order of words- beginning latin

We have a Latin scholar on the forum named George. I suggest you go to his profile page, click the button to send a private message, and if past experience is any gauge, he will give you the answer.

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thank you. I sent my question to George.

Well, you're exactly right. The normal order of words is subject-object-verb,
but for emphasis (and sometimes for clarity) it is not uncommon to change
that order.

Hey, I remembered that. It's been a lot of years since my latin student time.

ok, well then would the correct translation of "nauta sum" be "A sailor i am."?, or is the author correct that both "nauta sum" and "sum nauta" translate as "I am a sailor"?
this is probably way to picky for beginning latin, but i was just curious. Why would it be written differently if it meant the same and was meant to be spoken the same?
I think the author is trying to establish the form of subjects and direct objects. We just covered "predicate nominative" has the same form as the subject, but other direct objects have a designated ending based on the person, singular or plural.
Knowing the normal order is subject-object-verb is a help, thanks. Then agricola poeta est has to mean "the farmer is a poet" and not "the poet is a farmer."

ok, well then would the correct translation of "nauta sum" be "A sailor i am."?, or is the author correct that both "nauta sum" and "sum nauta" translate as "I am a sailor"?
this is probably way to picky for beginning latin, but i was just curious. Why would a sentence be written differently, if it was meant to be read, and spoken, the same? If you think the author is just trying to keep it simple for my level I won't be offended. In more advanced latin, would nauta sum be translated as "A sailor i am"?

We just covered a "predicate nominative".
With a predicate nominative; Knowing the normal order; subject-object-verb is a help, thanks. Then agricola poeta est has to mean "the farmer is a poet" and not "the poet is a farmer."

A translation is often also an interpretation. Does the original seem to
stress the word "sailor"? As translator, do you thing the English "A sailor I
am" puts the same stress on "sailor"? If so, then that is a good translation.
It isn't always about word-for-word correspondence.

to me "a sailor i am" stresses I, "I am a sailor" stresses sailor, and it is hard for me to know what the author meant, unless by the word order, that is for just a one sentence interpretation .
If what I am hearing (from you) is correct, the correct interpretation may depend on the context of the sentence (in the paragraph)?
This is a beginner text, and I suspect the author is mixing the wording so we (I) will focus on the word endings and practice what is subject, direct object, verb , with proper person, and singular or plural.
I've also noticed there can be a significant difference in supplying "the" or "a" before a word. Nauta scaphas numerat. "the sailor is counting boats", vs. "the sailor is counting the boats." the first implies he is counting boats as they come into sight, the second implies there are a large number of boats in view he is trying to count.
When i get further along, does the word order (or some other clue) in the sentence help with knowing what the author meant? is it the context that supplies the clue? or is it just a best guess interpretation that can vary between translators? [i have basically no experience with foreign languages, and for all i know french or Spanish may have these same problems.]

I remembered now in the book it says ego is used to emphasis I, so Nauta ego sum would mean (to me) "a sailor I am", nauta sum, or sum nauta could both mean "i am a sailor". I suspect with other nouns one would have to judge their emphasis?

Yes, but bear in mind that word order is far less important in Latin and
pronouns used as subjects are more often understood than expressed.

I'm glad to hear you say that. Translating a sentence is challenging enough without being misled by an expectation of word order.
It seems each sentence is a new puzzle, and the only real clues are the word endings.
The book just introduced the 5 cases of nouns, with 3 out of 10 endings being ae. It took some time before the dative and genitive (ae ending) made sense.
I'm sure we must have had this in high school Latin, but i don't remember it.

That's a good way to put it!

I found this example of what you were saying about word order - it is one of my exercises.
Insulam videre non possumus. "We are not able to see the island."
I imagine sentences could get more backwards than this, (maybe if it were longer).