Avia vespere in horto cantare solet.

Avia means grandmother.

In this sentence it is nominative singular, which tells you it is the subject of the sentence—the one doing the action.

So:

• avia = grandmother
• nominative singular = subject

That is why avia is the person who is accustomed to sing / usually sings.

Because Latin often uses soleo, solere with an infinitive.

So:

• solet = is accustomed / usually does
• cantare = to sing

Together, cantare solet means:

• is accustomed to sing
• more naturally in English: usually sings

This is a very common Latin pattern:

• laborare solet = he/she usually works
• ridere solent = they usually laugh

So cantare is not the main finite verb by itself; it depends on solet.

Solet is the 3rd person singular present tense of soleo, solere.

It means something like:

• is accustomed
• tends
• usually
• is in the habit of

In this sentence, cantare solet is best translated naturally as usually sings.

So the idea is not just that grandmother sings once, but that this is her habit or custom.

Because the subject, avia, is singular.

Latin verbs agree with their subject in person and number.

• avia = one grandmother
• therefore solet = she usually...

If the subject were plural, the verb would be plural too:

• aviae cantare solent = the grandmothers usually sing

Because Latin often puts words for time when in the ablative without a preposition.

Here vespere means:

• in the evening
• at evening

This is a standard Latin usage. Time expressions often work this way:

• prima luce = at first light
• nocte = at night
• aestate = in summer
• vespere = in the evening

So vespere is an ablative of time when.

Vespere is ablative singular.

It comes from vesper, vesperis and here it is being used adverbially to mean in the evening.

So even though English uses a preposition, Latin does not need one here.

Because in with the ablative is the normal way to say in / on a place where something happens.

So:

• in horto = in the garden

Here the action happens inside the garden, so Latin uses:

• in
  • ablative

Compare:

• in horto cantat = she sings in the garden
• in hortum intrat = she enters into the garden

That second example uses the accusative because it shows motion into a place. But in your sentence there is no movement; it is just location.

Horto is ablative singular.

It is ablative because it follows in meaning in with the sense of location.

So:

• hortus = garden
• in horto = in the garden

This is a very important rule:

• in + ablative = location
• in + accusative = motion into

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin shows grammatical relationships mainly through endings, not just position.

So in English we depend heavily on order:

• Grandmother usually sings in the garden in the evening

In Latin, the endings already tell you what each word is doing, so the sentence can be arranged more freely:

• Avia vespere in horto cantare solet
• Avia in horto vespere cantare solet
• Vespere avia in horto cantare solet

These all mean roughly the same thing, though word order can give different emphasis.

Putting solet at the end is very natural Latin style.

Both are correct, but they sound different in English.

• is accustomed to sing is more literal
• usually sings is more natural English

In a beginning Latin sentence like this, the intended meaning is probably simply:

• Grandmother usually sings in the garden in the evening

So when reading Latin, it is useful to know the literal structure, but also to translate it into natural English.

Because Latin has no articles.

Latin does not have separate words for:

• the
• a / an

So avia could mean, depending on context:

• grandmother
• the grandmother
• a grandmother

And in horto could mean:

• in the garden
• in a garden

English has to choose an article, but Latin often leaves that to context.

You know avia is feminine from the noun itself: it means grandmother, so it is grammatically and naturally feminine.

But the verb solet does not show gender. Latin finite verbs agree with the subject in:

• person
• number

but not normally in gender.

So solet could mean:

• he usually...
• she usually...
• it usually...

The noun avia tells you that here it is she.

Yes:

• Avia — nominative singular, grandmother, the subject
• vespere — ablative singular, in the evening, time when
• in horto — prepositional phrase with in
  • ablative, in the garden
• cantare — present active infinitive, to sing
• solet — 3rd person singular present of soleo, is accustomed / usually does

So the whole structure is:

subject + time + place + infinitive + soleo

and the natural meaning is:

Grandmother usually sings in the garden in the evening.

It describes a habit, not a one-time event.

That idea comes from solet. The sentence does not mean merely that grandmother is singing once this evening. It means this is something she customarily does.

So it is closer to:

• Grandmother usually sings in the garden in the evening
• Grandmother is accustomed to sing in the garden in the evening

not:

• Grandmother is singing in the garden this evening

Yes. Literally, vespere can be understood as:

• at evening
• in the evening
• sometimes just toward evening, depending on context

For ordinary English, in the evening is the most natural translation here.

You would look them up like this:

• avia → avia, -ae = grandmother
• vespere → vesper, vesperis = evening
• horto → hortus, -i = garden
• cantare → canto, cantare = to sing
• solet → soleo, solere = to be accustomed, to be wont

That is useful because Latin words often appear in sentences in forms that are different from the dictionary entry.