Scalprum prope pittacium est.

Scalprum is nominative singular. It is the subject of the sentence—the thing being talked about.

The basic structure is:

• scalprum = the subject
• est = is
• prope pittacium = near the label/tag

So scalprum is the thing that is near something else.

Also, scalprum is a neuter second-declension noun, which is why its nominative singular ends in -um.

Because prope is a preposition meaning near, and it takes an object after it.

In this sentence, pittacium is the object of prope:

• prope pittacium = near the label/tag

So the phrase works as a unit describing location.

Prope takes the accusative case when it is used as a preposition.

So in prope pittacium, pittacium is accusative.

A useful thing to notice here is that pittacium is a neuter second-declension noun, and in neuter nouns the nominative singular and accusative singular look the same. So even though the form is pittacium, its function here is accusative because prope requires that case.

Because both nouns are neuter singular second-declension nouns.

For neuter second-declension nouns:

• nominative singular often ends in -um
• accusative singular also ends in -um

So:

• scalprum is nominative singular
• pittacium is accusative singular

They look similar because neuter nouns often have the same form in the nominative and accusative.

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

Putting est at the end is very normal in Latin. In fact, Latin often likes to place the verb at or near the end of the sentence.

So:

• Scalprum prope pittacium est
• Scalprum est prope pittacium
• Prope pittacium scalprum est

can all make sense, though the emphasis may shift slightly.

The version with est at the end sounds very natural and common in Latin.

Yes. Latin does not have articles like English the or a/an.

So scalprum can mean:

• the scalpel
• a scalpel

and pittacium can mean:

• the label/tag
• a label/tag

The exact sense usually comes from context.

Yes, to a large extent.

Because Latin shows grammatical roles through case endings, it does not depend as heavily on word order as English does.

For example, these are all possible:

• Scalprum prope pittacium est
• Prope pittacium scalprum est
• Scalprum est prope pittacium

They all mean roughly the same thing: the scalpel is near the label/tag.

However, different word orders can create different emphasis. A speaker might put an important word earlier or later for focus.

It is a simple equational / linking-verb sentence with a prepositional phrase of location.

Its parts are:

• scalprum — subject
• est — linking verb
• prope pittacium — prepositional phrase showing where the subject is

So the pattern is basically:

subject + location + is

This is a very common beginner sentence pattern in Latin.

It can be used in more than one way.

Most importantly for beginners:

• as a preposition
  • accusative: prope pittacium = near the label/tag

It can also sometimes function more like an adverb, meaning near or nearby, depending on context.

But in this sentence, it is clearly a preposition because it is followed by pittacium.

Both are second-declension neuter nouns.

That means they follow the neuter pattern like:

• nominative singular: -um
• accusative singular: -um
• nominative plural: -a
• accusative plural: -a

So these two nouns belong to the same declensional type, even though one is the subject and the other is the object of a preposition.

You tell by a combination of case and syntax.

• scalprum is in the nominative, which is the normal case for the subject.
• pittacium comes after prope, and prope takes the accusative.

So even though both forms end in -um, their roles are different:

• scalprum = subject
• pittacium = object of the preposition prope

This is a good example of why in Latin you always look at both the ending and the word’s relationship to other words.