Serva pannum ad mensam siccandam capit, quia stillae aquae in mensa manent.

Serva is a nominative singular noun, so it is the subject of capit.

It means female slave, maidservant, or servant, depending on context. It is the feminine form corresponding to servus.

A learner might notice that serva looks a bit like an English name, but here it is just a regular first-declension noun:

• nominative singular: serva
• accusative singular: servam

In this sentence, serva is doing the action of taking.

Because pannum is the direct object of capit.

The verb capit means takes, so we ask: takes what?
Answer: pannum.

That is why Latin uses the accusative singular:

• nominative: pannus = a cloth / rag
• accusative: pannum = a cloth / rag as the object of the verb

So:

• serva = the one doing the action
• pannum = the thing being taken

Capit is the 3rd person singular present active indicative of capere.

So it means:

• she takes
• he takes
• it takes

Here, since the subject is serva, it means she takes.

A very common thing for English speakers to notice is that Latin often does not need a separate word for she. The ending of the verb already tells you it is third person singular, and the noun serva tells you who it is.

This is a purpose construction meaning for drying the table.

It uses:

• ad
  • accusative
• a noun plus a gerundive agreeing with that noun

So:

• ad = for, to, toward
• mensam = table, accusative singular
• siccandam = to be dried / for drying, feminine accusative singular gerundive

Together, ad mensam siccandam means for drying the table.

This is a very common Latin way to express purpose.

Because siccandam agrees with mensam, not with pannum.

Here the word being dried is mensam (the table), and mensam is:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

So the gerundive must match it:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative
  = siccandam

If it agreed with a masculine noun, you might see -um instead. But here it must match mensam.

Latin often expresses purpose differently from English.

English commonly says:

• to dry the table

Latin very often prefers:

• ad
  • accusative + gerundive
• or other purpose constructions

So instead of a plain infinitive after capit, Latin uses a phrase meaning for the drying of the table or more naturally to dry the table.

This is one of those places where English and Latin structure the idea differently even though the meaning is straightforward.

Quia means because and introduces a clause giving the reason.

So the sentence structure is:

• main clause: Serva pannum ad mensam siccandam capit
• reason clause: quia stillae aquae in mensa manent

In other words:

• she takes the cloth
• because drops of water remain on the table

A learner should simply recognize quia as a very common way to introduce a reason.

Stillae aquae means drops of water.

Here:

• stillae = drops
• aquae = of water

The form aquae is genitive singular, meaning of water.

This can confuse English speakers because aquae can also be:

• nominative plural
• genitive singular
• dative singular

But here it is clearly genitive singular, because it depends on stillae:

• stillae aquae = drops of water

Latin often uses the genitive this way, where English uses of.

Because in takes the ablative when it means in/on a place where something already is.

Here the drops remain on the table; there is no motion onto it. So Latin uses:

• in mensa = on the table

Compare:

• in mensa = on the table, at rest
• in mensam = onto the table, motion toward it

Since manent means remain, the idea is location, not movement. So the ablative is required.

Latin in can cover both in and on, depending on context.

With something like a table, English naturally says on the table, but Latin still uses in:

• in mensa = on the table

So this is normal Latin usage, not a mistake. English makes a sharper distinction between in and on than Latin often does.

Manent means remain or stay.

It is 3rd person plural present active indicative of manere.

It is plural because the subject is plural:

• stillae = drops

So:

• stilla manet = the drop remains
• stillae manent = the drops remain

This is a basic subject-verb agreement point.

Classical Latin has no definite or indefinite articles.

So Latin does not normally have separate words for:

• the
• a / an

That means a word like mensa can mean:

• a table
• the table

You decide from context.

So in this sentence:

• serva could be a servant or the servant
• pannum could be a cloth or the cloth
• mensa could be a table or the table

English must choose an article, but Latin usually does not state one.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because the endings show the grammatical roles.

So this sentence could be rearranged in various ways without changing the core meaning, for example:

• Serva capit pannum ad mensam siccandam, quia stillae aquae in mensa manent.
• Quia stillae aquae in mensa manent, serva pannum ad mensam siccandam capit.

However, the original order is natural and clear:

• subject first: serva
• object: pannum
• purpose phrase: ad mensam siccandam
• verb: capit
• then the reason clause

So word order in Latin often affects emphasis more than basic grammar.

Because the phrase means for drying the table, not for drying the cloth.

A learner may initially think:

• she takes the cloth, so maybe the cloth is the thing being dried

But grammatically, siccandam agrees with mensam, not with pannum:

• mensam = feminine accusative singular
• siccandam = feminine accusative singular

So the sense is:

• she takes the cloth
• for the purpose of drying the table

The cloth is the tool; the table is the thing to be dried.