Aedes senatoris magnae sunt.

Senatoris is the genitive singular of senator. The genitive often shows possession or relationship in Latin.

So aedes senatoris means the house/building of the senator, or more naturally in English, the senator’s house.

If Latin used senator here, it would not show that possessive meaning.

Because aedes is being treated as plural in this sentence, so the adjective and verb must agree with it.

• aedes = nominative plural
• magnae = nominative feminine plural
• sunt = they are

Latin requires this kind of agreement. Since the subject is plural, the adjective is plural and the verb is plural too.

This is a very common question with aedes.

The noun aedes is a special word. In Latin:

• the singular often means temple or shrine
• the plural often means house, building, or rooms

So if your English meaning is something like the senator’s house is big, Latin may still use the plural form aedes. In other words, Latin uses a plural noun where English may prefer a singular translation.

Here it is plural.

We can tell because of the words agreeing with it:

• magnae is plural
• sunt is plural

So even though aedes can be tricky by itself, the rest of the sentence makes the number clear.

Because aedes is a feminine noun, and adjectives in Latin must agree with the nouns they describe in gender, number, and case.

So:

• aedes = feminine plural nominative
• magnae = feminine plural nominative

That is why Latin uses magnae, not magni or magna.

Because magna would be singular feminine nominative, but aedes here is plural.

Latin adjectives change their endings to match the noun:

• magna = big, feminine singular
• magnae = big, feminine plural

Since aedes is plural in this sentence, magnae is the correct form.

We know from agreement.

• magnae is nominative feminine plural
• aedes is nominative feminine plural
• senatoris is genitive singular

Because magnae matches aedes in case, number, and gender, it goes with aedes. It cannot be describing senatoris.

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

So aedes senatoris magnae sunt could be understood as:

• the senator’s house is big
• the senator’s buildings are big
• a senator’s house is big

The exact English article depends on context. Latin usually leaves that for the reader or listener to infer.

The sentence breaks down like this:

• aedes = the subject
• senatoris = a genitive dependent on aedes, showing possession
• magnae = predicate adjective
• sunt = linking verb, are

So the structure is basically:

The senator’s house/buildings are big

Latin often uses a form of to be plus an adjective this way.

Yes. Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because the endings show the grammatical relationships.

For example, these could mean essentially the same thing:

• Aedes senatoris magnae sunt
• Senatoris aedes magnae sunt
• Magnae sunt aedes senatoris

The choice of order can change emphasis or style, but the endings still tell you which word does what.

Very often, yes. Domus is a very common word for house or home.

But aedes can also be used, especially in the sense of a building, dwelling, or rooms. It is worth learning because it behaves a little unusually.

A useful thing to remember is this:

• domus = very common word for house/home
• aedes = can mean house/building in the plural, but in the singular often means temple

Not literally, but it is related in meaning.

The Latin sentence is built as:

The senator’s house/building is big

English sometimes prefers to express this idea as:

The senator has a big house

That is a natural English rewording, but the Latin grammar here is specifically a possessive genitive plus to be, not the verb to have.

It is a third-declension feminine noun, but it is not completely straightforward for beginners because its meanings are split in an unusual way.

A very important point is that aedes can appear as both:

• nominative singular
• nominative plural

So you often need the surrounding words to tell which one it is. In this sentence, magnae sunt clearly shows that it is plural.