Magistra hodie de pronomine loquitur et dicit pronomen saepe pro nomine poni.

Because magistra is the subject of both main verbs, loquitur and dicit. It means the female teacher or the mistress/teacher, and as the subject of the sentence it appears in the nominative singular.

Hodie means today. It is an adverb, so it does not change its form. It simply tells us when the teacher is speaking and saying these things.

Because the preposition de takes the ablative case in Latin. The noun pronomen is a neuter third-declension noun, and its ablative singular is pronomine.

So:

• nominative: pronomen
• ablative: pronomine

That is why Latin says de pronomine = about the pronoun.

Loquitur is from loquor, loqui, a deponent verb. Deponent verbs have passive forms but active meanings.

So although loquitur looks like a passive form, it actually means:

• he/she speaks
• she is speaking

Here it agrees with magistra, so it means the teacher speaks or is speaking.

Because Latin often leaves subject pronouns out when the verb ending already shows the person and number.

Dicit means he/she/it says, and since magistra is already the subject, Latin does not need to add ea (she). English usually needs the pronoun, but Latin often does not.

This is a very common Latin construction: the accusative and infinitive after a verb of saying, thinking, knowing, and so on.

After dicit (she says), Latin does not usually use that plus a finite verb as English does. Instead, it uses:

• a noun in the accusative as the subject of the reported statement
• an infinitive as the verb of that statement

So:

• dicit pronomen poni
• literally: she says a pronoun to be placed
• more natural English: she says that a pronoun is placed

This is one of the most important Latin sentence patterns to learn.

Because it is the subject of the infinitive poni inside indirect statement.

In an accusative-and-infinitive construction, the subject of the infinitive goes into the accusative. For a neuter third-declension noun like pronomen, the nominative and accusative singular are the same in form:

• nominative singular: pronomen
• accusative singular: pronomen

So here it is accusative, even though it looks identical to the nominative.

Poni is the present passive infinitive of pono, ponere, posui, positum (to place, put).

So:

• ponere = to place / to put (active infinitive)
• poni = to be placed / to be put (passive infinitive)

In this sentence, it means to be placed or to be used in the place of when combined with pro nomine.

Because the preposition pro takes the ablative case.

So:

• nomen = name/noun
• ablative singular = nomine

Thus pro nomine means for a noun or more naturally here in place of a noun.

Literally, it means to be placed in place of a noun.

This is a standard way of explaining what a pronoun does:

• pronomen = pronoun
• pro nomine = in place of a noun
• poni = to be placed

So the phrase means that a pronoun is often used instead of a noun.

Saepe is an adverb meaning often. It modifies the infinitive idea poni.

Latin word order is flexible, but adverbs are often placed near the word or phrase they modify. Here saepe tells us how often the pronoun is used in place of a noun:

• pronomen saepe pro nomine poni
• that a pronoun is often placed in place of a noun

It joins two main verbs with the same subject:

• Magistra ... loquitur
• et dicit ...

So the teacher speaks and says. The second verb, dicit, then introduces indirect statement: pronomen saepe pro nomine poni.

Classical Latin strongly prefers the accusative and infinitive after verbs like dico. So dicit pronomen saepe pro nomine poni is the standard classical structure.

Later Latin sometimes uses clauses with quod, more like English that, but for a learner reading standard Latin, the accusative-and-infinitive construction is the normal one to expect here.

In grammar:

• nomen means noun
• pronomen means pronoun

The word pronomen itself is built from:

• pro = for, in place of
• nomen = name/noun

So the sentence is almost defining the word pronomen by its function: it is something that is used in place of a noun.

Not in the same way it is in English. Latin uses endings more than word order to show relationships.

Still, the order is quite natural:

• Magistra — subject first
• hodie — time word early in the sentence
• de pronomine loquitur — what she is speaking about
• et dicit — second main verb
• pronomen saepe pro nomine poni — indirect statement

So the order is flexible, but this arrangement is clear and normal.