Tenebrae viam tegunt.

Because tenebrae is one of those Latin nouns that is usually plural in form even when it refers to something that English treats as singular.

• tenebrae = darkness, shadows, gloom
• Grammatically, it is nominative plural
• So it takes a plural verb, which is why the sentence has tegunt rather than a singular verb

This is similar to how some English nouns are plural in form but can feel like one thing, such as scissors or clothes.

Latin does sometimes use related singular forms in poetry or later Latin, but for a learner, it is best to think of tenebrae as a normally plural noun.

You know from both case and verb agreement.

• tenebrae here is nominative plural
• The subject of a Latin sentence is normally in the nominative
• tegunt is third person plural, so it matches a plural subject

So tenebrae is the thing doing the action: the darkness/shadows are covering something.

Because viam is in the accusative singular, the case used for a direct object.

The noun is:

• via = road, way, street
• nominative singular: via
• accusative singular: viam

Since the road is what is being covered, Latin puts via into the accusative: viam.

In Latin, the direct object is usually put in the accusative case.

Here:

• viam is accusative singular
• tegunt means cover
• So viam is the thing being covered

English usually shows this by word order, but Latin mainly shows it by endings.

Because its subject, tenebrae, is plural.

tegunt is:

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

Its basic meaning is they cover.

Since tenebrae is grammatically plural, the verb must also be plural:

• tenebrae ... tegunt = the darkness/shadows cover

The dictionary form is tego.

More fully, you might see it listed as:

• tego, tegere, texi, tectum

This tells you:

• tego = I cover
• tegere = to cover
• texi = I covered
• tectum = covered

tegunt is the third person plural present form built from that verb.

tego belongs to the third conjugation.

You can tell from its infinitive:

• tegere

A very common pattern in the present tense is:

• tego = I cover
• tegis = you cover
• tegit = he/she/it covers
• tegimus = we cover
• tegitis = you all cover
• tegunt = they cover

So tegunt fits the normal third-conjugation pattern.

Because Latin does not have definite or indefinite articles like English the, a, or an.

So:

• tenebrae can mean darkness, the darkness, or shadows, depending on context
• viam can mean a road, the road, or the way

The exact English wording depends on the context and on what translation sounds most natural.

Not as much as in English.

Latin word order is more flexible because the endings show each word’s job:

• tenebrae = subject
• viam = object
• tegunt = verb

So these could all mean basically the same thing:

• Tenebrae viam tegunt
• Viam tenebrae tegunt
• Tegunt tenebrae viam

The chosen order can affect emphasis or style, but the endings still tell you who is doing what.

Both are first-declension nouns.

For via:

• nominative singular: via
• accusative singular: viam

For tenebrae:

• nominative plural: tenebrae
• accusative plural: tenebras

So even though both are first declension, they have different endings here because they are in different cases and numbers.

Yes. Depending on context, tenebrae can suggest:

• darkness
• gloom
• shadows

Latin words often have a range of meanings rather than one exact English equivalent. In this sentence, the idea is that darkness or shadow is spreading over and covering the road.

It can mean both.

Most basically, via means:

• road
• street
• way

But like English way, it can also be used more figuratively in other contexts, such as a method or course. In this sentence, though, the most natural sense is a literal road or path.