Editor veteranum laudat.

In Latin, the subject is usually put in the nominative case. Here, editor is nominative singular, so it is the subject.

A native English speaker may hesitate because editor looks like an English word, not a typical Latin ending like -us. But many Latin nouns, especially third-declension nouns, do not end in -us in the nominative singular.

So in Editor veteranum laudat, editor = the editor / an editor as the subject.

Because veteranum is in the accusative singular, which is the case normally used for the direct object.

The verb laudat means praises, so the person receiving the action is the direct object:

• editor = subject
• veteranum = direct object

The dictionary form would be veteranus. When it becomes the direct object, it changes:

• veteranus = a veteran, the veteran
• veteranum = a veteran, the veteran as the object

So editor veteranum laudat means the editor praises the veteran.

Laudat is a verb meaning praises or is praising.

The ending -at tells you it is:

• present tense
• third person singular
• active voice

So it means he/she/it praises or is praising.

Because the subject here is editor, the full sense is:

• the editor praises
• or the editor is praising

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

So editor can mean:

• the editor
• an editor

And veteranum can mean:

• the veteran
• a veteran

Which one sounds best depends on context. If you were shown a translation already, that translation is choosing the most natural English wording.

It matters less in Latin than in English, because the case endings show each word’s job.

So:

• Editor veteranum laudat
• Veteranum editor laudat
• Laudat editor veteranum

can all mean basically the same thing: The editor praises the veteran.

The endings tell you who is doing the action and who is receiving it:

• editor = subject
• veteranum = object

That said, word order in Latin can still change emphasis or style.

Yes. The ending -t already tells you the verb has a third-person singular subject: he, she, or it.

So laudat by itself can mean:

• he praises
• she praises
• it praises

Latin often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already gives that information. In this sentence, the noun editor is stated explicitly to show exactly who is doing the praising.

Yes, it is a real Latin word. English editor ultimately comes from Latin.

For a learner, this can actually be helpful: sometimes Latin vocabulary looks familiar because English borrowed it. But you still have to pay attention to the Latin grammar, not just the resemblance in spelling.

So even though editor looks easy, what matters in the sentence is that it is the nominative singular subject.

The dictionary forms are usually:

• editor for the noun editor
• veteranus for the noun veteran
• laudo for the verb praise

A student might wonder why the verb appears as laudat in the sentence if the dictionary gives laudo. That is because Latin verbs change form depending on person and number:

• laudo = I praise
• laudas = you praise
• laudat = he/she/it praises

Similarly, nouns change form depending on case:

• veteranus = nominative singular
• veteranum = accusative singular

Because the two nouns belong to different declensions and have different patterns.

• veteranus is a second-declension noun, so its accusative singular ends in -um
• editor is a third-declension noun, and its nominative singular already has the form editor

If editor were the object, it would change too. Its accusative singular would be editorem.

So Latin nouns do not all change in the same way. You have to learn each noun’s declension pattern.

No, not as written.

For that meaning, the cases would need to be reversed. You would need:

• veteranus as nominative subject
• editorem as accusative object

So The veteran praises the editor would be:

Veteranus editorem laudat.

In the original sentence, the endings clearly show:

• editor = subject
• veteranum = object

It can mean either, depending on context.

Latin’s present tense often covers both:

• praises
• is praising

So Editor veteranum laudat could be translated as:

• The editor praises the veteran
• The editor is praising the veteran

English often forces you to choose one, but Latin does not always make that distinction explicitly.

A simple classroom pronunciation would be roughly:

EH-di-tor weh-teh-RAH-num LOW-daht

A few helpful points:

• c is always hard in Latin, though there is no c here
• v is often pronounced like w in reconstructed classical pronunciation
• au in laudat sounds like the ow in cow
• the stress in veteranum falls on RAH
• the stress in laudat falls on LOW

Pronunciation systems vary, but the grammar and meaning stay the same.