Bona discipula praemium accipit, quia officium suum bene facit.

Bona means good, and it is describing discipula (student, specifically a female student).

In Latin, adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

So because discipula is feminine singular nominative, bona is also feminine singular nominative.

So bona discipula = the good student or a good student.

Discipula is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of a sentence.

Also, the verb accipit means she receives or he/she receives, and discipula matches that as the person doing the action.

So in Bona discipula praemium accipit, the student is the one receiving the reward.

Praemium is the direct object of accipit. It is the thing being received, so it is in the accusative singular.

A useful detail:

• praemium is a second-declension neuter noun
• for many neuter nouns, the nominative singular and accusative singular look the same

So praemium could be nominative or accusative by form alone, but here its job in the sentence shows that it is accusative: the student receives the reward.

In officium suum bene facit, the verb facit means does or performs, and officium is what she does.

That makes officium the direct object of facit, so it is also accusative singular.

Again, officium is neuter, so its accusative singular looks the same as its nominative singular.

Suum is the reflexive possessive adjective. It means his/her/its own and refers back to the subject of its clause.

In quia officium suum bene facit, the understood subject of facit is the same student. So suum means her own.

Important point: suum agrees with officium, not with the owner.

So:

• officium = neuter singular accusative
• therefore suum = neuter singular accusative

Latin possessive adjectives agree with the thing possessed, not the possessor.

It agrees with officium.

That may feel strange to an English speaker, because in English we think mostly about the owner: her duty. But in Latin, suum must match the noun it describes:

• officium = neuter
• singular
• accusative

So we get suum.

If the possessed noun were feminine, plural, or in a different case, the form would change to match that noun.

Because bene is an adverb, and it modifies the verb facit.

• bonus, bona, bonum = good as an adjective
• bene = well as an adverb

In English, we also say she does her duty well, not she does her duty good.

So:

• bona discipula = good student
• bene facit = does well

Both are present tense, indicative mood, active voice, third person singular.

So:

• accipit = she receives / is receiving
• facit = she does / is doing

In this sentence, the natural English translation is usually simple present:

• The good student receives a reward, because she does her duty well.

Latin often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already tells you the person and number.

Facit means he/she/it does. Since the sentence is about discipula, we understand that the student is the one doing the action.

So Latin does not need to say ea facit unless it wants extra emphasis.

Quia means because and introduces a clause giving the reason.

So the sentence is structured like this:

• main clause: Bona discipula praemium accipit
• reason clause: quia officium suum bene facit

In other words:

• The good student receives a reward
• because she does her duty well

It is a very natural Latin word order, but Latin word order is much freer than English word order because case endings show each word’s job.

Here the order is:

• Bona discipula = subject phrase
• praemium = object
• accipit = verb
• quia = because
• officium suum = object phrase
• bene = adverb
• facit = verb

A learner should notice that the verbs come near the end of each clause, which is very common in Latin, though not required.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Latin has no articles like the or a/an. So bona discipula could be:

• a good student
• the good student

You decide from the context or from the translation being used in your course.

Yes. Officium can have a range of meanings, depending on context, such as:

• duty
• task
• service
• responsibility
• office in some contexts

In a beginner sentence like this, duty is a very natural translation. But it is helpful to remember that Latin words often cover a wider range than a single English word.

Latin often uses very ordinary verbs in combinations that English may treat as set phrases.

Here:

• facere officium literally means to do one's duty or to perform one's duty

So Latin expresses the idea with:

• officium = duty
• facit = does

That is a normal and straightforward way to say it.

Yes, to a large extent. Because the endings show the grammatical roles, Latin can move words around more freely than English.

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

• Praemium bona discipula accipit, quia officium suum bene facit.
• Bona discipula, quia officium suum bene facit, praemium accipit.

But the original version is clear and natural for a learner. Different word orders can add emphasis, but the basic meaning stays the same.