Miles laude dignus manet.

Because in Latin, -s does not automatically mark a plural noun the way it often does in English.

Miles is the nominative singular form of miles, militis meaning soldier. It belongs to the third declension, where singular nominatives can have many different endings, including -s.

So:

• miles = soldier (singular)
• milites = soldiers (plural)

An English speaker can easily misread miles as plural at first, but in Latin it is singular here.

Miles is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of a sentence.

We know it is the subject because:

• it is in the nominative case
• manet is third person singular
• dignus is also nominative singular masculine, agreeing with miles

So miles is the one who remains.

Laude is the ablative singular of laus, laudis meaning praise.

It is ablative because the adjective dignus regularly takes the ablative in Latin. So dignus laude means worthy of praise.

This is something you mostly just learn as a construction:

• dignus + ablative = worthy of ...
• indignus + ablative = unworthy of ...

So the ablative here is not random; it is required by dignus.

The dictionary form is laus, laudis (feminine), meaning praise.

In the sentence, laude is the ablative singular form.

This is a typical third-declension pattern:

• nominative singular: laus
• genitive singular: laudis
• ablative singular: laude

So if you are trying to identify laude, you work backward from the ending -e and the context with dignus.

Dignus is nominative singular masculine because it agrees with miles.

Latin adjectives agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Since miles is masculine singular nominative, dignus must also be masculine singular nominative.

So:

• miles = nominative singular masculine
• dignus = nominative singular masculine

That agreement shows that the soldier is the one who is worthy.

Here manet works much like a linking verb, though it still keeps its basic sense of remain.

Its basic meaning is remains, stays, or continues. In this sentence it links the subject miles with the predicate adjective phrase laude dignus.

So the structure is:

• miles = subject
• manet = remains
• laude dignus = worthy of praise

In other words, the sentence means that the soldier continues to be worthy of praise.

Using manet adds the idea of continuing or remaining in that state.

Compare:

• Miles laude dignus est = The soldier is worthy of praise
• Miles laude dignus manet = The soldier remains worthy of praise

So est simply states a fact, while manet suggests persistence: he was worthy before, and he still is.

Yes. It is best understood as a unit meaning worthy of praise.

Even though it is made of two words:

• laude = of praise in the construction required by dignus
• dignus = worthy

together they form one descriptive phrase attached to miles.

A learner should usually read it as a chunk:

laude dignus = worthy of praise

Latin has no articles like English the or a/an.

So miles can mean:

• the soldier
• a soldier

Which one sounds best depends on context. If the meaning has already been given to you, the Latin itself does not force one choice the way English usually does.

Yes. Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because the endings show how the words function.

So these could still make sense:

• Miles dignus laude manet
• Laude dignus miles manet
• Dignus laude miles manet

The exact order can change emphasis or style, but the grammar remains clear because:

• miles is nominative
• laude is ablative
• dignus agrees with miles
• manet is singular

That said, the given order is perfectly natural and easy to understand.

Manet is present tense, third person singular, from maneo, manere.

So it means:

• he/she/it remains
• he/she/it stays

Since the subject is miles, we translate it as the soldier remains.

Its form breaks down like this:

• mane- = present stem
• -t = he/she/it ending

So manet means he remains or the soldier remains.