Serva annulum e cista tollit et uxori tradit.

and

Breakdown of Serva annulum e cista tollit et uxori tradit.

• e: from
• uxor: the wife
• annulus: the ring

Questions & Answers about Serva annulum e cista tollit et uxori tradit.

Why is serva the subject here?

Because serva is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject of a sentence.

• serva = slave woman, female servant, or maidservant
• It is a first-declension noun
• Its nominative singular form ends in -a

So serva ... tollit ... tradit means that the slave woman is the one doing the actions.

A learner may notice that serva could also look like the imperative of servo (save!, preserve!), but here the context makes it clear that it is a noun, not a command.

Why does annulum end in -um?

Because annulum is the accusative singular form of annulus, meaning ring.

The accusative case is commonly used for the direct object, the thing directly affected by the verb. Here, the ring is what the servant takes.

• nominative: annulus
• accusative: annulum

So the ending -um tells you that the ring is the object, not the subject.

Why is it e cista and not e cistam?