Magistra dicit hortum quasi novam fabulam florere, cum rosae, lilia, et violae una luceant.

Because after dicit Latin usually uses an indirect statement, also called the accusative-and-infinitive construction.

So:

• direct statement: hortus floret = the garden blooms
• indirect statement after dicit: dicit hortum florere = she says that the garden blooms

In this construction, the subject of the infinitive goes into the accusative, so hortus becomes hortum.

For the same reason: after verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, hearing, and so on, Latin often reports the content with an infinitive instead of using English-style that.

So dicit hortum florere literally means something like she says the garden to bloom, but in natural English we say she says that the garden is blooming or blooms.

The pattern is:

• dicit = she says
• hortum = the subject of the reported statement, put in the accusative
• florere = the infinitive that carries the reported action

This is the standard Latin accusative + infinitive construction for reported speech or thought.

Quasi introduces a comparison. Depending on context, it can mean:

• as if
• as though
• like

Here it gives the sentence a poetic feel: the garden blooms as if it were a new story or like a new story.

Because it is linked to hortum inside the indirect statement.

A good way to understand it is to imagine an implied esse:

• hortum quasi novam fabulam esse

That would mean the garden is as if a new story or more naturally the garden is like a new story.

Since hortum is accusative, the predicate noun that goes with it, novam fabulam, is also accusative. This is often called a predicate accusative.

Yes, you can understand an implied esse.

So the sense is roughly:

• hortum quasi novam fabulam florere
• the garden blooms as if it were a new story

Latin often leaves out forms of esse when the meaning is clear, especially in compressed or literary phrasing.

It is a cum clause giving background circumstance.

With cum + subjunctive, the sense is often something like:

• when
• while
• since

So this clause sets the scene in which the garden seems to bloom like a story: the roses, lilies, and violets are shining together.

Because cum often takes the subjunctive when it introduces a descriptive or circumstantial clause rather than a simple bare fact.

So:

• cum ... luceant gives background: when / since / while they are shining
• cum ... lucent would feel more like a straightforward factual statement of time in some contexts

The subjunctive here helps make the clause part of the overall scene, not just a separate plain statement.

All three are nominative plural, because they are the subjects of luceant.

They look different because they belong to different noun types:

• rosae = nominative plural feminine
• lilia = nominative plural neuter
• violae = nominative plural feminine

A neuter plural noun like lilia often ends in -a, which is why it does not match rosae and violae in form.

Because it has a compound subject: rosae, lilia, et violae.

Even though the nouns are not all the same gender, together they form a plural subject, so the verb is plural: luceant = they shine.

Here una means together, not the number one.

It is functioning adverbially and modifies luceant:

• una luceant = shine together

That is a very common point of confusion, because the form looks like the feminine singular of one, but the context makes the adverbial meaning clear.

Probably both.

• Literally, a garden can florere: it blooms or flowers.
• Metaphorically, the comparison quasi novam fabulam makes the garden seem vivid, unfolding, and imaginative, almost like a story coming to life.

Latin often allows this kind of layered meaning, especially in a descriptive sentence like this one.

Latin word order is much freer than English word order because Latin endings show the grammatical roles of words.

This sentence uses that flexibility for style:

• Magistra dicit sets up the report
• hortum appears early to highlight what is being discussed
• florere comes later to complete the indirect statement
• luceant stands at the end of its clause, which is very common in Latin

So the order is not random. It is grammatical and also expressive.

The basic reported idea would become:

• hortus ... floret

Instead of:

• hortum ... florere

That change shows the difference between:

• a normal direct statement with a nominative subject and finite verb
• an indirect statement with an accusative subject and infinitive after dicit

So hortum florere is basically the reported version of hortus floret.