Prope fenestram musca molesta sedet, sed passer parvus eam celeriter capit.

Because prope is a preposition that normally takes the accusative. So prope fenestram means near the window.

• fenestra = window
• fenestram = accusative singular

A learner coming from English often expects location words to work like in or on, but in Latin different prepositions require different cases. Prope is one of the ones that takes the accusative.

Both are nominative singular, because each is the subject of its own verb.

• musca molesta sedet = the annoying fly sits
• passer parvus eam capit = the small sparrow catches it

In Latin, the nominative case is usually used for the subject of a clause.

Both word orders are possible in Latin. The adjective molesta agrees with musca in:

• gender: feminine
• number: singular
• case: nominative

So musca molesta and molesta musca both mean annoying fly. The version in the sentence simply places the noun first, then the adjective. Latin word order is often more flexible than English word order.

Because musca is a feminine noun, and adjectives in Latin must agree with the nouns they describe in gender, number, and case.

So:

• musca = feminine nominative singular
• molesta = feminine nominative singular

That is why the adjective ends in -a here.

Because passer is a masculine noun, so the adjective must also be masculine.

• passer = masculine nominative singular
• parvus = masculine nominative singular

If the noun were feminine, then parva would be possible, but with passer, parvus is the correct form.

Eam refers back to musca.

It is the accusative singular feminine form of the pronoun is, ea, id, meaning him/her/it depending on context. Here it means her/it, referring to the fly.

So:

• musca is feminine
• therefore the pronoun referring to it is eam

This is one of the important things to notice in Latin: pronouns must match the noun they refer to in gender and usually in number, while their case depends on their role in the sentence.

Because it is the direct object of capit.

The sparrow is doing the action of catching, and the fly is the thing being caught. In Latin, the direct object is usually put in the accusative case.

So:

• passer parvus = subject, nominative
• eam = object, accusative
• capit = catches

Celeriter is an adverb, meaning quickly.

It describes how the sparrow catches the fly. English often forms adverbs with -ly; Latin often forms them differently, and celeriter is a common adverb form.

Compare:

• celer = swift, quick
• celeriter = swiftly, quickly

So eam celeriter capit means he catches it quickly.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order. The endings of the words tell you their grammatical roles, so Latin does not depend as heavily on position.

In this sentence:

• musca molesta sedet has the verb after the subject phrase
• passer parvus eam celeriter capit puts the verb at the end

Both patterns are very normal in Latin. Very often, Latin likes to place the verb at or near the end of the clause, but that is not a strict rule.

Their endings show that they are third person singular present tense forms.

• sedet = he/she/it sits
• capit = he/she/it catches

The subjects are singular too:

• musca = one fly
• passer = one sparrow

So the verbs are singular to match their subjects.

Classical Latin does not have definite and indefinite articles like English the and a/an.

So a noun like musca can mean:

• a fly
• the fly

and passer can mean:

• a sparrow
• the sparrow

You decide which is most natural from the context. That is very common in Latin and can feel strange at first to English speakers.

It has two main clauses joined by sed, which means but:

1. Prope fenestram musca molesta sedet
2. sed passer parvus eam celeriter capit

So the pattern is:

• location phrase: prope fenestram
• first clause: musca molesta sedet
• connector: sed
• second clause: passer parvus eam celeriter capit

This is a good example of how Latin can include a prepositional phrase, then a subject with adjective, then a verb, and then switch to another clause with a contrasting conjunction.

In this sentence, prope is a preposition meaning near, followed by the accusative fenestram.

However, in Latin prope can also sometimes function more like an adverb, meaning nearby or nearly, depending on context. For a beginner, the most important thing here is simply:

• prope + accusative = near

So prope fenestram is a standard and useful expression to remember.