Infans nihil ex ampulla bibere vult, quia aquam calidam potius petit.

Because vult (wants) is followed by an infinitive in Latin, just as wants is followed by to + verb in English.

So:

• bibere vult = wants to drink
• bibit would mean drinks

If the sentence had bibit, it would no longer mean wants to drink.

The subject is infans (the infant / baby / child).

We know this because:

• infans is nominative singular
• vult and petit are both third-person singular verbs

So the sentence is about one infant who both wants and asks for.

No. Infans does not by itself tell you the child’s sex.

It can refer to:

• a baby boy
• a baby girl
• an infant in a general sense

So English may translate it as the baby, the infant, or the child, depending on context.

Nihil means nothing, and here it functions as the object of bibere:

• nihil bibere vult = literally wants to drink nothing

In natural English, we often prefer does not want to drink anything, but Latin often expresses that idea with nihil.

A different Latin wording could be non vult quidquam bibere, but nihil bibere vult is perfectly normal.

After ex, Latin uses the ablative case.

So ex ampulla means from the bottle or out of the bottle.

If macrons were written, the form would be ex ampullā. Without macrons, ampulla can look the same as the nominative form, but here the preposition ex tells you it must be ablative.

Ex means out of or from, especially from inside something.

That makes it a natural choice with a bottle:

• ex ampulla bibere = to drink from the bottle

It suggests drinking out of the bottle itself, not just receiving something vaguely from it.

Because it is the direct object of petit.

Latin petere often takes a direct object where English uses ask for:

• aquam petit = literally seeks/asks for water
• natural English: asks for water

Both words are accusative feminine singular:

• aquam from aqua
• calidam from calida

The adjective has to agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

The verb petere has a wide range of meanings, including:

• seek
• aim at
• ask for
• request

Here, with aquam calidam, it means asks for or wants.

So aquam calidam petit is best understood as asks for warm water rather than something like attacks warm water or heads toward warm water.

Potius means rather or instead.

It shows a preference:

• the infant does not want to drink from the bottle
• the infant rather asks for warm water

So potius marks the contrast between the rejected option and the preferred one.

Because Latin word order is flexible.

An adjective can come:

• before the noun
• after the noun
• sometimes separated from it

So aquam calidam and calidam aquam both mean warm water. The difference is usually one of style or emphasis, not basic meaning.

Quia means because and commonly introduces a clause with the indicative when the reason is stated as a fact.

So:

• quia ... petit = because ... asks for

There is nothing unusual here. The speaker is simply giving the reason.

Latin often leaves out subject pronouns when they are already clear from the context and the verb ending.

So after infans ... vult, the clause quia aquam calidam potius petit naturally means:

• because he/she instead asks for warm water

Latin does not need to repeat infans or add a separate word for he/she unless it wants extra emphasis.

Quite flexible. Latin uses endings more than word order to show grammatical function.

So several rearrangements would still make sense, for example:

• Infans ex ampulla nihil bibere vult...
• Aquam calidam potius petit...

The current order is natural and highlights nihil fairly early, which helps bring out the contrast: the infant wants nothing from the bottle, because warm water is preferred.