Magister artem figulinam docet.

Magister is in the nominative singular, which is the form usually used for the subject of the sentence.

Here, magister is the one doing the action of teaching, so it appears in the nominative:

• magister = the teacher / teacher

If you looked this noun up in a dictionary, you would normally find it as magister, magistrī.

Because artem figulinam is the direct object of docet.

The verb docet means teaches, and in Latin the thing being taught is usually put in the accusative case. The noun ars becomes artem in the accusative singular:

• nominative: ars = art, skill, craft
• accusative: artem = art, skill, craft (as the object)

The adjective must match the noun, so:

• nominative: figulina
• accusative: figulinam

So:

• ars figulina = pottery / the potter’s craft, as a subject
• artem figulinam = pottery / the potter’s craft, as an object

Figulinam is an adjective describing artem.

It means something like potter’s, ceramic, or related to pottery. Since it modifies artem, it has to agree with it in:

• gender
• number
• case

So both words are:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

That is why we get artem figulinam.

The ending -et tells you that the verb is:

• present tense
• third person singular

So docet means:

• he teaches
• she teaches
• it teaches

Since the subject here is magister (teacher, masculine), we understand it as he teaches.

This verb comes from docēre = to teach.

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

So magister can mean:

• the teacher
• a teacher

And artem figulinam can mean:

• the pottery craft
• pottery
• a pottery craft, depending on context

You decide which English wording is best from the situation, not from a separate Latin article.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because the endings show each word’s job.

So Magister artem figulinam docet clearly means The teacher teaches pottery, because:

• magister is nominative = subject
• artem figulinam is accusative = object
• docet is the verb

Latin often puts the verb at the end, as here, but other orders are possible too, for example:

• Artem figulinam magister docet
• Magister docet artem figulinam

These can all mean the same basic thing, though the emphasis may change.

In Latin, an adjective can come before or after the noun it modifies, but very often it appears after the noun.

So artem figulinam is a normal way to say pottery craft or the ceramic art.

Latin word order often reflects style or emphasis more than strict grammatical necessity. What matters most is that artem and figulinam match in form.

Ars is a third-declension feminine noun.

Its main forms are:

• nominative singular: ars
• genitive singular: artis
• accusative singular: artem

That is why the object form is artem rather than something simpler like ars.

A learner often has to memorize the dictionary form with the genitive:

• ars, artis = art, skill, craft

The genitive artis helps you see the stem art-, which appears in forms like artem.

Here it is being used as an adjective.

It describes what kind of ars this is:

• ars figulina = pottery, the potter’s craft

In some contexts, forms of adjectives can be used more independently, but in this sentence figulinam is clearly agreeing with artem, so the simplest analysis is that it is an adjective modifying the noun.

Yes. Latin often omits subject pronouns, and sometimes even the noun subject can be omitted if the context already makes it clear.

Because docet already means he/she teaches, the sentence Artem figulinam docet could mean:

• He teaches pottery
• She teaches pottery

But if you specifically want to say the teacher teaches it, adding magister makes that explicit.

A reasonable classroom pronunciation would be something like:

MAH-gis-ter AR-tem fi-goo-LEE-nam DO-ket

A few helpful points:

• c in docet is always hard, like k
• g in magister and figulinam is always hard, as in go
• e is pronounced as a pure vowel, not like English ee or ay gliding
• stress usually falls on:
  • magister → ma-GIS-ter
  • artem → AR-tem
  • figulinam → figu-LI-nam
  • docet → DO-cet

Exact pronunciation depends somewhat on whether you are using restored classical pronunciation or an ecclesiastical style, but the grammar stays the same.