Spectatores gladiatorem laudant sicut lanista veteranos laudat.

Because of the case endings.

• spectatores is nominative plural, so it is the subject: the spectators
• gladiatorem is accusative singular, so it is the direct object: the gladiator

So Spectatores gladiatorem laudant means The spectators praise the gladiator, not the other way around.

This is one of the biggest differences from English: Latin often shows the job of a noun by its ending, not mainly by word order.

The verb changes to match its subject.

• spectatores is plural, so the verb is laudant = they praise
• lanista is singular, so the verb is laudat = he/she praises

So:

• spectatores ... laudant = the spectators praise
• lanista ... laudat = the trainer/manager praises

This is normal Latin subject-verb agreement.

Sicut means just as, as, or in the same way that.

It introduces a comparison between the two actions:

• Spectatores gladiatorem laudant
• sicut lanista veteranos laudat

So the sense is: The spectators praise the gladiator just as the lanista praises the veterans.

It connects two clauses and shows that one action is being compared to the other.

A lanista is a person connected with gladiators, usually a trainer, manager, or owner of a gladiatorial school.

So in this sentence, lanista is the subject of the second clause:

• lanista veteranos laudat = the lanista praises the veterans

A learner may be tempted to treat it like an ordinary schoolteacher, but it is specifically a gladiatorial term.

Because it is the direct object of laudat.

• lanista = subject
• laudat = praises
• veteranos = the people being praised

The ending -os here shows accusative plural.

So veteranos means veterans as the object of the verb: the lanista praises the veterans.

Not necessarily. By itself, veterani/veteranos can mean veterans in general, often veteran soldiers. But meaning depends on context.

Since this sentence includes gladiatorem and lanista, the natural sense is probably veteran gladiators.

So veteranos here is best understood from the context, not as an isolated dictionary meaning.

Classical Latin usually has no articles.

So:

• spectatores can mean spectators or the spectators
• gladiatorem can mean a gladiator or the gladiator
• lanista can mean a lanista or the lanista

English has to choose a/an or the, but Latin normally leaves that to context.

It matters for style and emphasis, but not as much for basic grammar as in English.

Because Latin uses case endings, the roles are already clear:

• spectatores = subject
• gladiatorem = object

So Latin can often move words around more freely than English. For example, the sentence could be rearranged and still keep the same basic meaning, as long as the forms stay the same.

That said, the given order is natural and easy to follow:

• subject
• object
• verb
• comparison
• subject
• object
• verb

They are present active indicative forms of laudare = to praise.

• laudant = they praise
• laudat = he/she/it praises

So the whole sentence describes a present action or a general situation.

Because the sentence is talking about:

• one gladiator in the first clause
• several veterans in the second clause

The forms show that clearly:

• gladiatorem = accusative singular
• veteranos = accusative plural

So Latin is being very precise about number.

Sometimes in looser English, yes, but just as or as is usually better here.

That is because sicut introduces a whole clause:

• sicut lanista veteranos laudat

In careful English, when a full clause follows, just as is often the clearest translation. So:

• The spectators praise the gladiator just as the lanista praises the veterans

is better than a very casual like translation.

The sentence has two main parts:

1. Spectatores gladiatorem laudant
   = The spectators praise the gladiator

2. sicut lanista veteranos laudat
   = just as the lanista praises the veterans

The word sicut links the second clause to the first and shows that the second is a comparison.

A learner would usually look them up like this:

• spectatores → spectator, spectatoris = spectator
• gladiatorem → gladiator, gladiatoris = gladiator
• laudant / laudat → laudo, laudare, laudavi, laudatus = praise
• sicut → sicut = just as, as
• lanista → lanista, lanistae = gladiator trainer/manager
• veteranos → veteranus, veterani = veteran

This is useful because the form you see in the sentence is often not the exact form listed in a dictionary.