Debitor mutuum petit.

Because debitor is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject of a sentence.

Here, petit means he/she/it seeks/requests, so we look for a singular nominative noun to go with it. Debitor fits that role, so it means the debtor as the subject.

A learner can think of it like this:

• debitor = the one doing the action
• mutuum = the thing being requested
• petit = requests / seeks

So debitor is the subject because its form marks it that way.

Mutuum is accusative singular here, because it is the direct object of petit.

The verb peto often takes a direct object: you seek, request, or aim at something. The thing sought or requested goes into the accusative.

So in this sentence:

• debitor = nominative subject
• mutuum = accusative object
• petit = verb

A useful point: mutuum is a neuter noun, and in the singular its nominative and accusative forms look the same. So although the form is mutuum either way, its job in the sentence shows that it is accusative here.

Petit is:

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

It comes from the verb peto, petere.

So petit means:

• he seeks
• she seeks
• it seeks
• or, depending on context, he/she requests

Because the subject is debitor, we understand it as the debtor requests/seeks.

Latin does not have articles like English the and a/an.

So a noun like debitor can mean:

• debtor
• a debtor
• the debtor

And mutuum can mean:

• loan
• a loan
• the loan

Which one is best in English depends on context. Latin usually leaves that unstated unless the context makes it clear.

Yes, mutuum can be confusing because it can be related to an adjective meaning something like borrowed or reciprocal in some contexts, but here it is being used as a noun meaning loan.

In this sentence, it is clearly the thing being requested, so it functions as a noun: a loan.

This is common in Latin: a form that originally looks adjectival can also be used substantively, that is, as a noun.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show grammatical roles.

A very common neutral order is:

• subject - object - verb

So Debitor mutuum petit is a very natural Latin arrangement.

But Latin could also rearrange the words for emphasis, for example:

• Mutuum debitor petit
• Petit debitor mutuum

These would still mean basically the same thing, because the endings still show which word is subject and which is object. The different order would mainly affect emphasis or style.

The dictionary forms are:

• debitor, debitoris = debtor
• mutuum, mutui = loan
• peto, petere, petivi or petii, petitum = seek, request

For a learner, this helps explain the forms in the sentence:

• debitor comes from the noun debitor
• mutuum comes from the noun mutuum
• petit comes from the verb peto

Knowing the dictionary form helps you identify the declension or conjugation and predict other forms.

They belong to different patterns:

• debitor, debitoris is a third-declension noun
• mutuum, mutui is a second-declension neuter noun
• peto, petere is a third-conjugation verb

That matters because Latin endings depend on these patterns.

For example:

• third-declension noun: debitor
• second-declension neuter noun: mutuum
• third-conjugation verb: petit

Recognizing these categories makes it much easier to parse the sentence.

It can mean several related things depending on context. Peto is a broad verb that can mean:

• seek
• request
• ask for
• aim at
• sometimes even attack or make for

In this sentence, because the object is mutuum (loan), the natural sense is requests a loan or seeks a loan.

So the exact English wording depends on context, even though the Latin form is the same.

The noun debitor itself is grammatically masculine, so if it refers to a person in the ordinary way, it would normally be understood as male: the debtor or he in context.

But the verb form petit only tells you third person singular. It does not itself specify he versus she versus it. The noun supplies that information here.

So in this sentence, the combination of debitor and petit gives you the debtor requests.

You can do it roughly, but not perfectly.

A very literal breakdown is:

• debitor = debtor
• mutuum = loan
• petit = seeks / requests

So a word-for-word gloss would be something like debtor loan requests.

But good English needs articles and a more natural order, so the actual translation would be something like:

• The debtor requests a loan
• A debtor seeks a loan

This is a good example of why Latin is often best read by identifying case and verb form, not by mechanically translating word by word.