Navis ripam contingit.

Because ripam is accusative singular of ripa, ripae.

In this sentence, ripam is the direct object of contingit. The verb contingere can mean to touch, to reach, or to come in contact with, and in that sense it takes a direct object in the accusative.

So:

• ripa = the bank/shore
• ripam = the bank/shore as the thing being touched or reached

Navis is nominative singular, and that is why it is the subject.

In a basic Latin sentence, the noun in the nominative is usually the doer of the action. Here:

• navis = the ship as subject
• contingit = touches / reaches

So navis is the thing doing the touching.

Contingit is:

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

It comes from the verb contingō, contingere.

That means it translates as he/she/it touches, reaches, or comes into contact with. Since the subject is navis (ship), the natural English sense is it touches or it reaches.

In Latin, finite verbs do not change form for gender. They change for person and number.

So whether the subject is masculine, feminine, or neuter, the same 3rd singular verb form is used:

• navis contingit = the ship touches
• puella contingit would still use a 3rd singular verb form
• templum contingit would also use a 3rd singular verb form

Gender matters for adjectives and some pronouns, but not for a present indicative active verb like contingit.

Navis is a 3rd-declension noun.

Its dictionary form is usually given as:

• navis, navis = ship

Some common forms are:

• nominative singular: navis
• accusative singular: navem
• genitive singular: navis
• nominative plural: navēs
• accusative plural: navēs

A learner might expect all feminine nouns to belong to the 1st declension, but many feminine nouns, including navis, are in the 3rd declension.

Ripa is a 1st-declension noun.

Its dictionary form is:

• ripa, ripae = bank, shore

Its singular forms include:

• nominative: ripa
• genitive: ripae
• accusative: ripam

So ripam is exactly what we expect for a 1st-declension feminine noun in the accusative singular.

Because Latin has no definite article and no indefinite article.

So Latin does not have separate words for:

• the
• a
• an

Whether you translate navis as ship, the ship, or a ship depends on context.

Likewise:

• ripam can mean the shore, a shore, or simply shore depending on the situation.

Yes, it could be rearranged.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because the case endings show the grammatical roles. So all of these could mean essentially the same thing:

• Navis ripam contingit
• Ripam navis contingit
• Contingit navis ripam
• Ripam contingit navis

The most straightforward order here is subject + object + verb, but Latin authors often move words around for emphasis, style, or rhythm.

Even if the order changes, the endings still tell you:

• navis = subject
• ripam = object

Yes, Latin sometimes uses a preposition with motion toward something, but with contingere it is very natural to use a direct object instead.

So Latin is not saying literally goes to the shore with a preposition like ad. Instead, it says that the ship touches or reaches the shore directly.

That is why you get:

• ripam contingit

rather than something like:

• ad ripam contingit

The verb itself already carries the idea of coming into contact with or reaching something.

It can mean something broader.

Depending on context, contingere can mean:

• to touch
• to reach
• to come in contact with
• sometimes even more figurative things in other contexts

In a sentence with navis and ripa, the sense is often something like:

• the ship touches the shore
• the ship reaches the shore
• the ship comes up to the bank

So the exact English wording depends on what nuance the teacher or text wants.

A common Classical pronunciation would be roughly:

NA-wis RI-pam kon-TING-git

A few helpful points:

• v sounds like English w
• c is always hard, like k
• g is always hard
• ti in contingit is just ti, not like English sh
• the ng in contingit is like the sound in finger, not like the final sound in sing by itself

So:

• navis ≈ NA-wis
• ripam ≈ RI-pam
• contingit ≈ kon-TING-git

Navis is feminine.

That matters mostly for things like adjectives or pronouns that might agree with it. In this sentence by itself, there is no adjective modifying navis, so its gender does not visibly affect much.

For example, if you added an adjective, it would need to agree:

• navis magna = the large ship

But the verb contingit stays the same regardless of gender.

You would identify each word like this:

• navis → dictionary form navis, navis
• ripam → dictionary form ripa, ripae
• contingit → dictionary form contingō, contingere, contigī, contactum

That is an important Latin skill: recognizing an inflected form in a sentence and tracing it back to its dictionary entry.

For example:

• ripam is not the form you would look up directly
• you would recognize it as an accusative singular form of ripa

Likewise:

• contingit is a present-tense form
• the dictionary gives you the verb under its 1st person singular present form, contingō