Si creta parva est, magistra alteram cretam e cista tollit et discipulae dat.

Si means if and introduces a condition.

So Si creta parva est means If the chalk is small. Latin often puts the if-clause first, just as English often does, but it does not have to.

Because parva must agree with creta.

• creta is feminine
• creta here is singular
• it is also nominative, because it is the subject of est

So the adjective must also be feminine singular nominative: parva.

This is a very common Latin rule: adjectives agree with the nouns they describe in gender, number, and case.

The noun has a different job in each clause.

• In creta parva est, creta is the subject, so it is nominative
• In alteram cretam ... tollit, cretam is the direct object of tollit, so it is accusative

So the ending changes because the noun’s grammatical function changes.

Alteram is the feminine accusative singular form of alter, which often means the other (of two) or another.

Here it agrees with cretam, so alteram cretam means something like:

• another piece of chalk
• or the other piece of chalk, depending on context

In beginner Latin, it is often easiest to understand it as another unless the wider context clearly involves exactly two items.

Because alteram is describing cretam, and adjectives agree with the nouns they modify.

Since cretam is the direct object of tollit, it must be accusative singular feminine. Therefore alteram must also be accusative singular feminine.

So:

• alteram = adjective
• cretam = noun
• both match in gender, number, and case

Because e/ex means out of or from, and it takes the ablative case.

So:

• cista here is ablative singular
• e cista = out of the box / from the box

You may also see ex instead of e. Both mean the same thing. Very often:

• e is used before consonants
• ex is often used before vowels or h

But authors are not always completely rigid about this.

Because discipulae is the indirect object after dat.

Dat means gives, and with give you usually have:

• something given = direct object
• person receiving it = indirect object

So in this sentence:

• alteram cretam = the thing being given
• discipulae = the student receiving it

That is why discipulae is in the dative case.

Yes, taken by itself, discipulae could have more than one possible form:

• dative singular = to/for the student
• genitive singular = of the student
• nominative plural = the students

But in this sentence, the verb dat strongly points to the dative singular meaning, because give commonly takes a recipient in the dative.

So here discipulae clearly means to the student.

Because Latin often leaves out words that are obvious from the context.

In English we say she takes another piece of chalk and gives it to the student. In Latin, after alteram cretam has already been mentioned, the object of dat can simply be understood.

So Latin does not need to say a separate it here. The sense is:

• she takes another piece of chalk
• and gives [it] to the student

This kind of omission is very normal in Latin.

They are all present indicative active forms.

• est = is
• tollit = takes up / removes
• dat = gives

The sentence is describing a present or habitual situation: If the chalk is small, the teacher takes another piece of chalk out of the box and gives it to the student.

Because Latin word order is more flexible than English word order.

English depends heavily on position:

• subject + verb + object

Latin depends much more on endings to show grammatical function. That means Latin can move words around for emphasis, style, or rhythm.

In this sentence, the order is quite natural:

• Si creta parva est = the condition first
• magistra = the subject
• alteram cretam = the object of tollit
• e cista = where it is taken from
• et discipulae dat = then the second action

Even though the order is not exactly like English, the endings tell you who is doing what.

Because magistra is in the nominative singular, which is the normal case for the subject.

Also, the verbs tollit and dat are third person singular, so they need a singular subject, and magistra fits perfectly: the teacher takes ... and gives ...

This is a good example of an important Latin skill: you identify sentence roles by case endings, not just by word position.