Latin, like English, can have more than one way of expressing the same idea. The first two listed below are effectively the same as in English, but note the differences in the cases.
Quō colōre sunt oculī tuī? What colour are your eyes?
[1] Oculōs caeruleōs [accusative] habeō. I have blue eyes.
Latin uses the accusative case since ‘eyes’ is the direct object of the sentence, and caeruleōs agrees in gender, number and case with oculōs.
[2] Oculī meī sunt caeruleī [nominative]. My eyes are blue.
The nominative case is used; ‘eyes’ is the subject of the sentence, and meī and caeruleī agree in gender, number and case with oculī.
[3] Oculī mihi sunt caeruleī. [Literally: to me there are blue eyes] = I have blue eyes.
You have already seen this construction in previous posts. Its grammatical name is the dative of possession and is functioning in exactly the same way as in other examples before:
Mihi est fīlius. I have a son.
Here is part of a description of an animal written in 1667. Note the use of the dative of possession.
Oculī eī sunt nigrī, parvī, vīvidī et erectī.
It has black, small, lively and alert eyes (or: Its eyes are ...)
When learning a language, be able to recognise the different means of expression and, in active communication, be confident in using at least one of them.
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