Iudex supplicium statuit.

Iudex is nominative singular, and it is the subject of the sentence: the judge is the one doing the action.

A learner may expect subjects to have endings like -us or -a, but iudex is a third-declension noun, so its nominative singular has its own shape.

Supplicium is accusative singular, and it is the direct object of the verb.

In other words, it is the thing that the judge decides, sets, or decrees.
So:

• iudex = the subject
• supplicium = the object

Because Latin marks grammatical roles with endings, you do not have to rely only on word order.

Statuit is a third-person singular active indicative form of statuo, statuere.

That means it goes with a singular subject such as iudex and means he/she decides, sets, decrees, or has decided / decided, depending on context.

A very important point: statuit can be ambiguous in isolation. It may be:

• present: decides / sets
• perfect: decided / set

In a real passage, the surrounding context tells you which is meant.

Latin often puts the verb near or at the end of the sentence, so Iudex supplicium statuit has a very normal Latin word order.

That said, Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because the endings already show the grammatical roles. So other orders are also possible, such as:

• Iudex statuit supplicium
• Supplicium iudex statuit

These can shift emphasis, but the basic meaning stays the same.

Latin has no articles. It does not have separate words for the, a, or an.

So iudex can mean:

• the judge
• a judge

and supplicium can mean:

• the punishment
• a punishment

English has to choose an article when translating, based on context.

Supplicium usually means punishment, penalty, or sometimes execution or severe punishment, depending on context.

So in this sentence it is not just any general idea of suffering; it is a formal punishment that the judge determines.

A natural English translation might be:

• The judge decides the punishment
• The judge fixes the penalty
• The judge decrees the punishment

Historically, statuo is connected with the idea of setting or placing something. But in many contexts it develops the more abstract sense decide, determine, establish, or decree.

So here statuit does not mean the judge is physically placing a punishment somewhere. It means the judge is determining or imposing it.

Here you know it is singular because:

• the noun iudex is singular in form
• the verb statuit is also third-person singular

So the subject and verb agree: the judge decides / decided.

If the subject were plural, you would expect a plural verb form instead.

In classical Latin, the word is usually written iudex.

Older textbooks and some later traditions may write judex, but in classical spelling i does the job of both the vowel i and the consonantal sound like English y.

So at the beginning of iudex, the i is pronounced like y in yes.

Yes. Latin often says only what is needed.

This sentence tells you:

• who is acting: iudex
• what is being decided: supplicium
• what action is happening: statuit

It does not say:

• who is being punished
• why the punishment is being set
• what the punishment is

Those details would have to come from the wider context.