Quicumque adest, ceteris auxilium ferre debet, ne grave onus uni puellae relinquatur.

Quicumque is an indefinite relative pronoun, meaning whoever, anyone who, or everyone who.

It is formed from qui + -cumque, where -cumque adds the idea of ever or any ... at all.

Here it is the subject of adest and debet:

• quicumque adest = whoever is present

Although the form is masculine, Latin often uses the masculine form generically when the gender is unspecified. So it does not have to mean only a male person.

Because quicumque is grammatically singular here: it means whoever in the sense of any one person who happens to be present.

Latin often phrases general statements this way:

• Whoever is present, that person ought...

So the verbs stay singular:

• adest = is present
• debet = ought / must

Even though the statement applies to many possible people, Latin treats each case individually.

Adest comes from adsum, adesse, which means to be present, to be here, or to be at hand.

So:

• est = is
• adest = is present

It is a compound of ad- + sum. Because it is built from sum, it follows the irregular forms of sum.

Here:

• adest = he/she is present

After debet (from debeo), Latin normally uses an infinitive.

So:

• debet ferre = ought to carry / ought to bring / ought to help

This is the same basic pattern as:

• potest facere = he can do
• vult ire = he wants to go
• debet laborare = he ought to work

So ferre is not a finite verb here; it is the infinitive that completes the meaning of debet.

Ceteris is dative plural.

It comes from ceteri, ceterae, cetera, meaning the others or the rest.

It is dative because the expression auxilium ferre often works like to bring help to someone:

• auxilium = the help being brought
• ceteris = to the others

So:

• ceteris auxilium ferre = to bring help to the others

This can feel unusual to an English speaker, because English often says simply help the others, with a direct object. Latin often expresses the person helped with the dative in phrases like this.

It is a very common Latin expression, and you should treat it almost like an idiom.

Literally, it means:

• to carry / bring help

But in normal English it often just means:

• to help
• to give assistance

So auxilium ferre is a standard Latin way to express helping someone. Latin often uses a noun + verb combination where English might prefer a simple verb.

Not exactly. Ne here is not the same as simply negating a verb the way non does.

In this sentence, ne introduces a negative purpose or preventive clause:

• ne ... relinquatur = so that ... may not be left / lest ... be left

So the idea is:

• everyone present should help the others, so that a heavy burden is not left to one girl

A useful contrast is:

• non = ordinary negation
• ne = often used in clauses meaning so that not, lest, or after expressions of preventing, warning, striving, and similar ideas

Because it is in a clause introduced by ne.

Latin regularly uses the subjunctive after ne in clauses of purpose or prevention. So:

• ne ... relinquatur = so that ... may not be left / lest ... be left

If Latin used the indicative instead, it would sound more like a plain statement of fact, not a purpose/preventive idea.

So the subjunctive here is required by the construction.

Because the sentence is focusing on the burden as the thing being left.

Relinquatur is:

• 3rd person singular
• present subjunctive
• passive
• from relinquo, relinquere

So it means:

• may be left

The subject of this passive verb is grave onus:

• grave onus relinquatur = a heavy burden may be left

And the person to whom it would be left is uni puellae.

Uni puellae is dative singular:

• uni = to one
• puellae = to a girl

Together they mean:

• to one girl

This is the person to whom the burden would be left.

The form uni can look surprising because unus, una, unum has some irregular forms. In particular:

• genitive singular: unius
• dative singular: uni

So uni puellae is perfectly normal Latin for to one girl or to a single girl.

Because it is in the nominative and agrees internally:

• onus = nominative singular neuter
• grave = nominative singular neuter, agreeing with onus

Since relinquatur is passive, the thing in the nominative is the subject:

• grave onus = a heavy burden

So the clause works like this:

• ne grave onus uni puellae relinquatur
• lest a heavy burden be left to one girl

This is a good example of how Latin word order is flexible. Even though grave onus comes before uni puellae and before the verb, its case endings tell you its role.