Puer ramum iacentem e terra tollit.

Because puer is the subject of the sentence: the boy is the one performing the action.

• puer = the boy
• nominative singular masculine

In Latin, the subject is usually put in the nominative case.

Because ramum is the direct object of tollit. It is the thing the boy picks up.

• ramus = branch when it is the dictionary form / nominative
• ramum = branch as a direct object, in the accusative singular

So Latin changes the ending to show the branch is receiving the action.

iacentem is the present active participle of iaceo, meaning lying.

It describes ramum, so it must agree with ramum in:

• case: accusative
• number: singular
• gender: masculine

That is why it appears as iacentem rather than iacens.

So:

• ramus iacens = a branch lying
• ramum iacentem = a branch lying / the lying branch as an object

Because of agreement.

iacentem is:

• masculine
• singular
• accusative

ramum is also:

• masculine
• singular
• accusative

So they match. puer is nominative, so iacentem cannot describe puer here.

Latin often uses matching endings to show which words belong together.

Here it means the branch lying or the branch that is lying.

It does not make a separate main statement like the branch is lying. Instead, it is a noun plus participle combination:

• ramum = branch
• iacentem = lying

Together: the branch lying / the branch that is lying

So the full sense is something like: The boy picks up the branch lying on the ground.

e means out of or from, and it takes the ablative case.

So:

• terra is ablative singular of terra
• e terra = from the ground / off the ground / out of the الأرض

In this sentence, e terra tells us where the branch is picked up from.

Both e and ex mean the same thing: out of or from.

Usually:

• e is often used before a consonant
• ex is often used before a vowel or sometimes for sound and style

Since terra begins with a consonant, e terra is perfectly normal.

Here tollit means picks up.

The verb tollo, tollere can have several meanings depending on context, such as:

• lift
• raise
• take up
• remove
• carry off

With ramum and e terra, the natural meaning is picks up a branch from the ground.

tollit is present tense, third person singular.

That means:

• present = the action is happening now / in the present
• third person = he/she/it
• singular = one person

So tollit means he picks up, she picks up, or it picks up. Here, because the subject is puer, it means the boy picks up.

Latin has no articles like English the or a/an.

So:

• puer can mean the boy or a boy
• ramum can mean the branch or a branch

You decide from the context which is more natural in translation.

The word order is more flexible in Latin than in English because the endings show each word's role.

So Puer ramum iacentem e terra tollit means the same basic thing as other possible orders such as:

• Puer tollit ramum iacentem e terra
• Ramum iacentem puer e terra tollit

However, the chosen order can affect emphasis and style. In this sentence, the order is straightforward and natural.

Not really. e terra goes most naturally with tollit, not with iacentem.

The sense is:

• the boy picks up the branch from the ground

rather than:

• the branch is lying from the ground

Latin word order can separate related words, but meaning and common sense help show the structure.

The dictionary forms are:

• puer → puer, pueri = boy
• ramum → ramus, rami = branch
• iacentem → from iaceo, iacere, iacui = lie, be lying
• terra → terra, terrae = earth, ground
• tollit → tollo, tollere, sustuli, sublatum = lift, take up, remove

Learners usually meet nouns in the nominative singular plus genitive singular, and verbs in their principal parts.

A very literal translation would be:

The boy lifts the branch lying from the ground.

But that is not natural English. Better English is:

• The boy picks up the branch lying on the ground.
• The boy picks up a branch from the ground.

Literal translation can help you see the structure, but natural translation gives the real idiomatic meaning.