Alia serva scutellas puras lavat et in armario ponit.

Alia means another, a different, or sometimes simply other. Here it modifies serva, so it is feminine singular nominative to match it.

A useful extra point: alia usually means another one in a general sense. If Latin wants to mean the other one of two, it often uses altera instead.

Because serva is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject.

You can also see that:

• alia matches serva, so alia serva goes together as one phrase.
• lavat and ponit are both third person singular, so they need a singular subject.
• scutellas has a different ending and is functioning as the direct object instead.

So alia serva = another servant / another slave is the one doing the actions.

Scutellas ends in -as, which is the accusative plural ending for many first-declension nouns.

The accusative case is commonly used for the direct object, so scutellas is the thing being washed, and also the thing being put in the cupboard.

So the structure is:

• alia serva = subject
• scutellas puras = direct object
• lavat / ponit = verbs

Puras is an adjective meaning clean. It must agree with scutellas in:

• gender: feminine
• number: plural
• case: accusative

That is why it is puras, not some other form.

It comes after scutellas because Latin word order is more flexible than English word order. Putting the adjective after the noun is very common in Latin. So scutellas puras simply means clean dishes / clean bowls / clean plates.

Both are third person singular present active indicative verbs.

That means:

• lavat = she washes or is washing
• ponit = she puts or is putting

Since the subject is serva, we understand both verbs as referring to she.

Latin often leaves out words that are easy to understand from context.

In English we might say:

• She washes the dishes and puts them in the cupboard.

In Latin, once scutellas puras has already been mentioned, the object does not have to be repeated. So after ponit, the listener naturally understands the clean dishes as the object.

In armario means in the cupboard / in the cabinet.

Here:

• in = in
• armario is a form of armarium, meaning cupboard, cabinet, or closet

A grammar note learners often ask about: in with the ablative usually expresses location, while in with the accusative often expresses motion into something. So you may expect in armarium when the idea is into the cupboard. In this sentence, in armario presents the cupboard as the place where the dishes end up. Beginner texts sometimes use this kind of phrasing without stressing the distinction too much.

Latin does not have separate words for a, an, or the.

So:

• serva can mean a servant, the servant, or simply servant
• scutellas can mean dishes, the dishes, and so on

The context tells you which English article makes the most sense.

Yes. Latin word order is much freer than English word order because the endings show how the words function.

This sentence could be rearranged in various ways without changing the basic meaning, for example:

• Scutellas puras alia serva lavat et in armario ponit.

The original order is perfectly natural, though. Starting with alia serva puts the servant first, and in armario before ponit is also a normal arrangement.

It can mean either, depending on context. In many Latin texts, serva literally means female slave. In some beginner materials, it may be translated more gently as servant or maidservant.

So the grammar tells you it is a female person, but the exact English word chosen can vary with context and translation style.