Heredium per assignationem datur.

Because datur is a passive verb: is given, not gives.

In an active sentence, you would have something like:

• aliquis heredium dat = someone gives an estate

When Latin changes that into the passive, the thing being given becomes the grammatical subject:

• heredium datur = the estate is given

So heredium is in the nominative singular and is the subject of the sentence.

Datur is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• passive voice
• from the verb dare = to give

So it means is given.

A learner can often spot this because the passive ending -tur is very common in Latin:

• dat = he/she/it gives
• datur = he/she/it is given

Because it comes after per, and per takes the accusative case.

So:

• per assignationem = through assignment, by means of assignment

This is a very common pattern in Latin:

• per + accusative

Here the phrase does not name the person doing the action. Instead, it tells you the means, process, or method by which the land is given.

Here per means through, by means of, or by way of.

So per assignationem is not saying who gives the land. It is saying how it is given: through an assignment/allotment process.

That is different from a true personal agent, which in Latin is often expressed with ab/ā + ablative in passive sentences.

So:

• per assignationem = method/process
• ab aliquo = by someone

Latin does not have to state the agent of a passive verb.

So Heredium per assignationem datur simply means that the estate is given through assignment, without saying exactly who gives it.

This is very normal in Latin. A passive sentence can leave the doer unstated if the speaker does not know it, does not care to mention it, or wants to focus on the action itself.

Heredium is a technical noun, especially in Roman/legal contexts. It refers to a hereditary holding or estate, often a piece of land.

So this is not a very everyday beginner word like puella or servus. It belongs more to legal or historical vocabulary.

For grammar purposes here, the key point is that it is a neuter singular noun and the subject of the sentence.

The basic forms are:

• heredium — a hereditary estate/holding
• assignatio — assignment, allotment
• do, dare — to give

In the sentence, they appear as:

• heredium — subject form
• assignationem — accusative singular after per
• datur — present passive form of dare

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

Putting the verb at the end is very common in Latin, especially in more formal or literary styles. So:

• Heredium per assignationem datur

is perfectly normal.

The order helps the sentence build toward the verb:

• heredium — the thing being talked about
• per assignationem — the method
• datur — what happens to it

English usually needs a stricter order, but Latin does not.

Yes. Because the endings make the grammar clear, Latin can often rearrange the words without changing the basic meaning.

For example, these would still mean essentially the same thing:

• Per assignationem heredium datur
• Datur heredium per assignationem

But the emphasis may shift slightly depending on what is placed first or last.

The given order, Heredium per assignationem datur, puts heredium first, which makes it the topic of the sentence.

Latin has no articles.

So heredium can mean:

• a hereditary estate
• the hereditary estate

Which one is best in English depends on the context.

This is something English speakers often have to get used to: Latin usually leaves definiteness unstated unless the context makes it clear.

Sometimes Latin does express means or instrument with the ablative without a preposition. So a learner may wonder why per is used here.

Using per + accusative can make the idea of through a process, by way of, or by means of more explicit. With a noun like assignatio, that can sound natural, especially in formal or legal language.

So per assignationem emphasizes the channel or procedure of assignment, not just a simple instrument.