Puella chartam sinistra tenet et dextra scribit.

the girl

Breakdown of Puella chartam sinistra tenet et dextra scribit.

• et: and
• scribere: to write
• tenere: to hold

Questions & Answers about Puella chartam sinistra tenet et dextra scribit.

Why is chartam ending in -am?

Because chartam is the accusative singular of charta. In this sentence, it is the direct object of tenet: the girl is holding the paper.

• charta = paper, sheet
• chartam = paper/sheet as the thing being held

A native English speaker often expects word order to show the object, but in Latin the case ending does that job.

Why are sinistra and dextra not in the accusative too?

Because they are not direct objects. Here they are in the ablative singular, meaning with the left hand and with the right hand.

So:

• sinistra = with the left hand
• dextra = with the right hand

Latin often leaves out the noun manu (hand) when it is obvious. So the fuller version would be something like:

• sinistra manu tenet et dextra manu scribit

But Latin commonly shortens this to just sinistra and dextra.

Is manu really understood even though it is not written?

Yes. This is a very common kind of omission in Latin. The adjective can stand by itself when the noun is easy to supply from context.