Magistra discipulis quindecim verba nova in tabula scribit.

Because magistra is in the nominative singular, the case usually used for the subject of the sentence.

Here, magistra is the person doing the action of scribit (writes), so it must be the subject:

• magistra = the teacher / a teacher
• if it were the direct object, you would expect magistram

So Latin tells you the job of the word by its ending, not mainly by its position.

Discipulis is in the dative plural, which often marks the indirect object.

So it means something like:

• to the students
• for the students

In this sentence, the teacher is writing the words for/to the students.

A native English speaker often expects word order to show this, but in Latin the ending -is is what matters here.

By itself, discipulis could come from:

• discipulus = male student
• discipula = female student

Both have discipulis in the dative or ablative plural.

So the form alone does not tell you the gender here. Context would decide whether it means:

• to the boy students
• to the girl students
• or more generally to the students

Because quindecim (fifteen) is an indeclinable numeral. That means it does not change form for case, gender, or number.

So whether it is used with a subject, object, or something else, quindecim stays quindecim.

This is normal for many Latin numbers.

Because verba nova is the direct object of the sentence: it is what the teacher writes.

Both words are:

• accusative
• plural
• neuter

Why?

• verbum is a neuter noun
• its accusative plural is verba
• the adjective novus, -a, -um must agree with verba
• so nova is also neuter accusative plural

So:

• verba = words
• nova = new

Together: fifteen new words

In Latin, adjectives can come before or after the noun. Both are common.

What matters most is agreement, not position. Since verba and nova match in:

• gender: neuter
• number: plural
• case: accusative

they belong together no matter where they appear.

So verba nova simply means new words.

Because in can take two different cases:

• in + ablative = in/on a place, showing location
• in + accusative = into/onto a place, showing motion toward

Here, in tabula means on the board or on the tablet/board, describing where the writing appears.

So:

• in tabula = on the board
• in tabulam would suggest motion onto the board

With scribit, the location idea is what matters here.

Here tabula is ablative singular, because it follows in in the sense of on/in a place.

So:

• tabula can be nominative singular in other contexts
• but in in tabula, it is understood as ablative singular

This is one of the very common uses of the ablative in Latin: after certain prepositions such as in when they indicate location.

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

It is very common for the verb to come at the end of the sentence, especially in simple textbook Latin.

So although English would usually say:

• The teacher writes...

Latin often prefers:

• Magistra ... scribit

That does not change the meaning. It is just normal Latin style.

We know from the cases, not from the word order.

• magistra = nominative singular → the subject
• verba nova = accusative plural → the direct object
• discipulis = dative plural → the indirect object
• in tabula = prepositional phrase showing location

So even if the words were rearranged, the endings would still tell you who is doing what.

Classical Latin has no articles like English the and a/an.

So magistra can mean:

• a teacher
• the teacher

and verba can mean:

• words
• the words

You decide from the context which English translation sounds best.

Scribit is:

• present tense
• third person singular
• from scribo, scribere = to write

The ending -it here tells you it means:

• he writes
• she writes
• it writes

Since the subject is magistra, it means she writes or simply the teacher writes.

Yes. Because Latin is often more compact than English, several translations can be correct, for example:

• The teacher writes fifteen new words on the board for the students.
• The teacher is writing fifteen new words on the board for the students.
• The teacher writes fifteen new words on the board to the students.
  (less natural in English, but it reflects the dative idea)

The important thing is that the grammar shows:

• who is writing: magistra
• for whom: discipulis
• what is written: quindecim verba nova
• where: in tabula