Illud munus puellae gratum est, quia ipsa librum veterem semper legere amat.

Here puellae is dative singular, meaning to/for the girl.

The phrase gratum est often works with a dative:

• alicui gratus/grata/gratum est = is pleasing/welcome to someone

So:

• Illud munus puellae gratum est
  = That gift is pleasing to the girl

A native English speaker might first expect puella as the subject, but the subject is actually illud munus, while puellae tells you to whom the gift is pleasing.

Both words agree with munus, which is a neuter singular noun.

• illud = that (neuter singular)
• gratum = pleasing/welcome (neuter singular)
• munus = a neuter singular noun

In Latin, adjectives and demonstratives agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. Since munus is neuter singular nominative, both illud and gratum are too.

Munus is a third-declension neuter noun, not a second-declension masculine noun like servus.

Its principal forms are:

• munus = nominative singular
• muneris = genitive singular

So even though it ends in -us, it is still neuter. Latin has quite a few third-declension neuter nouns with forms like this.

That is why you get:

• illud munus
• gratum est

rather than masculine forms such as ille or gratus.

Ipsa is the feminine singular form of ipse, ipsa, ipsum, an intensive pronoun.

It adds emphasis:

• puella = the girl
• ipsa = the girl herself / she herself

In this sentence, ipsa emphasizes that she herself likes reading the book. It can suggest contrast, such as she herself rather than someone else, or simply add stress.

It does not mean she in the ordinary pronoun sense. Latin often leaves ordinary subject pronouns unstated, so ipsa is used when emphasis is wanted.

Because it is the direct object of legere.

• librum = book in the accusative singular
• veterem = old in the accusative singular, agreeing with librum

The verb legere means to read, and what is being read is the old book. Therefore Latin uses the accusative.

So:

• librum veterem legere = to read the old book

Because after amat, Latin commonly uses an infinitive to express liking or loving to do something.

So:

• legere amat = she likes/loves to read

This is very similar to English likes to read.

A finite verb like legit would mean she reads, which would give a different structure:

• ipsa librum veterem semper legit = she herself always reads the old book

But the sentence here is not just saying that she reads it; it is saying that she likes reading it.

The subject of legere is understood to be the same person as the subject of amat.

In other words:

• ipsa ... amat = she herself likes
• legere = to read
• understood subject of legere = she herself

Latin often leaves the subject of an infinitive unstated when it is the same as the subject of the main verb.

So the sense is:

• she herself likes to read the old book not
• she likes someone else to read the old book

If Latin wanted to say that someone else was doing the reading, it would normally make that explicit.

Yes. Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin uses endings to show grammatical function.

Here:

• ipsa librum veterem semper legere amat

The adverb semper modifies legere amat and means always. Its exact position is flexible. Latin speakers could move it around for rhythm, emphasis, or style.

For example, all of these could be understandable with slightly different emphasis:

• ipsa semper librum veterem legere amat
• ipsa librum veterem legere semper amat
• ipsa librum veterem semper legere amat

So a learner should not expect Latin to follow a fixed English-like order such as subject–verb–object every time.

In Latin, sum and its forms, including est, often appear after a predicate adjective or noun.

So:

• gratum est literally looks like
• pleasing is

But this is completely normal Latin word order.

Because the case endings already show what goes with what, Latin does not need to place the verb in one fixed position. English usually prefers is pleasing, but Latin can very naturally say gratum est.

Because quia introduces a clause giving a reason, and here that reason is presented as a straightforward fact.

• quia = because
• amat = she likes/loves (indicative)

So:

• quia ipsa librum veterem semper legere amat = because she herself always likes to read the old book

For a beginner, the main point is that quia commonly takes the indicative when stating a real reason. Latin can use other constructions in more subtle contexts, but the indicative here is the normal and expected choice.

Yes. Latin could simply say:

• Illud munus puellae gratum est, quia librum veterem semper legere amat.

That would still mean that she likes to read the old book, because the verb amat already tells us the subject is third person singular.

Adding ipsa gives emphasis:

• without ipsa: a plain statement
• with ipsa: she herself likes to read it

So ipsa is not required for grammar, but it adds stress or contrast.