Plaustrum, cuius rota fracta erat, faber hodie reficit ut merces ad forum ferri possint.

The sentence has three parts:

1. Main clause: Plaustrum ... faber hodie reficit
   = the craftsman repairs the wagon today.

2. Relative clause: cuius rota fracta erat
   = whose wheel had been broken / whose wheel was broken.
   This describes plaustrum.

3. Purpose clause: ut merces ad forum ferri possint
   = so that the goods can be carried to the forum.
   This explains the purpose of the repair.

So the overall structure is: object + description of that object + main verb + purpose.

Because Latin word order is much freer than English word order.

Here, plaustrum is the object of reficit, but it is placed first for emphasis or as the topic of the sentence. Latin often puts an important word early.

A learner might expect something more like:

Faber hodie plaustrum reficit

But the original order is perfectly natural Latin.

Also, plaustrum could be either nominative or accusative in form, because many neuter nouns have the same form for nominative and accusative singular. We know it is the object because faber is clearly the subject and reficit is singular.

Cuius is the genitive singular of the relative pronoun qui, quae, quod.

Here it means whose or of which:

• cuius rota = whose wheel / the wheel of which

It refers back to plaustrum.

A very important rule is:

• a relative pronoun gets its gender and number from its antecedent
• but it gets its case from its job inside its own clause

So cuius is genitive because it shows possession: the wheel of the wagon.

Rota is the subject of the relative clause cuius rota fracta erat.

The clause is basically:

• rota fracta erat = the wheel had been broken

Since rota is the subject, it is nominative singular.

Fracta is a perfect passive participle, and it agrees with rota in:

• gender: feminine
• number: singular
• case: nominative

So fracta is feminine nominative singular because rota is feminine nominative singular.

Fracta erat is the pluperfect passive: had been broken.

It shows that the breaking happened before the repairing.

Timeline:

• first: the wheel was broken
• now: the craftsman repairs the wagon

That is why the past condition is expressed with fracta erat, while the current action is reficit.

In some contexts, English may translate this more simply as was broken, but grammatically Latin is showing an earlier past state.

Reficit is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood

It comes from reficere, meaning to repair, restore, or rebuild.

It is singular because its subject is faber:

• faber reficit = the craftsman repairs

The present tense fits well with hodie: the action is happening today.

Faber is nominative singular because it is the subject of reficit.

It means craftsman, artisan, or sometimes smith depending on context.

So:

• faber = the one doing the repairing
• plaustrum = the thing being repaired

Even though faber comes after the relative clause, it is still the subject. Latin does not need the subject to come first.

Here ut introduces a purpose clause:

• ut merces ad forum ferri possint
• so that the goods can be carried to the forum

In Latin, purpose clauses normally use:

• ut
  • subjunctive

So possint is subjunctive because the clause expresses purpose, not just a plain statement of fact.

It is also present subjunctive because the main verb reficit is present, so the purpose is viewed as simultaneous with or following the repairing.

Ferri is the present passive infinitive of ferre, meaning to carry.

So:

• ferri = to be carried

With possint:

• ferri possint = may be able to be carried
• more naturally in English: can be carried

This is a very common Latin pattern:

• possum
  • infinitive

Because the infinitive is passive, the meaning is passive:

• merces ferri possint = the goods can be carried

Forum is accusative singular after ad.

The preposition ad takes the accusative and usually means:

• to
• toward
• up to

So:

• ad forum = to the forum

This shows motion toward a place.

If the meaning were in the forum, Latin would normally use something like:

• in foro

So the accusative here is required by the preposition ad.

Here merces means goods, wares, or merchandise.

It is plural in sense, and possint is plural to match it.

The form merces can look tricky because it can be ambiguous in form, but in this sentence it is understood as the plural subject of possint:

• merces ... possint = the goods may be able ...

Because of the passive infinitive ferri, the full sense is:

• the goods can be carried

So merces is not the object here; it is the thing that is to be carried.