Propolis favos conglutinat.

Because propolis is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject.

So in Propolis favos conglutinat, propolis is the thing doing the action: propolis glues the honeycombs together.

A learner may hesitate because propolis does not have the very common subject endings like -a or -us, but it is still a nominative singular form.

Favos is accusative plural.

It comes from favus, meaning honeycomb or cell of a honeycomb. The ending -os in a second-declension masculine noun marks the accusative plural, which is often the direct object.

So favos is the thing affected by the verb: propolis glues the honeycombs together.

Conglutinat is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood

It comes from conglutino, conglutinare, meaning to glue together, join together, or stick together.

Because it is 3rd person singular, it matches the singular subject propolis:

• propolis conglutinat = propolis glues together

Because Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order.

A very common neutral Latin order is:

• subject + object + verb

So:

• Propolis = subject
• favos = object
• conglutinat = verb

English usually requires subject + verb + object, but Latin can move words around more freely because the endings show their roles.

More or less, yes. Propolis in Latin refers to the resinous substance bees use to seal or glue parts of the hive.

An English speaker may recognize the scientific word propolis, and that helps here. In this sentence it is the material that performs the gluing.

Because Latin has no articles.

So propolis can mean:

• propolis
• the propolis

And favos can mean:

• honeycombs
• the honeycombs

The translator decides from the context what sounds best in English.

You know it from the forms:

• favos has the accusative plural ending -os
• conglutinat is singular, so its subject must be singular
• therefore propolis is singular

So the sentence has:

• one singular subject: propolis
• one plural object: favos

More literally, conglutinat means glues together or sticks together.

The prefix con- adds the sense of together, and the verb is related to gluten / glue in idea.

So this is not just touches or covers; it specifically means that propolis joins or cements the honeycombs together.

Not to a beginner, no. It looks unusual because it is a Greek loanword.

Many very common beginner nouns have endings like:

• -a
• -us
• -um

But Latin also uses words borrowed from Greek, and propolis is one of those. So an English speaker should not assume that every Latin subject will have an obvious first- or second-declension nominative ending.

A common classroom pronunciation would be roughly:

PRO-po-lis FA-wos con-glu-TI-nat

More carefully by syllable:

• pro-po-lis
• fa-vos
• con-glu-ti-nat

Notes:

• v is usually pronounced like an English w in traditional restored pronunciation
• the stress in conglutinat falls on ti

So it sounds approximately like:

PRO-po-lis FA-wos con-glu-TI-nat