Rex preces populi audit.

• Rex = the subject: the king
• preces = the direct object: prayers, pleas, or requests
• populi = a word depending on preces: of the people
• audit = the verb: he hears or he listens to

So the structure is:

Rex | preces populi | audit
The king | the prayers of the people | hears

Because rex is in the nominative case, which is the case usually used for the subject of a sentence.

The dictionary form is rex, regis = king.
Here, rex is the nominative singular, so it means the king as the one doing the action.

Because preces is in the accusative case, which is commonly used for the direct object.

That means preces is the thing being heard. The king is doing the hearing, and the prayers are what he hears.

So:

• rex = who does the action
• preces = what receives the action

Because populi is in the genitive case, which often shows possession or relationship. A very common meaning of the genitive is of ...

So preces populi means:

• the prayers of the people
• the pleas of the people
• the requests of the people

The word populus means people in the sense of a nation, a people, or the people as a body. Its genitive singular is populi.

Here it is genitive singular: of the people.

This can confuse learners because populi can also be nominative plural in other contexts, meaning peoples. But in this sentence, the grammar shows it is genitive singular because it fits naturally with preces:

preces populi = the prayers of the people

Yes, there is a singular form, but this word is very often used in the plural.

The noun is prex, precis (feminine), meaning something like prayer, entreaty, or plea. In actual Latin, the plural preces is extremely common, often where English might still use either prayer or prayers.

So preces is a normal and very natural form here.

Audit is:

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

It comes from audio, audire = to hear

So audit means:

• he hears
• she hears
• it hears

In this sentence, because the subject is rex, it means the king hears.

Latin has no definite article and no indefinite article.

So a Latin word like rex can mean:

• king
• a king
• the king

The same is true for populi and preces. You decide whether to translate with the, a, or no article at all from the context.

In this sentence, English naturally uses the:

The king hears the prayers of the people.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show each word’s role.

A verb very often comes at or near the end of a Latin sentence, so Rex preces populi audit is a very normal arrangement.

English depends more on word order:

• The king hears the prayers of the people

Latin depends more on endings:

• rex = subject
• preces = object
• populi = genitive
• audit = verb

Yes, often they could.

For example, these would still basically mean the same thing:

• Rex preces populi audit
• Rex populi preces audit
• Preces populi rex audit
• Audit rex preces populi

The endings still tell you what each word is doing.

However, word order can affect emphasis. For example:

• putting rex first may emphasize the king
• putting preces first may emphasize the prayers
• putting audit first may emphasize the action he hears

Primarily, audit means he hears.

But depending on context, audio can also be translated more naturally as listen to, especially when English would prefer that expression.

In this sentence, both of these are possible in English:

• The king hears the prayers of the people.
• The king listens to the prayers of the people.

If the meaning has already been given to the learner, the main grammatical point is that preces is the direct object of audit.

In a common Classical Latin pronunciation, you could say it roughly like this:

reks PREH-kays POH-poo-lee OW-deet

A few details:

• x in rex sounds like ks
• c in preces is always hard, like k
• au in audit sounds like ow in cow
• i in populi and audit sounds like ee

A more careful Classical pronunciation would be approximately:

reks PREH-kes POP-oo-lee OW-deet

• rex = nominative singular
• preces = accusative plural
• populi = genitive singular

This is a good sentence for seeing three different noun cases at once:

• nominative = subject
• accusative = direct object
• genitive = of relationship

They are:

• rex, regis = king
• prex, precis = prayer, plea
• populus, populi = people, nation
• audio, audire, audivi, auditum = hear

Learners often need the dictionary form because the form in the sentence may look different from the basic form, especially with nouns like rex and prex.

Because populus is a collective singular noun. It is grammatically singular, but it refers to a group of people as one body.

English does something similar with words like:

• the crowd
• the nation
• the public

So populi here means of the people, not of one person.