Magistratus plebem audit.

Because of the verb audit.

• audit = he/she/it hears or is hearing
• A plural subject would need audiunt = they hear

So in this sentence, magistratus must be understood as a singular subject: the magistrate.

A useful extra note: magistratus is one of those Latin forms that can look ambiguous by itself, because in the fourth declension it can be:

• nominative singular
• nominative plural
• genitive singular

But the verb clears it up here.

Because plebem is in the accusative singular, which marks the direct object.

In Magistratus plebem audit:

• magistratus = the subject, the one doing the hearing
• plebem = the direct object, the one being heard

The dictionary form is plebs, and its accusative singular is plebem.

So the -em ending is showing that plebem is the object of audit.

Latin usually shows this through case endings, not mainly through word order.

Here:

• magistratus is nominative = subject
• plebem is accusative = direct object

So even if the order changed, the basic roles would stay the same.

For example, all of these could mean the same thing:

• Magistratus plebem audit
• Plebem magistratus audit
• Audit magistratus plebem

The endings tell you who is doing what.

Audit is:

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

It comes from the verb audire, meaning to hear or to listen to.

So audit means:

• he hears
• she hears
• it hears
• or in smoother English, is hearing

Since the subject is magistratus, the sense is the magistrate hears.

Because Latin has no articles.

English distinguishes:

• a magistrate
• the magistrate

Latin often just has magistratus, and context tells you which English wording is best.

So Magistratus plebem audit could be translated as:

• The magistrate hears the people
• A magistrate hears the people
• The magistrate is listening to the people

The exact choice depends on context.

Because plebs is a singular noun with a collective meaning.

It does not mean people in the sense of several separate persons one by one. It means something more like:

• the common people
• the populace
• the plebeians

So grammatically it is singular, but in English it is often best translated with a plural-looking word such as the people.

That is why the object is plebem, even though the meaning refers to a group.

They belong to different declensions:

• magistratus, magistratus = fourth declension
• plebs, plebis = third declension

That helps explain their endings:

• magistratus can be nominative singular in the fourth declension
• plebem is accusative singular of a third-declension noun

So this short sentence is useful because it shows two different noun patterns together.

Yes. Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order.

Because the endings already show the grammatical roles, Latin can move words around for:

• emphasis
• style
• contrast
• rhythm

So these are all possible:

• Magistratus plebem audit
• Plebem magistratus audit
• Audit magistratus plebem

However, the original order is straightforward and easy for a learner:

• subject
• object
• verb

That is a very common teaching order, even though real Latin often varies.

Because the ending of the verb already includes that information.

audit tells you the verb is third person singular, so Latin does not need to add a subject pronoun like he or she unless it wants special emphasis.

So instead of saying something like he hears, Latin can simply say audit.

The noun magistratus already names the subject anyway, so a pronoun would be unnecessary.

By form alone, yes. Magistratus can be ambiguous.

Depending on context, it can be:

• nominative singular
• genitive singular
• nominative plural

But in this sentence, audit is singular, so the most natural reading is nominative singular: the magistrate.

So this is a good example of an important Latin principle: you often identify a form not just by the word itself, but by how it fits into the whole sentence.

Primarily, audio means hear. So the most direct translation is hears.

However, depending on context, English may sometimes use:

• hears
• is listening to
• gives ear to

With a sentence like this, the magistrate hears the people is the most literal translation, but in a political or legal setting it might also suggest listens to the people.

So the core meaning is hear, but the natural English wording can vary.

It can refer to a magistrate, that is, a public official holding office.

So the word can point to:

• the office in a general sense, or
• the person who holds that office

In this sentence, because magistratus is the subject of audit, it is clearly referring to a person acting as a magistrate.

So here it means something like the magistrate or the official.

A good set of dictionary forms would be:

• magistratus, magistratus — magistrate, fourth declension, masculine
• plebs, plebis — the common people / populace, third declension, feminine
• audio, audire, audivi, auditum — hear, fourth conjugation

This helps you connect the forms in the sentence to the forms you would find in a dictionary:

• magistratus comes directly from magistratus
• plebem comes from plebs, plebis
• audit comes from audio, audire