Serva ridet, quia feles murem capere vult, sed mus celer est.

Serva is a first-declension feminine noun meaning female slave or maidservant.
By contrast, servus is the masculine form, meaning male slave or servant.

So the sentence is specifically talking about a female servant, which is why it begins with serva.

The ending -t shows that the verb is third person singular: he/she/it.

So:

• ridet = she laughs / he laughs / it laughs
• vult = she wants / he wants / it wants

In this sentence:

• serva ridet = the maidservant laughs
• feles ... vult = the cat wants ...

Latin verbs often include the subject in the ending, so you do not need a separate word for she or it.

In Latin, word order is more flexible than in English. The subject is often recognized not just by position, but by its form and by the overall structure of the sentence.

In the clause quia feles murem capere vult:

• feles = the subject, the cat
• murem = the object, the mouse
• vult = the main verb, wants
• capere = infinitive, to catch

So even though English depends heavily on word order, Latin can move words around more freely.

This is because Latin changes noun forms to show their job in the sentence.

The noun is mus = mouse.

Here are the two forms used:

• mus = nominative singular → used for the subject
• murem = accusative singular → used for the direct object

So:

• feles murem capere vult = the cat wants to catch the mouse
  Here the mouse is the object, so Latin uses murem.

• mus celer est = the mouse is swift
  Here the mouse is the subject, so Latin uses mus.

Because murem is the accusative singular form of mus.

The accusative case is often used for the direct object, the thing directly affected by the action.

Here, the cat wants to catch the mouse, so mouse is the direct object of capere (to catch). That is why Latin uses murem, not mus.

Because vult means wants, and after verbs like want, Latin commonly uses an infinitive.

So:

• vult = wants
• capere = to catch

Together:

• capere vult = wants to catch

This is very similar to English: wants to catch.

Capere is the present active infinitive, meaning to catch.

After verbs expressing desire, intention, or ability, Latin often uses an infinitive:

• vult capere = wants to catch
• potest capere = is able to catch
• debet capere = ought to catch

So capere is not the main finite verb of the clause. The main verb is vult, and capere completes its meaning.

Quia means because and introduces a clause giving the reason.

So the structure is:

• Serva ridet = the maidservant laughs
• quia ... = because ...
• sed ... = but ...

The clause after quia explains why the servant is laughing.

Because celer must agree with mus, which is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

Since mus is the subject of mus celer est, the adjective describing it must also be nominative singular masculine.

So:

• mus celer est = the mouse is swift

Different forms would be used for different genders or cases:

• celer = masculine nominative singular
• celere = neuter nominative/accusative singular
• celerem = accusative singular masculine/feminine

Est means is.

In mus celer est:

• mus = the mouse
• celer = swift
• est = is

So the clause means the mouse is swift.

Latin sometimes omits forms of to be in certain styles or contexts, especially in poetry, but in normal prose it is often stated clearly, as it is here.

Not as much as in English.

This sentence is fairly straightforward:

• Serva ridet
• quia feles murem capere vult
• sed mus celer est

But Latin could rearrange many of these words without changing the basic meaning, because the endings help show the grammar.

For example, murem would still be the object because of its accusative ending, even if it appeared in a different position.

That said, word order in Latin still matters for emphasis, style, and clarity. It is flexible, not random.

Feles means cat and is a third-declension noun. Its basic forms are commonly given as:

• feles = nominative singular
• felis = genitive singular

In this sentence, feles is the subject of vult, so it appears in the nominative singular.

The sentence has three main parts:

1. Serva ridet
   This is the first main clause.

2. quia feles murem capere vult
   This is a subordinate clause introduced by quia (because).

3. sed mus celer est
   This is another main clause, introduced by sed (but).

A good way to read it is:

• The servant laughs,
• because the cat wants to catch the mouse,
• but the mouse is swift.

The words quia and sed are helpful signals showing how the sentence is put together.