Pater de scalis descendit et servam vocat.

Pater is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject in Latin. It means father. So pater is the one doing both actions: descendit and vocat.

Also, the two verbs are both third-person singular, which matches a single subject: father.

Because scalis is ablative plural. It is governed by the preposition de, which takes the ablative.

So:

• de = from / down from
• scalis = stairs in the ablative plural

A very important detail is that scalae is often used in the plural in Latin, much like English stairs. So de scalis means from the stairs or more naturally in English, down the stairs.

Latin often expresses this idea with a preposition + noun rather than a single adverb. With a verb like descendit, de scalis is a natural way to show movement downward from the stairs.

Literally it is from the stairs, but in smoother English we usually say down the stairs.

Descendit is third-person singular from descendere, meaning to descend / come down.

In form, descendit can be either:

• present: he comes down / he is coming down / he descends
• perfect: he came down / he descended

So the spelling is ambiguous by itself. You tell which tense it is from the context or from the translation already given to you.

Because servam is the direct object of vocat.

The verb vocare means to call, and the person being called is the object, so Latin uses the accusative case:

• serva = a female slave/servant as subject
• servam = a female slave/servant as object

So servam vocat means he calls the female slave/servant.

Strictly speaking, serva usually means female slave in classical Latin. In some beginner materials it may be translated more gently as servant or maidservant, depending on the context.

So the word has a stronger meaning than modern English servant often does.

Because Latin has no definite or indefinite article. In other words, Latin has no separate words for the, a, or an.

So:

• pater can mean father, a father, or the father
• servam can mean a female slave or the female slave

The exact meaning comes from context.

Because the same subject, pater, naturally continues for both verbs.

So the sentence works like this:

• Pater de scalis descendit
• et servam vocat

That means Father comes down the stairs and calls the female slave.

Latin does not need to repeat pater unless the writer wants extra emphasis or clarity.

Not as much as it would be in English. Latin word order is fairly flexible because the endings show what each word is doing.

This sentence has a straightforward order:

• Pater = subject
• de scalis = prepositional phrase
• descendit = verb
• et = and
• servam = object
• vocat = verb

But Latin could move some of these words around without changing the basic meaning. The endings, especially -am in servam, help you see the grammar.

Et simply means and. It joins the two actions done by the same subject:

• descendit = comes down
• vocat = calls

So et links them into one sentence: Father comes down the stairs and calls the female slave.