Poeta carmen breve scribere vult.

Because poeta is a first-declension noun, and many first-declension nouns end in -a in the nominative singular. Even though that ending is often associated with feminine nouns, some first-declension nouns referring to professions or roles can be masculine, especially ones borrowed from Greek.

So in this sentence:

• poeta = the poet
• it is masculine in meaning
• but it still has the first-declension ending -a

Its basic forms are:

• poeta = nominative singular
• poetae = genitive singular

You know because poeta is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of a sentence.

Also, the verb vult means he/she wants and is third person singular, so it matches a singular subject. In this sentence, poeta is the noun in the nominative, so it is the one doing the wanting.

So:

• poeta = subject
• vult = main verb
• poeta vult = the poet wants

Because carmen is not nominative here; it is accusative singular. With this noun, the nominative singular and accusative singular happen to look the same, but its role in the sentence shows that it is the direct object.

The structure is:

• poeta = subject
• vult = wants
• scribere = to write
• carmen breve = a short poem / short song

So the poet is not being written; the poet is doing the writing. That makes carmen the object of scribere.

Carmen is accusative singular here because it is the direct object of scribere.

The poet wants to write what?
Answer: carmen breve

That means carmen is receiving the action of writing, so it goes in the accusative.

A useful thing to know is that carmen is a third-declension neuter noun:

• nominative singular: carmen
• accusative singular: carmen
• genitive singular: carminis

Because it is neuter, nominative and accusative singular have the same form.

Because breve must agree with carmen.

The adjective brevis, breve means short. Since carmen is:

• neuter
• singular
• accusative

the adjective must also be:

• neuter
• singular
• accusative

For this adjective, the neuter nominative/accusative singular form is breve.

So:

• brevis = masculine/feminine nominative singular
• breve = neuter nominative or accusative singular

Since carmen is neuter, breve is the correct form.

Yes. Breve is an adjective modifying carmen.

You can tell because it agrees with carmen in:

• gender: neuter
• number: singular
• case: accusative

Latin adjectives match the nouns they describe. So carmen breve means a short poem/song.

Because it depends on vult.

In Latin, verbs like volo (want), possum (can), and debeo (ought / must) are often followed by an infinitive. This is much like English:

• The poet wants to write
• Poeta scribere vult

So scribere is the infinitive meaning to write, and it completes the meaning of vult.

Yes. This is a very standard Latin construction:

• vult = wants
• scribere = to write

Together, scribere vult means wants to write.

Latin often uses a main verb + infinitive in exactly this way, just as English does.

Because Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order.

Latin often puts the main verb at or near the end, although this is not required. Since Latin shows grammatical roles mainly through endings, not position, the sentence can be rearranged more freely without changing the basic meaning.

For example, these all mean essentially the same thing:

• Poeta carmen breve scribere vult.
• Poeta vult carmen breve scribere.
• Carmen breve poeta scribere vult.

The usual differences are in emphasis, not basic meaning.

Yes. Because Latin uses cases and verb endings, word order is not as fixed as in English.

This sentence could be rearranged in several ways:

• Poeta carmen breve scribere vult
• Poeta vult carmen breve scribere
• Carmen breve poeta scribere vult

All still mean The poet wants to write a short poem/song.

However, different word orders can sound more natural in different contexts or put emphasis on different words.

Because Latin has no articles like English the and a/an.

So poeta can mean:

• the poet
• a poet

and carmen breve can mean:

• the short poem
• a short poem

Which one is best depends on the context. If the meaning has already been given to the learner, that choice has already been made in translation, but the Latin itself does not mark it with an article.

By itself, vult only tells you third person singular: he/she/it wants.

The actual gender comes from the subject noun. Here the subject is poeta, which is normally a masculine noun, so in this sentence vult is understood as he wants.

If the subject were feminine, the same verb form vult could still be used, because Latin verbs do not usually change form for masculine vs. feminine subjects.

Here are the usual dictionary forms:

• poeta, poetae = poet
• carmen, carminis = song, poem
• brevis, breve = short
• scribo, scribere, scripsi, scriptum = write
• volo, velle, volui = want

These dictionary forms are important because Latin words change shape depending on their role in the sentence.

It can mean either, depending on context.

The noun carmen has a wider range than a single English word. It can refer to:

• a song
• a poem
• a chant
• a verse

In many beginner sentences, poem is a natural translation, but song is also possible in some contexts. The Latin grammar of the sentence does not change either way.

The sentence follows this basic pattern:

• subject: poeta
• object: carmen breve
• infinitive: scribere
• main verb: vult

So the structure is:

subject + object + infinitive + main verb

More literally, you could think of it as:

The poet a short poem to write wants.

That sounds unnatural in English, but it shows how the Latin pieces fit together.