Sepulcrum extra urbem stat.

Sepulcrum is nominative singular. It is the subject of the sentence: the thing that stands.

It is a neuter noun of the second declension. In this sentence, it means the tomb or a tomb.

Urbem is accusative singular because it is governed by the preposition extra.

A very important point for learners is that extra takes the accusative case. So even though English says outside the city and the idea is not one of motion, Latin still uses the accusative after extra:

• extra urbem = outside the city

So urbem is not the direct object of the verb; it is accusative because of the preposition.

Extra is a preposition here, and it means outside or beyond.

In this sentence:

• extra urbem = outside the city

As a preposition, extra regularly takes the accusative.

Stat comes from the verb stare, meaning to stand.

Here stat is third person singular present active indicative, so it means:

• stands
• or, in smoother English, is standing or is situated

With places or buildings, stare can often suggest standing in a place or simply being located there.

Latin does not have articles like English the and a/an.

So sepulcrum can mean:

• a tomb
• the tomb

and urbem can mean:

• a city
• the city

The context tells you which is most natural.

Latin word order is much freer than English word order because the endings show the grammatical relationships.

Putting the verb at the end is very common in Latin, especially in simple statements. So:

• Sepulcrum extra urbem stat.

is a very normal Latin order.

But other orders are also possible, for example:

• Sepulcrum stat extra urbem.
• Extra urbem sepulcrum stat.

These would still mean basically the same thing, though the emphasis may shift slightly.

Yes. Because Latin uses case endings, the basic meaning usually remains clear even if the order changes.

Possible rearrangements include:

• Extra urbem sepulcrum stat.
• Sepulcrum stat extra urbem.
• Stat sepulcrum extra urbem.

The most neutral version is probably the original one, but Latin allows flexibility for emphasis and style.

The ending -um is a strong clue that sepulcrum is a second-declension neuter noun.

For second-declension neuter nouns:

• nominative singular often ends in -um
• accusative singular is also -um

So sepulcrum fits a very common neuter pattern.

You would look it up as urbs, urbis meaning city.

Here is what is happening:

• dictionary form: urbs
• accusative singular: urbem

This is a third-declension noun, so the accusative singular ending is -em.

Because the subject sepulcrum is singular.

In Latin, the verb agrees with its subject in person and number. Since sepulcrum is singular, the verb is also singular:

• sepulcrum ... stat = the tomb stands

If the subject were plural, the verb would also be plural.

It is an adverbial prepositional phrase. It tells you where the tomb stands.

So the structure is:

• Sepulcrum = subject
• extra urbem = phrase of place
• stat = verb

In other words, extra urbem modifies the verbal idea stands by answering the question where?

A simple classroom-style pronunciation would be something like:

• seh-POOL-kroom EX-trah OOR-bem staht

More roughly by word:

• sepulcrum
• extra
• urbem
• stat

If you are learning restored Classical pronunciation, the u in sepulcrum is pronounced like oo, and c is always hard. So sepulcrum sounds like seh-POOL-kroom, not like English sepulcher.