Agricola arborem caedit.

Because agricola is a first-declension noun that is masculine in meaning.

In Latin, a noun’s declension and a noun’s gender are related, but they are not the same thing. Many first-declension nouns are feminine, but some that refer to traditionally male roles are masculine, such as:

• agricola = farmer
• nauta = sailor
• poēta = poet

So agricola looks like a typical first-declension noun, but it is grammatically masculine.

You know because agricola is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of the sentence.

Here the forms are:

• agricola = nominative singular, the farmer
• arborem = accusative singular, the tree
• caedit = he/she cuts down / strikes / chops

So agricola is the doer of the action.

Because arborem is the accusative singular form of arbor.

The noun arbor means tree in its dictionary form, which is the nominative singular. But in this sentence, the tree is the direct object — it is the thing being cut. Latin marks that with the accusative case:

• arbor = tree, as subject
• arborem = tree, as direct object

So arborem means the tree as the thing the farmer is cutting.

They are:

• agricola — nominative singular
• arborem — accusative singular

The nominative marks the subject, and the accusative marks the direct object.

So the sentence structure is:

• subject: the farmer
• object: the tree
• verb: cuts / chops down

Caedit is the third-person singular present active indicative of caedō.

That means:

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

So caedit means he cuts, she cuts, or it cuts, depending on the subject. Here, with agricola, it means the farmer cuts.

The verb caedō has a range of meanings depending on context, including:

• strike
• cut
• hew
• slay
• cut down

With arborem (tree), the natural sense is something like cuts down, chops, or hews a tree.

So even if the translation shown to the learner is simple, the Latin verb itself can be a little broader in meaning.

Because Latin has no articles like English the or a/an.

So:

• agricola can mean farmer, a farmer, or the farmer
• arborem can mean tree, a tree, or the tree

You decide from the context which English wording sounds most natural.

Yes. Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show grammatical function.

These could all mean basically the same thing:

• Agricola arborem caedit.
• Arborem agricola caedit.
• Caedit agricola arborem.
• Arborem caedit agricola.

The endings still show who is doing the action and what is being acted on.

That said, word order in Latin can change the emphasis. For example:

• Agricola arborem caedit is a straightforward statement.
• Arborem agricola caedit may emphasize the tree.
• Caedit agricola arborem may emphasize the action cuts.

Because Latin relies much more on inflection, meaning changes in word endings.

In English, word order usually tells you who is doing what:

• The farmer cuts the tree ≠ The tree cuts the farmer

In Latin, the endings do that work:

• agricola shows the subject
• arborem shows the object

So Latin can move words around more freely without causing as much confusion.

It is singular.

The nominative singular form is agricola = farmer.
The nominative plural would be agricolae = farmers.

So this sentence is about one farmer, not several.

It is singular.

Arborem is the accusative singular of arbor. If the sentence meant trees as the direct object, you would expect a plural form instead.

So here the farmer is cutting one tree.

A simple parsing would look like this:

• Agricola

  • noun
  • first declension
  • nominative singular
  • masculine
  • subject

• arborem

  • noun
  • third declension
  • accusative singular
  • feminine
  • direct object

• caedit

  • verb
  • from caedō, caedere
  • third-person singular
  • present active indicative

This is a good habit when learning Latin, because it helps you see how the sentence is built.

A classroom-style pronunciation would be roughly:

• Agricola = ah-GREE-ko-la
• arborem = AR-bo-rem
• caedit = often KAI-dit in a more classical pronunciation tradition

So the full sentence is approximately:

ah-GREE-ko-la AR-bo-rem KAI-dit

If your course uses a different pronunciation system, especially an ecclesiastical one, the exact sound may vary. But the spelling and grammar stay the same.