Vinculum pedes viri tenet.

Because the verb tenet is singular: it means he/she/it holds.

So the subject must also be singular. In this sentence:

• vinculum can be nominative singular
• pedes is plural
• viri is either genitive singular or nominative plural

That means vinculum is the only word that works naturally as the singular subject here.

So the basic structure is:

• vinculum = subject
• pedes viri = object phrase
• tenet = verb

Because Latin verbs agree with the subject, not with the object.

Here:

• vinculum is the subject, and it is singular
• pedes is the object, and it is plural

So the verb must be singular: tenet, not tenent.

A native English speaker might momentarily focus on pedes because it is plural, but that does not control the verb.

Here pedes is accusative plural, the direct object of tenet.

It comes from pes, pedis = foot.

So:

• pes = foot
• pedes = feet

In this sentence, the feet are the thing being held, so pedes is the direct object.

A small complication: pedes can be either nominative plural or accusative plural in form. We decide it is accusative here because:

• the verb already has a singular subject: vinculum
• the meaning requires feet to be what is being held

Here viri is genitive singular, from vir, viri = man.

So pedes viri means:

• the man's feet
• literally, the feet of the man

The genitive often shows possession or close relationship. So viri tells us whose feet they are.

By form alone, yes: viri can also be nominative plural, meaning men.

But in this sentence that reading does not fit well, because:

• tenet is singular, not plural
• if viri meant men as the subject, we would normally expect tenent = they hold

So here viri is best understood as genitive singular: of the man.

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

So:

• vinculum can mean a chain, the chain, a bond, or the bond
• viri can mean of a man or of the man

Context tells you which English article makes the most sense.

That is very normal in Latin. English has to add an article, but Latin usually does not.

Yes, Latin word order is much freer than English word order because the endings show the grammatical roles.

This sentence has a very normal Latin pattern:

• subject: vinculum
• object: pedes viri
• verb: tenet

So it is basically subject-object-verb, a common Latin order.

Other orders are possible, such as:

• Pedes viri vinculum tenet
• Viri pedes vinculum tenet
• Vinculum tenet pedes viri

Those would sound different in emphasis, but the endings still help you identify the roles.

Yes. It is a noun with a dependent genitive:

• pedes = feet
• viri = of the man

Together they form one unit: the man's feet.

This is very common in Latin. Instead of using an apostrophe as English does, Latin often uses the genitive case.

So:

• English: the man's feet
• Latin: pedes viri

They are:

• vinculum, vinculi n. = bond, chain, fetter, tie
• pes, pedis m. = foot
• vir, viri m. = man
• teneo, tenere, tenui, tentum = hold, keep

Knowing the dictionary forms helps you recognize the endings:

• vinculum is a 2nd-declension neuter noun
• pes is a 3rd-declension noun
• vir is a 2nd-declension masculine noun
• tenet comes from teneo

That is a good question. In Latin, neuter nominative singular and neuter accusative singular are often identical. So vinculum could, by form alone, be either subject or object.

But the rest of the sentence clears that up:

• tenet is singular, so it needs a singular subject
• pedes is plural
• viri is best taken as genitive singular

So vinculum must be nominative singular here, not accusative singular.

This is a common feature of Latin: sometimes one word form is ambiguous by itself, but the whole sentence makes the function clear.