pronunciation would be something like:

FEH-mi-na too-NEE-kam kan-DEE-dam POR-tat

A few helpful points:

• c in classical Latin is always hard, like k
• i is usually like ee
• a is like ah
• stress often falls on the second-to-last syllable if it is “heavy”; in portat, it falls on por

So candidam begins with a k sound, not an s sound.