Amicus cirrum in speculo videt.

Here is the basic breakdown:

• amicus = the subject
  It is the person who does the seeing.

• cirrum = the direct object
  It is the thing being seen.

• in speculo = a prepositional phrase
  It tells you where the thing is seen: in the mirror.

• videt = the verb
  It means sees.

So the sentence structure is essentially:

subject + object + prepositional phrase + verb

Because amicus is in the nominative singular, which is the case typically used for the subject of a sentence.

Also, the verb videt is third-person singular, so it matches a singular subject such as amicus.

So:

• amicus = the friend as subject
• videt = sees

Together, they give the friend sees or a friend sees.

Because cirrum is the accusative singular form, and Latin uses the accusative for a direct object.

The dictionary form is:

• cirrus = nominative singular

But in this sentence, the friend is seeing the curl, so cirrus must change to cirrum.

A simple contrast:

• cirrus = a curl as subject
• cirrum = a curl as object

English usually does not change the noun form, but Latin does.

Speculo is ablative singular.

That is because the preposition in takes the ablative when it means in or on in the sense of location.

So:

• in speculo = in the mirror

This is different from in with the accusative, which usually expresses motion into something.

For example:

• in speculo = in the mirror
• in speculum = into the mirror

In this sentence, the idea is location, not motion, so the ablative is used.

No. In can take either the ablative or the accusative, depending on the meaning.

• in + ablative = location
  in the mirror

• in + accusative = motion toward or into
  into the mirror

So in this sentence, in speculo uses the ablative because it answers where?, not where to?

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

Latin often puts the verb at or near the end of the sentence, especially in simple prose. That is very normal.

So while English strongly prefers:

The friend sees the curl in the mirror

Latin can naturally say:

Amicus cirrum in speculo videt

The endings tell you what each word is doing, so Latin does not rely as heavily on word order as English does.

Yes, often it could.

For example, these would still basically mean the same thing:

• Amicus cirrum in speculo videt
• Cirrum amicus in speculo videt
• In speculo amicus cirrum videt

The core meaning stays the same because the cases show the grammar:

• amicus = subject
• cirrum = object
• speculo = ablative after in

However, different word orders can change the emphasis or what sounds most natural in context.

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

So:

• amicus can mean a friend or the friend
• cirrum can mean a curl or the curl

You decide from the context which is best in translation.

That is why one Latin sentence can often be translated into English in more than one reasonable way.

Videt comes from the verb video, videre, meaning to see.

Its form here is:

• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood
• third person singular

So videt means:

• he sees
• she sees
• it sees

Since the subject is amicus, the natural translation is the friend sees or a friend sees.

In this sentence, in speculo is most naturally understood with the whole idea of seeing something in the mirror.

So the sense is:

• the friend sees the curl
• and the place of that sight is in the mirror

In practice, English and Latin both understand this very naturally as sees the curl in the mirror.

It is not expressed in this sentence.

Latin often leaves possession unstated when it is obvious from the context. So if the meaning shown to the learner is the friend sees his curl in the mirror, the his is being understood rather than directly stated.

If Latin wanted to make that explicit, it could say:

• Amicus cirrum suum in speculo videt

Here suum means his own.

So the sentence without suum is a little less specific, and context supplies the rest.

The dictionary forms are:

• amicus, amici = friend
• cirrus, cirri = curl, lock of hair, tuft
• speculum, speculi = mirror
• video, videre, vidi, visum = see

These dictionary forms are useful because they tell you what declension or conjugation a word belongs to and help you recognize other forms.

In a basic Classical pronunciation, roughly:

AH-mee-koos KEER-room in SPEH-koo-loh WIH-det

A few helpful points:

• c is always hard, like k
• v is pronounced like an English w in Classical pronunciation
• i in videt is short
• speculo has the stress on SPEH

So a more Roman-sounding version would be something like:

AH-mee-koos KEER-room in SPEH-koo-loh WIH-det