Amici inter ludum iocantur.

Amici is nominative plural here, from amicus meaning friend.

You can tell it is the subject because:

• iocantur is 3rd person plural
• the sentence needs a plural subject
• amici naturally fits that role as friends

A learner may notice that amici can also be genitive singular in some contexts, meaning of the friend. But here that would not make sense with iocantur, so the correct reading is friends.

Because iocor, iocari is a deponent verb.

Deponent verbs:

• use passive forms
• but have active meanings

So iocantur literally looks like a passive form, but it means they joke or they are joking, not they are joked.

In this sentence:

• iocantur = they joke / they are joking

This is a very common thing in Latin, so it is worth getting used to early.

Iocantur is present tense, indicative mood, 3rd person plural.

So it means:

• they joke
• they are joking

Latin present tense often covers both the simple present and the present progressive in English.

Because inter takes the accusative case.

So:

• inter = a preposition
• ludum = accusative singular of ludus

This is something you simply learn with the preposition:

• inter + accusative

That is its most basic meaning, yes: between or among.

But in Latin, inter can also be used in the sense of during or in the course of, especially in certain expressions.

So in this sentence, inter ludum means something like:

• during the game
• in the middle of the game

That is why the phrase may feel a little different from the most basic meaning you first learned for inter.

Ludus can have several meanings, including:

• game
• play
• school
• sometimes even training school in certain contexts

In this sentence, the intended meaning is decided by context. If the translation already gives the meaning, that tells you which sense is meant here.

So the important point is: ludus is a word with more than one possible meaning, and context tells you which one fits.

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

So amici can mean:

• friends
• the friends

And ludum can mean:

• a game
• the game

You decide which English article to use from the context and the meaning already provided.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin uses endings to show what each word is doing.

So Amici inter ludum iocantur is understandable because:

• amici shows the subject
• ludum is marked by the accusative after inter
• iocantur clearly gives the verb

A different order could also work, such as:

• Inter ludum amici iocantur

The basic meaning would stay the same, though emphasis might shift slightly.

Putting the verb near the end is very common in Latin, although not required.

Latin often prefers a pattern where:

• the subject appears first or near the beginning
• other phrases come in the middle
• the verb comes last

So Amici inter ludum iocantur has a very natural Latin feel.

You would not look up iocantur exactly as it appears here. You would look for the dictionary form of the verb:

• iocor, iocari

That tells you it is a deponent verb.

Likewise, you would look up the nouns as:

• amicus
• ludus

This is an important study habit in Latin: when you see an inflected form, try to identify its base dictionary form.