Sponsa cras sponso nubit.

The subject is sponsa.

You can tell because sponsa is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject of a sentence. So sponsa is the person doing the action of nubit.

• sponsa is nominative singular
• sponso is dative singular

So the structure is:

• sponsa = the bride, as subject
• sponso = to the bridegroom / to the fiancé, in the dative
• nubit = marries

This is one of those places where Latin uses a different construction from English.

Because the verb nubere takes the dative, not the accusative.

In English, we say marry someone, so English treats the person as a direct object. But in Latin, nubere is used with a dative person:

• alicui nubere = to marry someone

So sponso nubit is correct, while sponsum nubit would not be the normal Classical construction.

Nubit is:

• 3rd person singular
• present active indicative
• from the verb nubere

Its basic dictionary form is nubo, nubere.

So nubit means she marries or, depending on context, she is getting married.

That is a very natural question.

Strictly speaking, nubit is present tense, while nubet would be future tense. But Latin can sometimes use the present for a planned or near-future action, especially when a time word like cras makes the time clear.

So Sponsa cras sponso nubit can mean something like:

• The bride is marrying the bridegroom tomorrow
• The bride gets married to the bridegroom tomorrow

A future form nubet would also be possible and would make the future time more explicit.

Because Latin has no articles.

Latin does not have separate words for the or a/an. Whether you translate sponsa as the bride or a bride depends on context.

So:

• sponsa can mean the bride or a bride
• sponso can mean to the bridegroom or to a bridegroom

English has to choose; Latin does not.

Not as much as in English.

Latin relies heavily on word endings, so the cases already show what each word is doing. That means the words can often be rearranged without changing the basic meaning.

For example, these could all mean essentially the same thing:

• Sponsa cras sponso nubit
• Cras sponsa sponso nubit
• Sponsa sponso cras nubit

That said, word order can still affect emphasis. In this sentence, starting with sponsa puts the bride first, and ending with nubit gives the action a strong finish.

Cras is an adverb of time meaning tomorrow.

It tells you when the action happens. It does not change form, and it does not agree with any noun.

So in this sentence:

• sponsa = who
• sponso = to whom
• nubit = does what
• cras = when

In Classical Latin, nubere is normally used of a woman marrying a man.

So:

• femina viro nubit = the woman marries the man

For a man marrying a woman, Latin often uses uxorem ducere:

• vir uxorem ducit = the man marries the woman

So this sentence uses nubit very naturally, because the subject is sponsa, a bride.

Sponsa can mean bride or betrothed woman / fiancée, depending on context.

Likewise, sponsus can mean bridegroom or betrothed man / fiancé.

In this sentence, because the verb is nubit, the marriage is the focus, so English will usually translate them as bride and bridegroom, or sometimes fiancée and fiancé if the context calls for that.