Servus parvam sportam ad forum portat.

Latin usually shows the subject by case (and often by position, though that’s less important).

• Servus is nominative singular, so it’s the subject: the one doing the carrying.
• sportam is accusative singular, so it’s the direct object: the thing being carried.

Because it’s the direct object of the verb portat (he carries), and direct objects are typically in the accusative case.

• Dictionary form: sporta (nominative singular)
• In this sentence: sportam (accusative singular)

Because parvam is an adjective modifying sportam, and adjectives must agree with their nouns in:

• case: accusative (because sportam is accusative)
• number: singular
• gender: feminine (because sporta is feminine)

So: parva (nom. fem. sg.) → parvam (acc. fem. sg.) to match sportam.

Forum is accusative singular here because it follows the preposition ad, which takes the accusative when it means motion toward a place.

• ad forum = to/toward the forum

Many Latin prepositions “govern” (require) a particular case. Ad almost always governs the accusative, especially for motion toward:

• ad + accusative = to, toward, up to

(Contrast: some other prepositions use the ablative, but ad doesn’t.)

Portat is a present-tense verb meaning he/she/it carries. The -t ending tells you:

• 3rd person singular (he/she/it)
• present indicative active

The subject servus (a masculine noun) makes it natural to translate as he carries, but the verb form itself just means (someone) carries.

You usually don’t need a separate word for he because the verb ending already indicates the person and number.

• portat already implies he/she/it carries Latin can include is/ille etc. for emphasis, but it’s not required.

Latin word order is flexible because the endings show the grammatical roles. You could rearrange without changing the basic meaning, for example:

• Servus sportam parvam ad forum portat
• Ad forum servus parvam sportam portat They may differ in emphasis or style, but the cases still signal who does what to whom.

Capitalization in Latin manuscripts varied, but in modern printed Latin:

• The first word of a sentence is typically capitalized (so Servus).
• Proper names are usually capitalized. It’s an editorial/typographical convention more than a grammatical one.

Latin has no definite or indefinite articles (no “the” or “a”). So servus can mean:

• a slave
• the slave The context decides which sounds better in English.

• servus is 2nd declension masculine (common pattern: -us nominative singular).
• sporta is 1st declension feminine (common pattern: -a nominative singular).
• forum is 2nd declension neuter (common pattern: -um nominative singular).

You tell largely from their nominative endings and from dictionary entries (which also give the genitive form).

A common “classical” style pronunciation would be approximately:

• Servus: SEHR-woos
• parvam: PAR-wam (with v like English w)
• sportam: SPOR-tam
• ad: ahd
• forum: FOH-rum
• portat: POR-taht