Si gubernator bene gubernat, carina a scopulis facile servatur.

Si means if. Here it introduces a simple or real condition:

• si gubernator bene gubernat = if the helmsman steers well
• carina ... servatur = the keel/hull is preserved

Because both verbs are in the present indicative (gubernat, servatur), the sentence sounds like a general fact or a straightforward possibility: if this happens, that happens.

Yes. They come from the same verb, gubernare, meaning to steer, pilot, or govern in the sense of directing.

• gubernator = steersman / helmsman / pilot
• gubernat = he steers

So Latin is using two related words: the steersman steers well.

Gubernator is nominative singular. It is the subject of gubernat.

You can tell from both its role and its form:

• it is the person doing the action
• gubernat is third person singular, so it needs a singular subject
• -or is a common ending for masculine third-declension nouns like agent nouns

So gubernator = the helmsman as the subject.

Because bene is an adverb, and adverbs modify verbs.

• bene = well
• gubernat = steers

So bene gubernat means steers well.

By contrast, bonus, bona, bonum are adjectives, and adjectives modify nouns, not verbs.

That is because the main verb is passive:

• servatur = is saved / is protected / is preserved

In a passive sentence, the person or thing receiving the action becomes the subject. So carina is nominative because it is the subject of servatur.

If the sentence were active, Latin might say something like gubernator carinam servat = the helmsman saves the keel. In the passive version, carina moves into the subject position.

Servatur is:

• present tense
• indicative mood
• passive voice
• third person singular

It comes from servare, meaning to save, preserve, or protect.

The ending -tur is the key sign of the passive here. So servatur means is saved, is preserved, or is protected.

Latin usually builds that information into the verb ending.

For example:

• gubernat = he/she/it steers
• servatur = he/she/it is saved

So Latin does not need an extra subject pronoun unless it wants emphasis. English often needs separate words, but Latin usually does not.

Here a scopulis means from the rocks, not by the rocks.

That is important. In passive sentences, a/ab + ablative can mark the agent when a person does the action, as in a nautis = by the sailors. But here scopulis means rocks, and the sense is clearly saved from the rocks, not saved by the rocks.

So this is better understood as a/ab expressing separation or danger avoided:

• a scopulis = from the rocks

Because a/ab takes the ablative.

The noun is scopulus = rock, crag, cliff, reef-like rock, and its ablative plural is scopulis.

So:

• scopulus = singular
• scopuli = plural nominative
• scopulis = plural ablative

Since the sentence has a scopulis, the ablative is required.

Facile is an adverb meaning easily, and it modifies servatur.

So the idea is that the keel/hull is easily saved/protected from the rocks, provided the helmsman steers well.

Latin adverbs can often move around more freely than in English, so its position is not strange.

Latin word order is flexible, because the endings show the grammatical roles.

This sentence puts the if-clause first:

• Si gubernator bene gubernat = the condition
• carina a scopulis facile servatur = the result

That order is very natural, because it presents the condition before the consequence. But Latin could rearrange many of these words without changing the core meaning, as long as the forms stay the same.

Its basic meaning is keel, but in context it can sometimes stand for the hull or even, by extension, the ship itself.

That is common in many languages: a part can stand for the whole. So depending on the translation shown to the learner, carina may be rendered more narrowly or more naturally in English.

Grammatically, servatur is present passive, so it can sometimes be translated either way depending on context:

• is saved
• is being saved
• is protected
• is preserved

In a general statement like this, English usually prefers is saved/protected rather than the more literal is being saved. The best choice depends on the style of the translation.