Puella armillam argenteam matri ostendit.

Because puella is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of the sentence in Latin.

• puella = girl
• nominative singular of puella, puellae

So puella is the one doing the action of ostendit.

Because armillam is the direct object: it is the thing being shown.

The verb ostendere often takes:

• a direct object in the accusative = the thing shown
• an indirect object in the dative = the person to whom it is shown

So here:

• armillam = bracelet as the thing shown
• accusative singular of armilla, armillae

Because matri means to the mother or for the mother, and Latin uses the dative case for the indirect object.

In English, we often mark this with to:

• The girl shows the bracelet to her mother

In Latin, the ending itself shows that meaning:

• mater = mother
• matri = to/for the mother

So matri is the person receiving the showing.

Because argenteam is an adjective modifying armillam, and Latin adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here:

• armillam is feminine singular accusative
• argenteam is also feminine singular accusative

That agreement shows that argenteam describes armillam.

Argenteam means silver or silvery, from the adjective argenteus, argentea, argenteum.

In this sentence it describes the bracelet, so it means something like:

• a silver bracelet
• a bracelet made of silver

A learner should notice that Latin often uses an adjective where English may use either:

• an adjective: silver bracelet
• or a phrase: bracelet of silver

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show each word’s role.

English depends heavily on position:

• The girl shows the bracelet to her mother

Latin can move words around more freely because the endings already tell you:

• puella = subject
• armillam = direct object
• matri = indirect object

So Puella armillam argenteam matri ostendit is perfectly natural, even though it does not match English word order exactly.

Latin very often places the verb near or at the end of the sentence, although this is not a fixed rule.

So ostendit at the end is a very common Latin pattern:

• subject
• objects/complements
• verb

This gives the sentence a typical Latin feel. But Latin could rearrange the sentence and still keep the same basic meaning, as long as the forms remain clear.

By form alone, ostendit can mean either:

• he/she/it shows
• he/she/it showed

This is because the form can be either:

• present tense
• or perfect tense

You tell which one is meant from context.

In this sentence, if the meaning has already been given, that will tell you whether it is:

• The girl shows the silver bracelet to her mother or
• The girl showed the silver bracelet to her mother

The verb ending -t only tells you that the subject is third person singular:

• he
• she
• it

Latin verbs do not by themselves show biological gender.

We know it is she because the subject is puella, which is a feminine noun meaning girl.

So:

• ostendit = he/she/it shows or showed
• with puella as subject, it becomes she shows/showed

A learner would usually identify them like this:

• puella → puella, puellae = girl
• armillam → armilla, armillae = bracelet
• argenteam → argenteus, argentea, argenteum = silver, silvery
• matri → mater, matris = mother
• ostendit → ostendo, ostendere, ostendi, ostentum = show

This is important because the words in a sentence often appear in inflected forms, not in the basic dictionary form.

Yes, in many cases it could. For example, Latin could also say:

• Puella matri armillam argenteam ostendit
• Armillam argenteam puella matri ostendit
• Matri puella armillam argenteam ostendit

The core meaning stays the same because the endings show the grammatical roles.

However, changing the order can change emphasis. For example:

• putting matri earlier may highlight to her mother
• putting armillam argenteam earlier may emphasize the silver bracelet

So Latin word order is flexible, but not meaningless.

Latin often leaves out possessive words like his, her, or their when the relationship is obvious from context.

So matri can simply mean:

• to the mother and in context naturally be understood as:
• to her mother

Latin does not always need to say suae matri unless there is a reason to make the possession explicit or contrast it with someone else’s mother.