Serva ollam e culina portat et in mensa ponit.

The female servant carries the pot from the kitchen and puts it on the table.

Breakdown of Serva ollam e culina portat et in mensa ponit.

• et: and
• in: on
• mensa: the table
• culina: the kitchen

Questions & Answers about Serva ollam e culina portat et in mensa ponit.

Why does serva end in -a here?

Because serva is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative singular.

In this sentence, serva means the slave woman / maidservant and is the one doing the actions:

• portat = carries
• ponit = puts

For a first-declension noun like serva, the nominative singular often ends in -a.

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Why is ollam spelled with -am?

Because ollam is the direct object of the verb portat and also understood with ponit. It is the thing being carried and put down.

So:

• serva = the subject, the doer
• ollam = the object, the thing acted on

For a first-declension noun like olla, the accusative singular usually ends in -am:

• olla = nominative, pot
• ollam = accusative, pot as an object

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What does e culina mean, and why is it not e culinam?

e culina means out of the kitchen or simply from the kitchen.