Sive familiae emptor adest sive praetor adest, coheres testamentum legit.

sive ... sive ... is a correlative pair meaning whether ... or ... or sometimes either ... or ....

Here it sets up two alternative circumstances:

• sive familiae emptor adest
• sive praetor adest

So the sentence means that in either of those situations, the main action happens.

Latin often repeats the verb in paired constructions like sive ... sive ... for balance and clarity.

So instead of compressing the idea, the sentence presents two full alternatives:

• the familiae emptor is present
• the praetor is present

This is especially natural in formal or legal style. Repeating adest makes each option complete on its own.

The main noun is emptor, which is nominative singular. It is the subject of adest in the first clause.

familiae is genitive singular, depending on emptor, so the phrase literally means something like buyer of the familia.

As a whole, familiae emptor is a nominative singular noun phrase.

It is genitive because it depends on emptor and shows what is being bought.

Latin often uses the genitive after a noun to express of ...:

• emptor familiae = buyer of the familia

In this sentence the word order is reversed to familiae emptor, but the grammar is the same.

Yes, but each one is the subject of its own clause:

• familiae emptor adest → familiae emptor is the subject
• praetor adest → praetor is the subject

Then the main clause has a different subject:

• coheres testamentum legit → coheres is the subject

So the sentence has two subordinate alternatives followed by the main statement.

adest is the 3rd person singular present of adesse, a compound of ad + esse.

It means is present, is at hand, or attends depending on context.

So:

• familiae emptor adest = the familiae emptor is present
• praetor adest = the praetor is present

Yes. coheres is nominative singular and is the subject of legit.

So the main clause is:

• coheres = subject
• testamentum = object
• legit = verb

In other words, the co-heir reads the will.

testamentum is accusative singular neuter.

It is accusative because it is the direct object of legit. The verb legere when it means to read takes a direct object in the accusative:

• testamentum legit = reads the will

Formally, legit can be either:

• present: he/she reads
• perfect: he/she read

In ordinary Latin spelling, those two forms look the same. The difference is in vowel length, which usually is not written.

Here, the context strongly suggests the present tense, because:

• adest is present
• the sentence sounds like a general procedural statement
• legal or formal statements often use the present this way

So here legit is best understood as reads.

Latin word order is much freer than English word order.

The sentence first gives the circumstances:

• whether the familiae emptor is present or the praetor is present

and then gives the main action:

• the co-heir reads the will

This is a very natural Latin way to organize information. The important point is that the case endings show the roles, so Latin does not need a fixed English-style order.

Classical Latin has no articles.

So a noun like praetor can mean:

• the praetor
• a praetor

and testamentum can mean:

• the will
• a will

The context tells you which English article makes sense. That is why translation into English has to add an article even though Latin does not have one.

Yes. coheres is a normal spelling, and cohaeres is another common spelling of the same word.

It means co-heir. In this sentence it is nominative singular.

So if you have seen cohaeres elsewhere, that is not a different word in meaning here—just a spelling variant.

Here it is better understood as alternative circumstances: whether ... or ....

The sentence is not mainly about someone choosing between two options. It is saying that no matter which of the two people is present, the same action follows.

So in this context whether ... or ... is usually the most natural way to understand it.