Dextrarum iunctio matrimonium significat.

Dextrarum is genitive plural. It depends on iunctio and tells you what kind of joining is meant: the joining of right hands.

A good way to see it is:

• iunctio = joining
• dextrarum = of right hands

So the genitive here works much like English of.

It is plural because the sentence is talking about two right hands being joined, one from each person. In Roman symbolism, the joined right hands represented the union of the married couple.

So dextrarum iunctio is not just any joining of a hand, but the symbolic joining of right hands.

Yes. Dextra can mean right hand. It is related to the adjective dexter, dextra, dextrum meaning right, but in Latin the feminine form dextra is very commonly used as a noun meaning right hand.

So here dextrarum means of right hands, not just of right sides.

Iunctio is nominative singular feminine.

It is a noun meaning joining, union, or connection, and it comes from the verb iungo meaning join.

Because it is nominative singular, it is the subject of significat.

We know because:

• iunctio is in the nominative, the normal case for the subject
• significat is third person singular, and iunctio is singular
• matrimonium is in the accusative, which fits the direct object

So the structure is:

• Dextrarum iunctio = subject
• matrimonium = object
• significat = verb

Because it is the direct object of significat.

The verb significat means signifies or indicates, and what is being signified is matrimonium. That is why matrimonium is accusative singular.

So the pattern is:

• something signifies something else

Here:

• the joining of right hands signifies marriage

Significat is:

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

It comes from significo, significare.

So it means he/she/it signifies. In this sentence, the it is iunctio.

Because Latin has no articles. There is no separate word for the or a/an.

That means Dextrarum iunctio matrimonium significat could be understood in English with articles added as needed by context, for example:

• The joining of right hands signifies marriage
• A joining of right hands signifies marriage

English must choose an article, but Latin does not have to.

The word order is natural, but not rigidly fixed.

Latin often puts:

• the subject near the beginning
• the verb near the end

That is what you have here. Also, dextrarum comes before iunctio, which is a very common position for a genitive.

You could rearrange the sentence and still keep the same basic meaning, because the case endings show the grammar. But the given order is clear and idiomatic.

They are:

• dextra, -ae feminine = right hand
• iunctio, iunctionis feminine = joining, union
• matrimonium, -i neuter = marriage
• significo, significare, significavi, significatum = signify, indicate

These are the forms you would normally look up in a dictionary.

Yes. More literally, it is the joining of right hands.

That helps show the grammar:

• dextrarum = of right hands
• iunctio = joining

A smoother English translation might use joining of hands, but the Latin specifically says right hands, which is culturally important.

In a restored classical pronunciation, a rough English approximation would be:

deks-TRAH-room YOONGK-tee-oh mah-tree-MOH-nee-oom sig-NI-fi-kaht

A few useful points:

• x sounds like ks
• ct is pronounced clearly as k-t
• c is always hard, like k
• stress falls on:
  • dex-TRA-rum
  • IUNC-tio
  • matri-MO-ni-um
  • sig-NI-fi-cat

If you are using an ecclesiastical pronunciation, some sounds will be different, but the grammar stays the same.