Consobrinus meus mihi epistulam ex Sicilia mittit.

Consobrinus means cousin, more specifically a male cousin. In classical Latin, it often refers to a cousin on the mother’s side, but in many learning contexts it is simply treated as cousin.

Because the sentence has meus with it, consobrinus meus means my cousin.

Both consobrinus meus and meus consobrinus are possible in Latin.

Latin word order is much freer than English word order because the endings show the grammatical function. A possessive adjective like meus can come before or after the noun. Very often, especially in simple sentences, it comes after the noun: consobrinus meus.

So this is a normal Latin way to say my cousin.

Mihi is the dative singular form of ego. It means to me or for me.

The verb mittit means sends, and with a verb like send, Latin often uses:

• an accusative for the thing being sent
• a dative for the person receiving it

So:

• epistulam = a letter / the letter → thing sent
• mihi = to me → recipient

English often uses word order or to for this, but Latin uses case endings.

Epistulam is the accusative singular of epistula, meaning letter.

It is in the accusative because it is the direct object of mittit—it is the thing being sent.

Basic pattern:

• epistula = nominative singular, letter
• epistulam = accusative singular, letter as direct object

So in this sentence, epistulam is correct because the cousin is sending a letter.

The preposition ex means out of or from, and it takes the ablative case.

So:

• Sicilia = ablative singular here
• ex Sicilia = from Sicily

You should learn prepositions together with the case they govern. In this sentence:

• ex
  • ablative

That is why Sicilia is not accusative here.

Here Sicilia is in the ablative singular.

For a first-declension noun like Sicilia, the forms are:

• nominative singular: Sicilia
• ablative singular: Sicilia

So the form looks the same, but the preposition ex tells you it must be ablative.

That is very common in Latin: sometimes the form alone is not enough, and you use the surrounding words to identify the case.

Latin normally has no articles. There is no regular word exactly equivalent to English a, an, or the.

So epistulam can mean:

• a letter
• the letter

Which one is best depends on the context. In beginner translations, a letter is often the most natural unless the context makes it definite.

Mittit is present tense, third person singular, active voice.

It comes from the verb mittere, meaning to send.

So mittit means:

• he sends
• she sends
• sometimes is sending, depending on context

Because the subject is consobrinus meus, we understand it here as my cousin sends.

Consobrinus meus is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject.

Also, mittit is third person singular, so it matches a singular subject.

The sentence is built like this:

• consobrinus meus = subject
• mihi = indirect object
• epistulam = direct object
• ex Sicilia = prepositional phrase
• mittit = verb

So the cousin is the one doing the sending.

Yes. Latin word order is flexible because the endings show the function of each word.

For example, these would still mean basically the same thing:

• Consobrinus meus mihi epistulam ex Sicilia mittit.
• Mihi consobrinus meus epistulam ex Sicilia mittit.
• Epistulam mihi consobrinus meus ex Sicilia mittit.
• Ex Sicilia consobrinus meus mihi epistulam mittit.

However, different word orders can slightly change the emphasis. The given order is natural and straightforward.

Latin verbs usually include the subject in their ending.

The ending -t in mittit means it is third person singular:

• he sends
• she sends
• it sends

Because consobrinus meus is already stated, Latin does not need a separate pronoun like he.

Yes, meus is a possessive adjective meaning my.

It changes its form to agree with the noun it describes in:

• gender
• number
• case

Since consobrinus is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

the adjective must also be:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

So we get meus.

If the noun were feminine, you would use mea; if neuter, meum.

Yes. Mihi is the indirect object.

In English, the indirect object is often the person to whom something is given, sent, shown, told, and so on. In Latin, this is commonly shown with the dative case.

So in this sentence:

• epistulam = direct object
• mihi = indirect object

That is why mihi is in the dative.

A common classroom pronunciation would be something like:

con-soh-BREE-nus MAY-oos MEE-hee eh-PIST-too-lam ex sih-KIL-ee-ah MIT-tit

A few notes:

• c is always hard, like k
• v in restored classical pronunciation sounds like w, though many learners use an English v
• h in mihi is very light
• ti in mittit stays ti, not sh

Pronunciation can vary depending on whether you are using a classical or ecclesiastical system.

Because Sicilia is a proper noun—the name of a place, Sicily.

In modern printed Latin, proper nouns are usually capitalized, just as they are in English. Ancient Roman inscriptions and manuscripts did not always use capitalization the way modern texts do, but in textbooks you will normally see Sicilia with a capital letter.