Puella in pariete imaginem navis pingit, et mater imaginem laudat.

Because puella is in the nominative case, which is the case normally used for the subject of a sentence.

• puella = girl (subject)
• pingit = paints

So puella ... pingit means the girl paints.

A native English speaker often looks first at word order, but in Latin the ending is usually more important than the position.

Because imaginem is in the accusative singular, the case used for a direct object.

Here, the direct object is the thing being painted and the thing being praised:

• puella ... imaginem navis pingit = the girl paints an image
• mater imaginem laudat = the mother praises the image

The basic dictionary form is imago, but when it is a direct object, it becomes imaginem.

Here navis is in the genitive singular, meaning of a ship.

So:

• imaginem navis = an image of a ship

It is not the direct object of pingit. The direct object is imaginem.
navis just tells you what kind of image it is.

This can be confusing because navis is also the nominative singular form of the noun navis, navis. In this sentence, though, the meaning and structure show that it is genitive: image of a ship.

Because in takes different cases depending on the meaning:

• in + ablative = in/on a place, with no motion toward it
• in + accusative = into/onto a place, with motion toward it

Here the image is being painted on the wall, so the phrase describes location, not motion:

• in pariete = on the wall

If the sentence were about moving something onto the wall, you would expect in parietem instead.

Yes, Latin often uses in where English would say on.

So in pariete can naturally mean on the wall in this context. Latin and English do not always divide spatial ideas in exactly the same way.

A learner should think of in broadly, and then let the context determine whether English wants in, on, or sometimes another preposition.

Latin can use pronouns, but it also very often repeats a noun where English would prefer a pronoun.

So:

• et mater imaginem laudat = and the mother praises the image

Latin repetition is often perfectly natural and can make the sentence clearer.
A pronoun such as eam could be used in some contexts, but repeating imaginem is not strange Latin.

Because the subject of the second clause is mater, which is singular:

• mater ... laudat = the mother praises

Even though there are two people mentioned in the whole sentence (puella and mater), each clause has its own subject:

1. Puella ... pingit
2. et mater ... laudat

So the verb in each clause agrees only with its own subject.

The conjunction et means and, so it links two clauses:

• Puella in pariete imaginem navis pingit
• et mater imaginem laudat

A good way to read it is to find each finite verb:

• pingit
• laudat

Each of those verbs has its own subject and structure, which helps you divide the sentence.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show the job of each word.

English depends heavily on order:

• The girl praises the mother is different from
• The mother praises the girl

Latin can move words around more freely because the endings help you identify subject, object, and so on.

In this sentence, the order is fairly natural, but not especially English-like. A learner should focus first on endings and structure, not just on left-to-right order.

Classical Latin does not have definite and indefinite articles like English the and a/an.

So:

• puella can mean the girl or a girl
• mater can mean the mother or a mother
• imaginem can mean the image or an image

The context tells you which is more natural in translation.

Because the verb endings already tell you the person and number.

• pingit = he/she/it paints
• laudat = he/she/it praises

So Latin usually does not need to add a separate subject pronoun unless it wants emphasis or contrast.

Instead of saying she paints, Latin can simply say pingit, and the ending already gives that information.

Pariete is ablative singular.

Its basic dictionary form is:

• paries = wall

After in meaning location, the noun goes into the ablative:

• in pariete = on the wall

So this is a good example of a third-declension noun changing form after a preposition.

A useful breakdown is:

• Puella — nominative singular, subject
• in pariete — prepositional phrase with ablative, location
• imaginem — accusative singular, direct object
• navis — genitive singular, of a ship
• pingit — verb, paints
• et — and
• mater — nominative singular, subject
• imaginem — accusative singular, direct object
• laudat — verb, praises

If you train yourself to spot:

1. the verbs,
2. the nominative subjects,
3. the accusative objects,
4. and any prepositional phrases,

Latin sentences become much easier to read.