Frater pirum gustat, soror autem ficum gustat.

Because Latin often puts the subject early, but it does not have to. Here, frater means brother and soror means sister, and each one is the subject of its own clause.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order, because the endings of words help show their grammatical role. So this sentence could be rearranged in other ways and still mean basically the same thing, though the emphasis might change.

They are in the accusative singular, which is the case usually used for the direct object.

In this sentence, the things being tasted are the direct objects:

• pirum = a pear
• ficum = a fig

English usually shows the direct object by word order, but Latin often shows it by the noun ending instead.

You can tell from the forms:

• frater and soror are subjects
• pirum and ficum are direct objects
• gustat is the verb

So:

• frater pirum gustat = the brother tastes a pear
• soror autem ficum gustat = the sister, however, tastes a fig

Even if the word order changed, the endings would still help you identify the roles.

Autem means something like however, but, or on the other hand.

It marks a contrast:

• the brother tastes a pear,
• but/however the sister tastes a fig.

A useful thing to notice is that autem is very often placed in the second position of its clause in Latin. So instead of starting the clause, it comes after soror:

• soror autem

That is very normal Latin usage.

Latin often repeats the verb for clarity or balance, especially in simple teaching sentences.

So the sentence says:

• Frater pirum gustat
• soror autem ficum gustat

This repetition makes the contrast neat and easy to follow.

Could Latin leave out the second gustat? Yes, often it could, especially if the meaning were already clear from context:

• Frater pirum gustat, soror autem ficum.

But repeating it is completely natural, and very common in beginner material.

Gustat is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• active voice
• from gustare = to taste

So gustat means he/she tastes or is tasting, depending on context.

Because both frater and soror are singular, gustat is singular in both clauses.

Classical Latin does not have articles like English a, an, and the.

So:

• frater can mean brother, the brother, or sometimes a brother
• pirum can mean a pear or the pear

The exact English translation depends on context. In a simple sentence like this, English usually adds articles because English grammar requires them, but Latin does not.

It is one sentence made of two coordinated clauses:

• Frater pirum gustat
• soror autem ficum gustat

They are connected by the contrast expressed through autem. So it is a single sentence with two parts, not just a random string of words.

Yes. Since Latin does not use articles and often allows some flexibility in tense interpretation, several English translations are possible, such as:

• The brother tastes a pear, but the sister tastes a fig.
• Brother tastes a pear, however sister tastes a fig.
• The brother is tasting a pear, while the sister is tasting a fig.

The basic meaning stays the same: there is a contrast between what the brother tastes and what the sister tastes.

Yes—this sentence shows several core features of Latin very clearly:

• Subjects: frater, soror
• Direct objects in the accusative: pirum, ficum
• Verb agreement: gustat matches a singular subject
• Flexible word order
• Second-position autem for contrast
• No articles like a or the

So even though the sentence is short, it teaches some very important Latin habits that differ from English.