Amici rotam figularem et scalprum parant.

Because parant means they prepare, so we need a plural subject. Amici is the nominative plural form of amicus and means friends.

A beginner may notice that amici can also be genitive singular (of a friend), but here that does not fit the sentence well. The verb parant clearly points to a plural subject, so amici is understood as friends.

The ending -nt is a very common sign of the 3rd person plural in Latin verbs in the present tense.

So:

• paro = I prepare
• paras = you prepare
• parat = he/she/it prepares
• paramus = we prepare
• paratis = you all prepare
• parant = they prepare

Since the subject is amici (friends), the verb must be plural: parant.

They are direct objects, not the subject.

In Latin, the subject usually goes in the nominative case, while the direct object usually goes in the accusative case.

So here:

• amici = nominative plural, the people doing the action
• rotam = accusative singular, one thing being prepared
• scalprum = accusative singular, another thing being prepared

English mostly shows this by word order, but Latin often shows it by endings.

Because rotam figularem is the accusative singular form.

The noun rota is feminine, singular, and here it is the direct object, so it becomes rotam.

The adjective figularis must agree with the noun it describes in:

• gender
• number
• case

Since it describes rotam, it also has to be feminine accusative singular, so it becomes figularem.

That is a basic Latin rule: adjectives agree with the nouns they modify.

It agrees with rotam.

You can tell because:

• both are accusative singular
• both are feminine
• they fit together as a noun phrase: rotam figularem

So Latin is saying the potter’s wheel or a potter’s wheel, with figularem modifying rotam.

It simply does not need one. The sentence has two direct objects joined by et:

• rotam figularem
• scalprum

Only the first object is described further by an adjective. The second object stands by itself.

English works the same way: The friends prepare the potter’s wheel and the knife/chisel.

Because they belong to different noun patterns, often called declensions, and they also have different genders.

• rota is a first-declension feminine noun

  • nominative: rota
  • accusative: rotam

• scalprum is a second-declension neuter noun

  • nominative: scalprum
  • accusative: scalprum

A very important neuter rule is:

• nominative singular = accusative singular

So scalprum stays scalprum even though it is a direct object.

Et connects the two direct objects:

• rotam figularem
• scalprum

So the friends are preparing both things.

It does not connect subjects or verbs here. It joins two items in a list, just like and in English.

Latin often puts the verb near the end of the sentence, especially in simple textbook sentences. That word order is very common, though Latin word order is generally more flexible than English word order.

So:

• Amici rotam figularem et scalprum parant
• literally, something like Friends a potter’s wheel and a chisel prepare

In good English, of course, we rearrange it. But in Latin, the endings already show who is doing what, so word order does not carry as much of the grammatical burden.

Often, yes. Because the endings show the grammatical roles, Latin can move words around more freely than English.

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

• Amici parant rotam figularem et scalprum
• Rotam figularem et scalprum amici parant
• Scalprum et rotam figularem amici parant

However, word order can change emphasis or style, even if the basic meaning remains the same.

Classical Latin has no articles like English the and a/an.

So amici can mean:

• friends
• the friends

and rotam can mean:

• a wheel
• the wheel

You decide from context which English translation is best.

Here it is an adjective.

It comes from figularis, meaning something like of a potter or potter’s. In this sentence it describes rotam.

So rota figularis / rotam figularem means a potter’s wheel.

It is not functioning as a separate noun here.

There are two main clues:

1. Agreement

   • rotam and figularem match in case, number, and gender.

2. Sense

   • figularem naturally describes the type of wheel.

So a Latin reader groups them together as one unit: the potter’s wheel.

It is present tense.

So the sentence means that the friends are preparing or prepare the objects now/in general, depending on context.

Latin present tense can often be translated into English in more than one natural way:

• they prepare
• they are preparing

You would usually look them up like this:

• amici → amicus (noun)
• rotam → rota (noun)
• figularem → figularis (adjective)
• scalprum → scalprum (noun)
• parant → paro (verb)

This is a very important skill in Latin: recognizing an inflected form in a sentence and knowing its basic dictionary form.

It is singular.

A beginner may wonder because some neuter forms can look unfamiliar, but here scalprum is accusative singular (and also nominative singular, because it is neuter).

If it were plural, you would expect scalpra.

The pattern is:

subject + direct objects + verb

More specifically:

• Amici = subject
• rotam figularem et scalprum = direct objects
• parant = verb

So grammatically this is a very straightforward Latin sentence once you identify the cases.