Si quis callidus est, potestne etiam modestiam servare? Magistra respondet posse, si gloriam non quaerat.

Here quis is an indefinite pronoun, not an interrogative one.

After words like si (if), nisi (if not / unless), num, and ne, Latin regularly uses quis / quid where English would often use someone, anyone, or anything.

So:

• si quis callidus est = if anyone is clever / if someone is clever

It does not mean if who is clever.

Callidus agrees with quis, which is singular here.

It is also a predicate adjective with est:

• quis ... est = someone is ...
• callidus = clever

So callidus must match the subject in case, number, and gender.

The masculine singular is the normal default form when Latin speaks about an unspecified person in a general way. It does not necessarily mean the sentence is only about men.

Latin often forms a yes-no question by attaching the enclitic -ne to a word, very often the first important word in the sentence.

So:

• potest = he/she/it can
• potestne = can he/she/it ... ?

That little -ne is the question marker.

Because possum regularly takes a complementary infinitive.

So:

• potest servare = can preserve / is able to preserve

This is very similar to English:

• can keep
• is able to keep

So servare is not a separate main verb; it completes the meaning of potest.

Because it is the direct object of servare.

The verb servare can mean to preserve, to keep, or to maintain, and it takes an object in the accusative:

• modestiam servare = to preserve modesty / to maintain modesty

So modestiam is accusative because it is the thing being preserved.

Etiam means also or even.

Here it adds the idea:

• Can a clever person also keep modesty?
• or slightly more strongly, Can a clever person even keep modesty?

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order. A word like etiam is often placed near the word or phrase the writer wants to highlight, but its force can spread over the whole idea.

Because Latin is using indirect statement.

After a verb of saying, answering, thinking, knowing, and so on, Latin often reports the content with an infinitive rather than a finite verb.

So:

• direct idea: potest = he can
• reported after respondet: posse = that he can

Thus:

• Magistra respondet posse = The teacher replies that he can

In English we often use that + finite verb. Latin very often uses accusative + infinitive, though the accusative subject can be left out if it is obvious.

Yes. The subject of the infinitive is understood from the previous question.

Latin often leaves out words that are easy to supply from the context. Here the sense is:

• The teacher replies that such a person can
• or simply The teacher replies that he can

A fuller Latin sentence could have an expressed subject of the infinitive, but it is not necessary here because the meaning is already clear.

This is a very common learner question.

The important point is that si by itself does not automatically require the subjunctive. In many ordinary conditions, Latin uses the indicative after si.

Here quaerat is subjunctive because the clause belongs to the reported thought after respondet. In other words, the condition is part of what the teacher is saying.

So the direct version might be something like:

• Potest, si gloriam non quaerit.
• He can, if he does not seek glory.

But when that is reported indirectly, Latin often puts subordinate clauses like this into the subjunctive:

• Magistra respondet posse, si gloriam non quaerat.

This is often explained as the subjunctive in indirect speech or subjunctive by attraction.

Because gloriam is the direct object of quaerat.

The verb quaerere means to seek or to look for, and it normally takes an accusative object:

• gloriam quaerere = to seek glory

So gloriam is accusative for the same reason modestiam is accusative: it is the thing the subject is acting upon.