Figulus fictile picat.

Because figulus is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of a finite verb.

Here, picat means he/she/it coats with pitch or smears with pitch, so we look for a singular subject. Figulus fits perfectly: the potter is the one doing the action.

This is a very common question, because fictile is a neuter form, and in Latin neuter nominative singular and neuter accusative singular are often identical.

So fictile could be either nominative or accusative in form, but the sentence structure tells you its job:

• figulus = nominative subject
• picat = transitive verb
• therefore fictile is understood as the direct object, so it is accusative singular

In other words, the potter is doing something to the earthenware object.

Fictile comes from fictilis, fictile, an adjective meaning made of clay, earthen, or pottery.

In this sentence it is being used substantively, meaning the adjective is standing on its own like a noun. So instead of meaning simply earthen, it means something like:

• an earthenware object
• a clay vessel
• a piece of pottery

Latin does this often: an adjective can function as a noun when the context makes the meaning clear.

Because it is a neuter singular form of a third-declension adjective.

For fictilis, fictile:

• masculine/feminine nominative singular = fictilis
• neuter nominative singular = fictile
• neuter accusative singular = fictile

So the object is fictile, not fictilem, because fictilem would be masculine or feminine accusative singular, not neuter.

This is one of the key patterns to learn: neuter nominative and accusative singular are the same.

No.

A learner might first wonder whether figulus fictile means something like the earthen potter, but that does not work grammatically here.

If fictile were describing figulus, it would have to agree with it in:

• case
• number
• gender

But figulus is masculine nominative singular, while fictile here is neuter singular. So they do not agree, and fictile cannot be an adjective modifying figulus in this sentence.

Instead, figulus is the subject and fictile is the object.

Picat is:

• third person singular
• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood

So it means he coats with pitch, she coats with pitch, or it coats with pitch.

Because the subject is figulus, we understand it as the potter coats with pitch.

The -t ending is the normal marker for third person singular in many Latin present-tense verbs.

Because classical Latin has no articles.

So:

• figulus can mean a potter or the potter
• fictile can mean an earthenware object or the earthenware object

Which one sounds best depends on the context. English forces you to choose a or the, but Latin usually does not.

Yes. Latin word order is much freer than English word order because the endings do much of the grammatical work.

So all of these could express basically the same idea:

• Figulus fictile picat
• Figulus picat fictile
• Fictile figulus picat

The endings still show who is doing the action and what is being acted on.

That said, word order can affect emphasis. For example, putting fictile first may highlight the object.

Here is the breakdown:

• figulus: a second-declension masculine noun
• fictile: from fictilis, fictile, a third-declension adjective, here used as a noun
• picat: from picare, a first-conjugation verb

So the sentence is a nice example of three different basic patterns appearing together.

In a common classroom pronunciation, something like:

FIG-oo-loos FIK-ti-leh PEE-kat

A few helpful points:

• g is always hard, as in go
• c is always hard, as in cat
• i is usually pronounced like ee
• the final -t in picat is pronounced

If you are learning restored classical pronunciation, that is the general idea. Ecclesiastical pronunciation would differ somewhat, especially in some vowels and consonants, but c before a would still be hard here.