Discipulus epistulam ab amico accipit.

Because discipulus is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject of the sentence.

• discipulus = student
• nominative singular ending: -us for a second-declension masculine noun

So discipulus is the student, the one doing the action of receiving.

The ending -am shows that epistulam is accusative singular. The accusative case is commonly used for the direct object, the thing directly affected by the verb.

Here, the student is receiving a letter, so epistulam is the direct object.

• nominative: epistula = letter
• accusative: epistulam = letter as the object of the verb

Latin often uses the preposition ab or a to mean from, especially with a person or source. That preposition takes the ablative case, so amicus becomes amico.

• amicus = friend
• amico = ablative singular, used after ab

So:

• ab amico = from a friend

Both a and ab mean from, and both are used before the ablative. The usual rule taught to beginners is:

• ab is used before a vowel or h
• a is usually used before a consonant

Since amico begins with a vowel, Latin uses ab amico.

Accipit means he receives, she receives, or it receives, depending on the subject.

The ending -it tells you it is:

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

Since the subject is discipulus (student), here it means:

• the student receives

The dictionary form is accipio = I receive.

Latin has no articles like English the or a/an. A Latin noun can often mean either one, depending on context.

So:

• discipulus can mean the student or a student
• epistulam can mean the letter or a letter
• ab amico can mean from the friend or from a friend

You decide which is best from the context or the given translation.

Not as much as in English. Latin relies heavily on case endings, so the grammatical role of each word is shown by its form, not mainly by its position.

In this sentence:

• discipulus = subject
• epistulam = direct object
• ab amico = prepositional phrase
• accipit = verb

Because the endings make the roles clear, Latin can often rearrange the words without changing the basic meaning. For example, these could still mean essentially the same thing:

• Epistulam discipulus ab amico accipit.
• Ab amico discipulus epistulam accipit.

The word order can affect emphasis, but not the core grammar.

Amico is in the ablative singular.

It is ablative because the preposition ab requires the ablative. Many Latin prepositions always go with a particular case, and ab is one of the prepositions that takes the ablative.

So:

• amicus = nominative singular
• amico = ablative singular after ab

The ending tells you. Epistulam is accusative singular.

Compare:

• epistula = nominative singular
• epistulam = accusative singular
• epistulae = nominative plural
• epistulas = accusative plural

So if the sentence said epistulas, it would mean letters as the direct object. But epistulam means a letter or the letter.

Yes. The Latin present tense often covers both a simple present and a progressive present, depending on context.

So accipit can be translated as:

• receives
• is receiving

In a basic sentence like this, English usually chooses receives, but is receiving can also be grammatically possible.

They come from two different declensions:

• discipulus is second declension masculine
• epistula is first declension feminine
• amicus is second declension masculine

That is why their endings change differently:

• discipulus → subject form in -us
• epistulam → object form in -am
• amico → ablative form in -o

Recognizing declensions helps you predict the endings and understand each noun's job in the sentence.

A common classroom pronunciation would be roughly:

• Dis-CIP-u-lus
• e-pis-TU-lam
• ab a-MEE-co
• ak-KI-pit

In more classical pronunciation:

• c is always hard, like k
• v would sound like w, though there is no v here
• stress usually falls according to Latin stress rules, so discipulus is stressed on cip, epistulam on tu, and accipit on the first ci sound after ac-

A rough full reading is:

dis-KIP-u-lus e-pis-TOO-lam ab a-MEE-ko ak-KI-pit

Because the verb ending already includes the person and number.

Accipit already means:

• he receives
• she receives
• it receives

So Latin does not need to add a pronoun unless it wants extra emphasis or contrast.

Here, the noun discipulus already tells us who the subject is, so a separate word for he would be unnecessary.