Serva cubile hospiti parat, ut bene dormiat.

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

• serva = the female slave / maidservant
• It is a first-declension noun.
• Its ending -a here shows nominative singular.

So Serva ... parat means The maid prepares ...

Cubile is the direct object of parat, so it is in the accusative singular.

• cubile means bed, couch, or sleeping-place
• The verb parat means prepares
• So the thing being prepared is cubile

A literal structure is:

• Serva = the maid
• cubile = the bed
• parat = prepares

So: The maid prepares a bed...

A learner may notice that cubile looks the same as nominative singular. That is normal for many neuter nouns: the nominative and accusative are often identical.

Because it means for the guest or to the guest, and Latin often uses the dative for the person who benefits from an action.

• hospes = guest
• hospiti = for the guest / to the guest (dative singular)

So:

• Serva cubile hospiti parat = The maid prepares a bed for the guest

This is a very common use of the dative, often called the indirect object or dative of advantage.

Because Latin often expresses meanings like to or for by using a case ending instead of a separate word.

In English, we say:

• for the guest

In Latin, the ending itself shows that meaning:

• hospiti

So the case ending does the work that a preposition often does in English.

Parat is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood

It comes from parare, meaning to prepare.

So parat means:

• he/she/it prepares
• here, because the subject is serva, it means she prepares

Here ut means so that or in order that.

It introduces a purpose clause:

• ut bene dormiat = so that he may sleep well

So the sentence is saying not just what the maid does, but why she does it.

A very literal sense is:

• The maid prepares a bed for the guest, so that he may sleep well.

Because after ut in a purpose clause, Latin normally uses the subjunctive.

So:

• dormit = he sleeps / is sleeping (indicative, a statement of fact)
• dormiat = that he may sleep / so that he may sleep (subjunctive, showing purpose)

In this sentence, the point is not simply that the guest sleeps, but that the bed is prepared with the purpose that he sleep well.

That is why Latin uses:

• ut bene dormiat not
• ut bene dormit

Because the main verb is parat, which is present tense, and Latin usually follows the sequence of tenses.

• Main verb: parat = present
• Purpose clause verb: dormiat = present subjunctive

The present subjunctive is the normal choice for a purpose clause after a primary tense such as the present.

So:

• parat ... ut dormiat = she prepares ... so that he may sleep

The understood subject is the guest.

Latin often leaves out a pronoun when the meaning is clear from context. Here:

• hospiti = for the guest
• ut bene dormiat = so that he may sleep well

Latin does not explicitly repeat he. It is simply understood that the person intended to sleep well is the guest.

So the sense is:

• The maid prepares a bed for the guest so that the guest may sleep well.

Because bene is an adverb, and it modifies the verb dormiat.

• bene = well
• bonus, bona, bonum = good (adjective)

In English too, we say:

• sleep well not
• sleep good (in standard grammar)

So Latin uses the adverb bene correctly here.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show grammatical roles.

So even though the sentence is:

• Serva cubile hospiti parat, ut bene dormiat

you can still identify the parts by their forms:

• serva = subject
• cubile = direct object
• hospiti = indirect object
• parat = verb

A more English-like order would be something like:

• Serva hospiti cubile parat

and that would still mean essentially the same thing.

The chosen order may emphasize certain words or simply sound natural in Latin prose.

Because Latin has no articles.

English distinguishes between:

• a bed
• the bed

Latin usually does not. A noun like cubile can mean:

• a bed
• the bed

The exact meaning depends on context.

So Serva cubile hospiti parat could be translated as:

• The maid prepares a bed for the guest or
• The maid prepares the bed for the guest

depending on the situation.

A very literal translation is:

• The maid prepares a bed for the guest, so that he may sleep well.

Breaking it down:

• Serva = the maid
• cubile = a bed
• hospiti = for the guest
• parat = prepares
• ut = so that
• bene = well
• dormiat = he may sleep

That shows both the grammar and the overall sense clearly.