In die sollemni puellae ramos lauri ante ianuam ponunt et flores etiam in mensa relinquunt.

Latin does not have articles. So a noun like puellae can mean girls, the girls, or sometimes some girls, depending on context.

English usually needs an article, so when we translate, we add the or a/an where it sounds natural.

Latin and English do not always use prepositions in the same way.

Here in with the ablative can express time when, so in die sollemni means on a festive day or on a ceremonial day. English prefers on for days and occasions, even though Latin uses in here.

Both die and sollemni are ablative singular.

• die is from dies
• sollemni is from sollemnis

They are ablative because of the preposition in in this phrase. The adjective sollemni agrees with die in case, number, and gender. That is why it is sollemni, not the dictionary form sollemnis.

The form puellae can indeed mean several things:

• nominative plural = girls
• genitive singular = of the girl
• dative singular = to/for the girl

Here it must be nominative plural, because the verbs ponunt and relinquunt are third person plural: they place and they leave. So puellae is the subject: the girls.

Both are present active indicative, third person plural.

• ponunt = they place/put
• relinquunt = they leave

The ending -unt is a very common sign of third person plural in the present tense.

Ramos is the direct object of ponunt, so it is accusative plural: branches.

Lauri is genitive singular of laurus, meaning laurel. So ramos lauri means branches of laurel.

Latin often uses the genitive where English might use of:

• ramos lauri = branches of laurel

So lauri is not another object; it depends on ramos.

Because ante is a preposition that takes the accusative.

So:

• ante ianuam = before the door or in front of the door

This is just how ante works. Some Latin prepositions always take one case, and ante is one of the prepositions that take the accusative.

Here in takes the ablative because it expresses location, not motion.

• in mensa = on the table or in the table area, depending on context

In English, we usually distinguish in and on more sharply than Latin does. Latin in with the ablative can sometimes correspond to English on, especially with surfaces.

A useful contrast is:

• in mensa = on/in the table as a location
• in mensam = onto/into the table area, with motion toward it

So the ablative here shows where the flowers are left, not movement into the table.

Etiam usually means also, too, or sometimes even.

Here it adds another detail to the action:

• the girls place laurel branches before the door
• and also leave flowers on the table

So in this sentence etiam is roughly also/too. Its position is fairly flexible in Latin, and the exact emphasis can depend on context.

Yes, this is a very normal Latin word order.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because the noun endings already show each word’s job in the sentence. A common pattern is:

• setting or time phrase first
• then subject and objects
• verb near the end

So this sentence is arranged in a very natural Latin way:

• In die sollemni = setting the scene
• puellae = subject
• ramos lauri / flores = objects
• ponunt / relinquunt = verbs at the end of their clauses

English depends much more on word order, but Latin often uses word order for emphasis and style instead.