Discipula epistulam facile legit.

In Latin, the endings usually tell you the job of each word.

• discipula is nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject
• epistulam is accusative singular, which is the case normally used for the direct object

So even if the word order changed, the endings would still show that discipula is doing the action and epistulam is receiving it.

Because it is the direct object of legit.

The basic dictionary form is epistula, meaning letter. But when a first-declension noun is used as a direct object in the singular, it usually changes to the accusative singular ending -am:

• epistula = nominative singular
• epistulam = accusative singular

So epistulam means letter in the object form.

Here, discipula is nominative singular.

• nominative because it is the subject
• singular because it refers to one student

It comes from the first-declension noun discipula, meaning female student or schoolgirl.

Yes. Discipula is the feminine form.

Latin often marks natural gender in words for people:

• discipulus = male student
• discipula = female student

So this sentence is talking about a female student.

Facile is an adverb, meaning easily.

It describes how the reading is done, so it modifies the verb legit.

A helpful contrast:

• adjective: describes a noun
• adverb: describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb

Here facile is not describing discipula or epistulam. It is describing the action of reading.

Because facile is an adverb, not an adjective.

Adjectives in Latin change form to agree with nouns in gender, number, and case. But adverbs do not agree with nouns. They stay in an adverb form and modify the verb instead.

So in this sentence:

• discipula = noun
• epistulam = noun
• facile = adverb modifying legit

Also, if macrons are written, the adverb is facilē. Without macrons, it is usually written facile.

Here legit is third-person singular present indicative active of legere, meaning to read.

That means it means:

• he reads
• she reads
• it reads

Because the subject is discipula, we understand it here as she reads.

Yes, this is a very common point of confusion.

Without macrons, legit can represent two different forms:

• lĕgit = reads, present tense
• lēgit = read or has read, perfect tense

In texts that do not mark vowel length, you have to use context to tell which one is meant. Since the meaning has already been given to the learner here as present, we take it as reads.

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

So discipula can mean, depending on context:

• the student
• a student

And epistulam can mean:

• the letter
• a letter

English has to choose an article, but Latin usually leaves that to context.

Yes, the sentence could be rearranged, and Latin often does this.

Because the endings show the grammatical roles, Latin word order is freer than English word order. For example, these would still mean basically the same thing:

• Discipula epistulam facile legit
• Discipula facile epistulam legit
• Epistulam discipula legit
• Facile discipula epistulam legit

The main difference is usually emphasis or style, not basic meaning.

That is a natural place for an adverb in Latin, but it is not the only possible place.

Latin adverbs are fairly flexible. Putting facile near legit makes sense because it clearly shows that it modifies the verb. But Latin does not require a fixed adverb position the way English often prefers one.

So this placement is normal, but not the only correct one.

They come from very common patterns:

• discipula: first declension noun
• epistula: first declension noun
• legere: third conjugation verb
• facile / facilē: adverb related to facilis

So this sentence is a good example of two first-declension nouns with different cases, plus a third-conjugation verb.