Tessellarius limbum e crustis facit.

Tessellarius is nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of a sentence.

You can tell it is the subject because:

• facit is a 3rd person singular verb, so it needs a singular subject.
• tessellarius is the noun in the nominative case.
• limbum is in the accusative, so that is the direct object instead.

So tessellarius is the person doing the making.

It can be understood as an adjective used as a noun, which is very common in Latin.

Originally, tessellarius means something like connected with tiles, tesserae, or mosaic work. But in this sentence it is being used substantively, so it means a mosaic worker or tile-worker.

Latin often does this. An adjective can stand on its own when the noun is understood.

Because it is the direct object of facit.

The verb facere means to make or to do, and the thing being made goes into the accusative case. Here, the worker is making a border, so limbum is accusative singular.

Its dictionary form is limbus, and the accusative singular of a 2nd-declension masculine noun like limbus is limbum.

E is a preposition meaning out of or from, and it takes the ablative case.

So:

• e = out of / from
• crustis = ablative plural

That means e crustis means out of pieces/slabs/inlaid pieces or from crustae, depending on how the vocabulary is being explained in your text.

The important grammar point is: e/ex + ablative.

Both e and ex are forms of the same preposition.

In many textbooks, you learn:

• e often appears before consonants
• ex often appears before vowels or h

But Latin authors are not perfectly rigid about this, and both forms can occur. Here e crustis is completely normal.

So this is not a different word or a different meaning—just a different form of the same preposition.

Facit is:

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

It comes from facio, facere.

So it means he/she makes, is making, or does make, depending on context. In this sentence, it means that the mosaic worker makes the border.

It can mean either.

Latin present tense often covers both:

• simple present: makes
• progressive present: is making

English usually forces you to choose one, but Latin often leaves that to context. So without extra context, facit can reasonably be understood as either makes or is making.

We know mainly from the case endings, not from the position of the words.

Here:

• tessellarius = nominative singular → subject
• limbum = accusative singular → direct object
• crustis = ablative plural after e → object of the preposition
• facit = 3rd singular verb

So even if the order changed, the grammar would still show the relationships. For example, Latin could also say:

• Limbum tessellarius e crustis facit
• E crustis limbum tessellarius facit

Those would still mean the same basic thing.

Because Latin has no articles.

Latin does not have separate words corresponding exactly to English a, an, or the. So tessellarius can mean:

• a mosaic worker
• the mosaic worker

and limbum can mean:

• a border
• the border

The context tells you which is more natural in English.

In this context, limbus means border, edge, or decorative border.

It is a masculine 2nd-declension noun:

• nominative singular: limbus
• accusative singular: limbum

So in the sentence, limbum is the border being made.

Not in the everyday English-food sense.

Latin crusta can indeed mean crust in some contexts, but it also has broader meanings such as:

• surface layer
• hard covering
• veneer
• slab
• decorative piece used in inlay or mosaic work

So in an artistic or building context like this one, crustis refers to pieces or slabs used to make the border, not to bread crust.

Because one border can be made from many pieces.

So the grammar reflects the sense:

• limbum = one border
• e crustis = from pieces/slabs/materials in the plural

This is very natural both in Latin and in English.

They are:

• tessellarius, -i = mosaic worker; tile-worker
• limbus, -i = border, edge
• crusta, -ae = crust, surface layer, slab, decorative piece
• facio, facere, feci, factum = make, do

Knowing the dictionary form helps you recognize why the sentence has these forms:

• tessellarius = nominative singular
• limbum = accusative singular
• crustis = ablative plural
• facit = 3rd singular present

The sentence breaks down like this:

• Tessellarius = subject
• limbum = direct object
• e crustis = prepositional phrase showing the material/source
• facit = verb

So the structure is basically:

subject + object + prepositional phrase + verb

That word order is very common in Latin, although Latin is flexible because the endings do most of the grammatical work.