Exsilium civem procul a patria tenet.

Exsilium is the subject because it is in the nominative singular, and the verb tenet is third-person singular, so the two agree.

The ending -um does not always mean accusative. In a neuter second-declension noun, the nominative singular also ends in -um. So here:

• exsilium = nominative singular, subject
• dictionary form: exsilium or exilium (both spellings are found)

A beginner often expects the subject to look like -us or -a, but neuter nouns follow a different pattern.

Because civem is the accusative singular form of civis.

• civis = nominative singular, the dictionary form
• civem = accusative singular

In this sentence, civem is the direct object of tenet, so Latin uses the accusative case.

Here patria is ablative singular.

It is ablative because it follows the preposition a meaning from, and a/ab takes the ablative case.

So:

• a patria = from the հայր? No, sorry—from the homeland

More precisely, patria means native land, fatherland, or homeland.

Procul is an adverb meaning far away.

It often appears with a/ab + ablative to show separation from something:

• procul a patria = far from the homeland

So procul tells us how the citizen is being kept: at a distance, far away.

Both a and ab mean from.

A common basic rule is:

• ab before a vowel or h
• a before a consonant

Since patria begins with p, a patria is the expected form.

Tenet is:

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

It comes from teneo, tenere, meaning to hold, keep, or maintain.

So grammatically, tenet means he/she/it keeps or holds. Here the subject is exsilium, so it means exile keeps.

Yes, literally tenet means holds, but in this sentence it has the more natural sense keeps or keeps confined.

Latin often uses a concrete verb like tenere in a broader sense. So the idea is not that exile is physically grabbing someone, but that exile keeps the citizen away and prevents return.

Because Classical Latin does not have definite or indefinite articles like English does.

So:

• civem can mean the citizen or a citizen
• patria can mean the homeland or simply homeland

The exact sense depends on context and on what translation sounds best in English.

Not necessarily.

The noun civis is often treated as a common-gender noun, so it can refer to a citizen of either sex unless the context makes the sex clear.

So civem here means citizen, not automatically male citizen.

Patria usually means more than just a political state or country on a map. It often has an emotional sense such as:

• homeland
• native land
• fatherland

So a patria suggests separation from one’s own home country or ancestral land, not just being far from any random place.

Yes, it could be rearranged. Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because the case endings show the grammatical roles.

This sentence has a very natural Latin structure:

• Exsilium first: the topic or force acting
• civem next: the person affected
• procul a patria before the verb: emphasizing the separation
• tenet last: a very common place for the verb in Latin

A different order such as Exsilium tenet civem procul a patria would still mean basically the same thing, but the emphasis would feel slightly different.

Yes. Because procul a patria is an adverbial phrase, Latin can place it in different positions for emphasis.

For example, these are all possible in principle:

• Exsilium civem procul a patria tenet
• Exsilium procul a patria civem tenet
• Civem exsilium procul a patria tenet

The case endings still show who is subject and who is object. The main change is in focus and style, not in the basic meaning.