Discipuli codices suos secum ad scholam ferunt.

Because discipuli is nominative plural. It is the subject of the sentence, so it tells you who is doing the action.

• singular: discipulus = student
• plural: discipuli = students

The verb ferunt is also plural, so discipuli matches it as the subject.

Because codices is the direct object, not the subject. It tells you what the students are carrying.

• codex = book / volume / manuscript
• codices = books, in the accusative plural here

So the sentence has:

• discipuli = the students, doing the action
• codices = the books, receiving the action

This is a good example of how Latin uses case endings instead of fixed word order to show a word’s job in the sentence.

Suos is a reflexive possessive adjective, meaning their own. It refers back to the subject of the sentence, which is discipuli.

So:

• discipuli codices suos ferunt = the students carry their own books

If you used eorum, that would usually mean their in the sense of someone else’s, not the subject’s own.

Compare:

• discipuli codices suos ferunt = the students carry their own books
• discipuli codices eorum ferunt = the students carry their books, meaning the books belong to some other people

Because it agrees with codices, the noun it describes.

In Latin, adjectives must agree with their nouns in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here:

• codices is masculine
• plural
• accusative

So the adjective must also be masculine plural accusative:

• suos

Even though the possessors are the students, suos grammatically agrees with codices, not with discipuli.

Secum means with themselves or more naturally here with them.

It is made from:

• se = themselves / himself / herself (reflexive pronoun)
• cum = with

With certain pronouns, Latin commonly attaches cum to the end instead of putting it before the word:

• mecum = with me
• tecum = with you
• secum = with himself / herself / themselves
• nobiscum = with us
• vobiscum = with you all

So Latin prefers secum, not cum se, in normal usage.

Yes, they both refer back to the subject, but they do different jobs.

• suos describes whose books they are: the students’ own books
• secum tells with whom the books are being carried: with the students themselves

So they are not redundant. One shows possession, and the other shows accompaniment.

Because ad with the accusative is used to show movement toward a place.

• ad = to, toward
• scholam = accusative singular of schola

So ad scholam means to school.

This is different from a phrase that describes location rather than motion. Latin often uses different constructions for:

• where something is
• where something is going

Here the students are moving the books toward school, so ad + accusative makes sense.

Scholam is accusative singular because it follows the preposition ad, which takes the accusative when it means to or toward.

So:

• schola = school
• scholam = to school, after ad

This is a very common pattern in Latin:

• ad villam = to the house/farm
• ad urbem = to the city
• ad scholam = to school

Ferunt is present tense, third person plural:

• they carry
• they bring
• they bear

Its dictionary form is usually given as fero, ferre, tuli, latus.

This verb is important because it is irregular. Its present forms include:

• fero = I carry
• fers = you carry
• fert = he/she/it carries
• ferimus = we carry
• fertis = you all carry
• ferunt = they carry

So ferunt matches the plural subject discipuli.

It can mean either, depending on context. The core idea is to bear / carry / bring.

In this sentence, English might naturally say either:

• The students carry their books with them to school
• The students bring their books with them to school

Latin ferunt itself does not force only one of those English choices. The context decides what sounds best in translation.

Because Latin has no definite article like English the, and no indefinite article like a/an either.

So:

• discipuli can mean students or the students
• codices can mean books or the books
• scholam can mean school or the school, depending on context

English usually has to add the or a, but Latin often leaves that implied.

Yes, often they could. Latin word order is more flexible than English because case endings show each word’s role.

For example, the basic meaning would remain the same in forms like:

• Discipuli suos codices secum ad scholam ferunt.
• Codices suos discipuli ad scholam secum ferunt.

However, word order can affect emphasis or style. The given order is straightforward and natural:

• subject first: discipuli
• object next: codices suos
• then secum
• then destination: ad scholam
• verb at the end: ferunt

That final verb position is very common in Latin.

It can mean book, but more literally it often refers to a codex, that is, a bound book or manuscript volume. In many schoolbook sentences, it is translated simply as book.

A learner might also know liber as another common Latin word for book. The difference is partly historical and contextual:

• liber is a very common general word for a book
• codex can suggest a written volume, collection, or manuscript book

In this sentence, you can safely understand codices as books.

Because se is a reflexive pronoun, and reflexive pronouns normally refer back to the subject of the clause.

The subject here is discipuli, so:

• secum = with themselves / with them
• not with the books

Similarly, suos also points back to the subject, which is why both reflexive words connect naturally to discipuli.