Serva acetum cum holeribus miscet et paulum piperis addit.

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

Here, serva means female slave or maidservant, and it is the person doing the actions of miscet and addit.

So:

• serva = the slave woman / maidservant
• she is the one who mixes and adds

Latin often does not need a separate subject pronoun.

The verb endings already tell you the person and number:

• miscet = he/she/it mixes
• addit = he/she/it adds

Then serva tells you who that he/she/it is. Since serva is feminine, English naturally uses she.

Latin has no articles. There is no separate word for the or a/an.

So serva could mean:

• the slave girl
• a slave girl

Likewise acetum could mean:

• the vinegar
• vinegar
• sometimes even some vinegar, depending on context

The context and the natural English translation decide which article to use.

Because acetum is a neuter second-declension noun.

In neuter nouns, the nominative singular and accusative singular are the same. So:

• nominative singular: acetum
• accusative singular: acetum

That means the form itself does not change here, even though its job in the sentence is different. In this sentence, acetum is the direct object of miscet.

Cum is a preposition meaning with, and it takes the ablative case.

So:

• cum = with
• holeribus = ablative plural

Together, cum holeribus means with vegetables.

This is a very common Latin pattern:

• cum
  • ablative = with ...

Because holus or holeris is a third-declension noun, and -ibus is a common dative/ablative plural ending in the third declension.

Since cum requires the ablative, we get:

• holeribus = with vegetables

For a learner, the important point is:

• cum needs ablative
• holeribus is the ablative plural form

Both are present indicative active, third person singular.

So:

• miscet = mixes
• addit = adds

That is why the whole sentence describes a present action:

• the slave girl mixes
• and adds

Because it depends on paulum.

Here paulum means a little bit, and Latin often follows words of quantity like this with a genitive showing of what.

So:

• paulum piperis = a little bit of pepper

This is often called the partitive genitive or genitive of the whole.

It is similar to English expressions like:

• a bit of bread
• a little of something

Because paulum here does not directly describe piper as a normal adjective modifying a noun in the same case.

Instead, paulum acts more like a quantity word meaning a small amount or a little bit, and the thing measured goes into the genitive:

• paulum piperis = a little pepper

So the structure is not really:

• small pepper

It is:

• a little bit of pepper

That is why piperis is genitive, not accusative.

Here it is best understood as a substantive quantity word: a little bit, a small amount.

So paulum piperis literally works like:

• a little bit of pepper

That is why it can take a genitive after it. In this sentence, it is not just an adverb meaning slightly; it is part of a noun phrase.

Et connects the two actions:

• miscet
• addit

The subject serva applies to both verbs, so Latin does not need to repeat it.

So the sentence is essentially:

• The slave girl mixes the vinegar with vegetables
• and adds a little pepper

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because the case endings show how words function.

A verb often comes late in the clause, and this can sound very natural in Latin. So:

• Serva acetum cum holeribus miscet
• et paulum piperis addit

is a normal Latin arrangement.

Latin could often rearrange the words without changing the basic meaning, though the emphasis might change.

Yes, to a large extent.

Because Latin uses case endings, the roles of the words are clearer than they would be in English:

• serva is nominative, so it is the subject
• acetum is accusative, so it is the object
• holeribus is ablative after cum
• piperis is genitive after paulum

So Latin can move words around more freely than English can. The exact order may affect emphasis, but not necessarily the core meaning.