Flos sine aqua moritur.

Flos is the nominative singular form, which is the case used for the subject of the sentence.

In Flos sine aqua moritur, the flower is the thing doing the action of the verb moritur (dies), so it must be in the nominative.

A quick comparison:

• flos = the flower as subject
• florem = the flower as direct object
• floris = of the flower

So Latin is using flos because the flower is the subject.

Because sine is a preposition that takes the ablative case.

The basic pattern is:

• sine + ablative = without ...

So:

• aqua is the ablative singular of aqua, aquae = water
• sine aqua = without water

This is something you simply learn as part of the preposition:

• cum amico = with a friend
• in urbe = in the city
• sine aqua = without water

Moritur comes from morior, mori, mortuus sum, meaning to die.

It is a deponent verb. That means it looks passive in form, but it has an active meaning.

So even though moritur ends in -tur, which often looks passive, it means:

• he dies
• she dies
• it dies

not is died.

This is very common for certain Latin verbs. With deponent verbs, you translate by meaning, not by appearance.

Because morior is a deponent verb, and deponent verbs use passive endings.

For the present tense:

• morior = I die
• moritur = he/she/it dies
• moriuntur = they die

So the -tur ending here is normal for a third-person singular deponent form.

Even though it looks passive, it is translated actively.

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

So flos can mean:

• a flower
• the flower

Which one you choose in English depends on context.

In a general statement like this, English often uses a flower or the flower depending on how you want to phrase it. Latin leaves that unstated.

Grammatically, flos is singular, so it literally says flower, not flowers.

But Latin often uses the singular to express a general truth, much like English sometimes does:

• The lion is a dangerous animal
• A flower dies without water

So this sentence can easily express a general idea, not necessarily one particular flower.

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

So these could all mean essentially the same thing:

• Flos sine aqua moritur
• Sine aqua flos moritur
• Moritur flos sine aqua

However, word order can affect emphasis:

• Flos sine aqua moritur = neutral
• Sine aqua flos moritur = emphasizes without water
• Moritur flos sine aqua = emphasizes dies

So the order is flexible, but not meaningless.

Because aqua belongs to the first declension:

• nominative singular: aqua
• genitive singular: aquae
• dative singular: aquae
• accusative singular: aquam
• ablative singular: aqua

You may notice that the nominative singular and ablative singular look the same in writing here. So how do you know which one it is?

You know from the preposition sine, because sine requires the ablative. That tells you aqua must be ablative here.

The dictionary entry is:

• flos, floris m. = flower

This tells you:

• nominative singular: flos
• genitive singular: floris
• gender: masculine

The stem is flor-, which you can see in forms like floris.

A common classroom pronunciation would be something like:

flos SEE-neh AH-kwah MOR-ee-toor

More roughly by word:

• flos = floss
• sine = SIH-neh or SEE-neh depending on pronunciation system
• aqua = AH-kwa
• moritur = MO-ri-tur or mor-ee-toor

If you are using restored classical pronunciation:

• c is always hard
• v sounds like w
• qu sounds like kw

There is no c or v here, but qu in aqua is a good example of the kw sound.

Yes. That would mean flowers die without water.

Here the subject is plural:

• flos = flower
• flores = flowers

And the verb also becomes plural:

• moritur = dies
• moriuntur = die

So:

• Flos sine aqua moritur = A flower dies without water
• Flores sine aqua moriuntur = Flowers die without water

Literally it means without water, but in context it can also imply for lack of water or in the absence of water.

Latin often expresses ideas in a compact way. So sine aqua moritur can naturally be understood as:

• dies without water
• dies for lack of water
• cannot survive without water

The exact English wording depends on style, but the Latin phrase itself is straightforward: sine + ablative = without.