Caper in agro stat.

Caper is a noun, and here it is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of the sentence.

So in Caper in agro stat, caper is the one doing the action of stat.

Caper usually means a male goat or he-goat. It is more specific than a general English goat.

A learner may also meet capra, which means a female goat or she-goat.

Because the preposition in here means in/on in the sense of location, and with that meaning it takes the ablative case.

The noun is ager = field, but its ablative singular form is agro.

So:

• ager = nominative singular
• agro = ablative singular

That is why Latin says in agro.

Agro is ablative singular.

You can tell this in two ways:

• the preposition in often takes the ablative when it means in or on
• ager is a second-declension masculine noun, and its ablative singular ends in -o

So in agro = in the field.

In Latin, in can take two different cases depending on the meaning:

• in + ablative = location: in, on
• in + accusative = motion into: into, onto

Here the goat is already standing in the field, so this is location, not movement. That is why Latin uses in agro, not an accusative form.

Stat is a verb from stare, meaning to stand.

Its form here is:

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

So stat means he/she/it stands or is standing.

Because the subject is caper, the sense is the goat stands or the goat is standing.

Because stat already means stands or is standing. Latin does not need a separate word like English is in this sentence.

English often uses is standing, but Latin can express that idea with the simple present stat.

Latin does not have definite or indefinite articles like English the or a/an.

So:

• caper can mean the goat or a goat
• in agro can mean in the field or in a field

You figure out which is most natural from the context.

Yes. Latin word order is often more flexible than English word order because the endings show the grammatical roles.

So these could all mean roughly the same thing:

• Caper in agro stat
• In agro caper stat
• Stat caper in agro

However, word order can change emphasis or style. The given order is a simple, straightforward one.

It is a masculine noun, but it is a little less straightforward than a basic -us noun like servus.

Its nominative singular is caper, and its stem is seen in forms like capri. So a learner should notice that the e in caper does not stay in every form.

For example:

• nominative singular: caper
• genitive singular: capri

So it belongs to the second declension, but its nominative form is not the simplest pattern beginners first learn.

A common classroom pronunciation would be roughly:

KAH-per in AH-groh staht

More specifically:

• c in caper is always hard, like k
• g in agro is hard, as in go
• a is pronounced like a in father
• stat has a clear t at the end

If you use restored classical pronunciation, that is a good approximate guide.