Miles puerum ex aqua eripit.

It is singular: miles = soldier.

That can feel strange to an English speaker, because an -s ending often looks plural in English. But in Latin, noun endings work differently. Miles is a 3rd-declension nominative singular form.

Its plural is milites = soldiers.

So in this sentence, miles means one soldier, not soldiers.

Because miles is in the nominative case, which is the case usually used for the subject of the sentence.

Also, the verb eripit is 3rd person singular, so it goes naturally with a singular subject: miles.

So:

• miles = the one doing the action
• puerum = the one receiving the action

Because puerum is the accusative singular of puer.

The accusative case is usually used for the direct object, the person or thing directly affected by the verb. Here, the boy is the one being rescued, so Latin puts puer into the accusative:

• puer = boy as a subject
• puerum = boy as a direct object

So Miles puerum eripit means The soldier rescues the boy.

Because the preposition ex takes the ablative case, not the accusative.

So:

• dictionary form: aqua
• ablative singular: aqua

That means:

• ex aqua = out of the water / from the water

Many Latin prepositions require a specific case, and ex is one of the ones that regularly takes the ablative.

Ex means out of or from. It is a very natural choice when someone is being pulled or rescued from something surrounding them, such as water.

So ex aqua eripit gives the idea of:

• pulling the boy out of the water
• rescuing him from the water

An English speaker might think simply from, but Latin often chooses a preposition that shows the physical idea more precisely.

Eripit is:

• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood
• 3rd person singular

It comes from the verb eripio, eripere = snatch out, rescue, take away.

So eripit means:

• he rescues
• she rescues
• it rescues

In this sentence, because the subject is miles, it means the soldier rescues.

Because the subject, miles, is singular.

In Latin, verbs agree with their subject in person and number. Since miles means one soldier, the verb must also be singular:

• miles ... eripit = the soldier rescues
• milites ... eripiunt = the soldiers rescue

So the ending -it helps confirm that the subject is singular.

Not as much as it is in English.

Latin relies heavily on case endings, so the endings tell you what each word is doing. That means Latin word order is more flexible than English word order.

In this sentence:

• miles is the subject because it is nominative
• puerum is the object because it is accusative
• aqua is ablative after ex
• eripit is the verb

So even if the order changed, the basic meaning could stay the same. For example, Latin could also say:

• Puerum miles ex aqua eripit
• Ex aqua miles puerum eripit

The sentence you have is a very normal and clear arrangement.

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

So a Latin noun like miles can mean:

• a soldier
• the soldier

And puerum can mean:

• a boy
• the boy

You figure out which is meant from the context. In a short teaching sentence like this, English usually supplies the because it sounds natural: The soldier rescues the boy from the water.

Here are the usual dictionary forms:

• miles, militis = soldier
• puer, pueri = boy
• aqua, aquae = water
• eripio, eripere, eripui, ereptum = snatch out, rescue

This is useful because the form you see in a sentence is often not the same as the dictionary form:

• puerum comes from puer
• aqua here is an ablative form of aqua
• eripit comes from eripio

They belong to different declensions:

• miles, militis = 3rd declension
• puer, pueri = 2nd declension
• aqua, aquae = 1st declension

That matters because each declension has its own pattern of endings. For example:

• puer becomes puerum in the accusative singular
• aqua can be aqua in the nominative singular or ablative singular, depending on its role
• miles is a 3rd-declension nominative singular

Recognizing declensions helps you predict forms and understand sentences more quickly.