Serva cochleari parvo lac miscet et puero dat.

Serva is nominative singular. In Latin, the subject of a finite verb is normally in the nominative case, so serva is the one doing the actions of miscet and dat.

It comes from serva, servae, a first-declension feminine noun.

Cochleari parvo is in the ablative singular because it expresses means or instrument: the action is done with a small spoon.

Latin often uses the ablative without a preposition for this idea. So:

• cochleari parvo = with a small spoon

This is called the ablative of means or instrumental ablative.

Because adjectives in Latin agree with the nouns they modify in case, number, and gender.

Here:

• cochleari = ablative singular neuter
• parvo = ablative singular neuter

So parvo matches cochleari, giving the phrase cochleari parvo = with a small spoon.

It is the ablative singular of cochlear, cochlearis, a third-declension neuter noun meaning spoon.

Its forms are a little less familiar to beginners because it is not a first- or second-declension noun. In this sentence you only need to recognize that cochleari is an ablative singular form.

Lac is a third-declension neuter noun. Its dictionary form is lac, lactis.

In neuter nouns, the nominative and accusative singular are the same, so the direct object here is simply lac.

So:

• nominative singular: lac
• accusative singular: lac
• genitive singular: lactis

That is why the form does not change here.

Because miscet is a transitive verb, and lac is the thing being mixed.

Even though lac looks the same in the nominative and accusative, the sentence structure makes its role clear:

• serva = the subject
• lac = what she mixes

So lac is the accusative direct object of miscet.

Miscet is:

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

It comes from misceo, miscere = to mix.

So miscet means he/she/it mixes. Here, because the subject is serva, it means she mixes.

Because puero is the indirect object: it marks the person to whom something is given.

With do, dare (to give), Latin often uses:

• accusative for the thing given
• dative for the recipient

So here:

• the thing given is lac
• the recipient is puero = to the boy

Puero is the dative singular of puer, pueri.

Latin often leaves out words that are easily understood from context.

After lac miscet, the listener already knows what is being talked about, so dat can simply mean gives with the object understood. In English we often say gives it, but Latin does not have to repeat the object if it is obvious.

So the sense is:

• she mixes the milk and gives it to the boy

even though Latin does not explicitly say it.

Because the same subject continues for both verbs.

Latin, like English, does not need to repeat the subject when it stays the same:

• Serva ... miscet et ... dat
  = The slave woman mixes ... and gives ...

Once serva has been stated, it naturally applies to both miscet and dat.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because case endings show what each word is doing.

So this sentence could be rearranged in other ways and still mean basically the same thing, as long as the forms remain clear. But the given order is natural and easy to follow:

• Serva first: the subject
• cochleari parvo next: the instrument
• lac before miscet: the thing being mixed
• puero dat at the end: the recipient and final verb

Latin often likes to place an important verb near the end, and here dat finishes the sentence.

Latin has no articles. There is no separate word exactly equivalent to English the or a/an.

So serva can mean:

• a slave woman
• the slave woman

and puero can mean:

• to a boy
• to the boy

The context tells you which is more natural.

Et simply links the two verbs:

• miscet
• dat

So the sentence has one subject, serva, doing two actions:

1. she mixes
2. she gives

This is a very common Latin pattern.