Si discipula officium non facit, culpa eius clara est; si bene laborat, praemium accipit.

Si means if. The sentence has two separate conditional statements:

• Si discipula officium non facit, culpa eius clara est = if the student does not do her duty, her fault is clear.
• si bene laborat, praemium accipit = if she works well, she receives a reward.

Latin often repeats si when it gives two parallel if clauses like this.

Discipula means female student or schoolgirl and is the subject of the first clause. Latin often names the subject clearly at first, and then leaves it understood afterward.

So in the second clause, Latin does not need to repeat discipula or add ea. The verbs laborat and accipit naturally imply she.

Discipula is nominative singular. It is the subject of facit, so nominative is the correct case.

A learner may notice that discipula ends in -a, which is a common nominative singular ending for many first-declension feminine nouns.

Officium is the direct object of facit.

In discipula officium non facit, the student is the one doing the action, and officium is the thing being done. Direct objects take the accusative in Latin.

So:

• discipula = subject, nominative
• officium = direct object, accusative

Here officium means something like duty, task, or responsibility.

A native English speaker may first think of office, because the words are related, but in this sentence officium does not mean a room or workplace. It means the duty the student is supposed to carry out.

Non negates the verb, so non facit means does not do.

That is the normal and most straightforward placement in Latin: non usually comes right before the word it is negating, especially a verb.

That is because eius does not mean she. It means of her, his, her, or its, depending on context.

It is the genitive singular form of is, ea, id. In this sentence:

• culpa eius = her fault

So eius shows possession or association: the fault belongs to her.

Yes. By itself, eius can mean his, her, or its in the singular. Latin often relies on context to show which one is meant.

Here the context makes her the natural translation, because the subject is discipula, a female student.

Because culpa is the subject of est, so it must be nominative, not accusative.

In this clause:

• culpa = subject
• clara = adjective describing culpa
• est = is

Since culpa is feminine nominative singular, clara must also be feminine nominative singular to agree with it.

That is why the clause is:

• culpa eius clara est = her fault is clear

not an accusative form like culpam or claram.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order. Both culpa eius clara est and culpa eius est clara are possible in principle.

Putting clara before est is very natural Latin. The important thing is not the position but the agreement:

• culpa = feminine singular nominative
• clara = feminine singular nominative

So the meaning stays clear regardless of the exact order.

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

• bene = well
• laborat = works

So bene laborat means she works well.

By contrast, bona is an adjective meaning good in a feminine form. Adjectives describe nouns, not verbs. Since the sentence is describing how she works, Latin needs the adverb bene, not the adjective bona.

They are all present tense, third person singular, indicative mood.

That means:

• facit = she does / makes
• est = she/it is
• laborat = she works
• accipit = she receives

In English, these are often translated with the simple present: does, is, works, receives.

Latin often uses the present tense in general or regular conditions, just as English can.

So si bene laborat, praemium accipit means something like:

• if she works well, she receives a reward
• or more naturally in English, if she works well, she gets a reward

Depending on context, English may prefer will receive, but Latin does not need a future tense here to express a general truth or repeated situation.

Because Latin often leaves the subject understood when the verb ending already tells you who it is.

Both laborat and accipit are third person singular, and the context already introduced discipula. So Latin naturally understands:

• si bene laborat = if she works well
• praemium accipit = she receives a reward

Repeating the subject would usually be unnecessary unless the writer wanted extra emphasis or contrast.

Praemium is accusative singular, because it is the direct object of accipit.

In other words:

• the student is doing the receiving
• the reward is the thing received

So praemium accipit means she receives a reward.

The semicolon separates the two parallel parts of the sentence more strongly than a comma would.

It shows that the sentence contains two related conditional statements:

• one about failing in duty and blame
• one about working well and receiving a reward

In Latin, punctuation is less ancient than the language itself, but in modern printed Latin this semicolon helps the reader see the structure clearly.

Yes. It is a straightforward if sentence, often called a simple or general condition.

Both clauses use si + present indicative, followed by a present indicative result:

• Si discipula officium non facit, culpa eius clara est
• si bene laborat, praemium accipit

This type is commonly used for ordinary facts, habits, or general situations.