Serva annulum e cista tollit et uxori tradit.

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.

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.

Because the preposition e (or ex) takes the ablative case, not the accusative.

• e / ex = out of, from
• cista is the ablative singular here

So e cista means out of the chest/box.

This is a very common Latin pattern:

• e/ex + ablative = movement out from something

An English speaker often expects the noun after a preposition to look more like an object, but in Latin each preposition governs a specific case.

Both e and ex mean the same thing here: out of or from.

A common tendency is:

• e before a consonant
• ex before a vowel or h

Since cista begins with a consonant, e cista is perfectly normal.

That said, Latin writers are not always absolutely rigid about this, so you may sometimes see variation.

Tollit is third person singular present active indicative of tollo, tollere.

That means it means he/she/it takes up, lifts, removes, or takes away, depending on context.

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

A useful point for learners: the ending -it tells you the verb is third person singular in the present tense.

Because uxori is an indirect object, not a direct object.

• annulum = the thing being taken or handed over
• uxori = the person to whom it is handed

Latin usually puts the indirect object in the dative case.

So:

• uxor = wife
• uxori = to the wife

This is one of the most important case differences in Latin:

• accusative = direct object
• dative = indirect object

Uxori is the dative singular of uxor, meaning wife.

Its basic forms are:

• nominative singular: uxor
• genitive singular: uxoris
• dative singular: uxori

So the sentence uses uxori because trado often takes:

• a direct object in the accusative
• a recipient in the dative

In other words, someone hands something to someone.

Tradit is third person singular present active indicative of trado, tradere.

It means he/she/it hands over, delivers, or passes on.

Here it means she hands over.

Just like tollit, it is:

• present tense
• third person singular
• active voice

So the two verbs match the same singular subject: serva.

Because Latin often leaves out words that are obvious from the context.

In English, we might naturally say:

• The slave woman takes the ring from the chest and hands it to the wife.

Latin does not need to repeat annulum or add a separate word for it if the object is already clear. The ring is understood with tradit.

So after et, the sense is basically:

• and [she] hands [the ring] to the wife

This kind of omission is very normal in Latin.

Because Latin usually does not need a separate subject pronoun unless it is being emphasized.

The verb ending already tells you the person and number:

• tollit = he/she/it takes
• tradit = he/she/it hands over

And the noun serva already tells you who the subject is. So adding a separate word for she would be unnecessary unless Latin wanted special emphasis.

This is very different from English, where we almost always need an explicit subject.

Because Latin has no articles.

Latin does not have separate words for:

• the
• a / an

So serva can mean:

• a slave woman
• the slave woman

and annulum can mean:

• a ring
• the ring

The exact sense depends on context. English must choose an article, but Latin does not.

The word order matters less in Latin than in English because the case endings show how the words function.

This sentence is arranged quite naturally:

• Serva = subject first
• annulum = object next
• e cista = where it is taken from
• tollit = verb
• et uxori tradit = and hands it to the wife

Latin often places verbs toward the end of the clause, but many other orders are possible. Because of the endings, a Roman could still tell who was doing what to whom.

So the word order here is normal and clear, but not the only possible order.