Puer mensam manu contingit.

The subject is puer: the boy is the one doing the action.

The direct object is mensam: the table is the thing being touched.

Latin often shows these roles by word endings, not mainly by word order:

• puer = nominative singular, used for the subject
• mensam = accusative singular, used for the direct object

Because puer is the nominative singular form, and the nominative is the case normally used for the subject of the sentence.

So:

• puer = the boy as subject
• puerum would be accusative, used if boy were the object instead

In this sentence, the boy is doing the touching, so puer is correct.

Because it is the direct object of the verb.

The noun mensa is a first-declension noun:

• mensa = nominative singular
• mensam = accusative singular

Since the table is what the boy touches, Latin puts mensa into the accusative case: mensam.

manu is ablative singular of manus, meaning hand.

Here it is an ablative of means or instrument, which tells you by means of what the action is done. So manu means:

• with a hand
• more naturally in English here: with his hand

Latin often uses the ablative like this without any extra preposition.

Because Latin commonly uses the plain ablative by itself to express the instrument or means.

So:

• manu contingit = touches with the hand / with his hand

Using cum is not the normal choice here. With a simple instrument like hand, Latin usually just uses the ablative alone.

Latin often leaves out a possessive word when it is obvious from the context, especially with body parts.

So manu can naturally mean with his hand here, even though Latin does not explicitly say his.

If Latin wanted to be more explicit, it could say manu sua. But in a simple sentence like this, that is often unnecessary.

Because Classical Latin has no articles.

Latin does not have separate words that exactly match English the or a/an. Whether you translate a noun as the boy, a boy, the table, or a table depends on the context.

So:

• puer can mean the boy or a boy
• mensam can mean the table or a table

English has to choose an article; Latin usually does not.

Contingit is the third-person singular present active indicative form of contingere.

That means:

• third person singular = he/she/it
• present = happening now
• active = the subject performs the action
• indicative = a normal statement

So contingit means he touches or she touches or it touches, depending on the subject. Because the subject here is puer, it means the boy touches.

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

So all of these could mean basically the same thing:

• Puer mensam manu contingit.
• Puer manu mensam contingit.
• Mensam puer manu contingit.
• Manu puer mensam contingit.

The version with the verb at the end, contingit, is very natural in Latin.

Different word orders can give slightly different emphasis, but the core meaning stays the same.

Because manus is not a second-declension noun at all. It is a fourth-declension noun.

That is important because its forms are different:

• nominative singular: manus
• accusative singular: manum
• ablative singular: manu

Also, manus is usually feminine, even though it ends in -us. So English speakers should not assume that every noun in -us is masculine or second declension.

Not always. In different contexts, contingere can have several meanings, such as touch, reach, or even happen / befall.

But in this sentence, with mensam as a direct object and manu as the instrument, the meaning is clearly the physical one: to touch.