Mercator varias merces vendit.

Mercator is in the nominative singular, which is the case Latin normally uses for the subject. In other words, it is the person doing the action.

Here, the action is vendit (sells), so mercator is the one who sells.

A learner may also notice that mercator ends in -or, not in the more familiar -us of many second-declension nouns. That is normal: mercator is a third-declension noun.

Varias merces is accusative plural. The accusative case is commonly used for the direct object, the thing directly affected by the verb.

Since the merchant is selling goods, the words for various goods must be in the accusative plural.

• varias = accusative plural feminine
• merces = accusative plural feminine

So together they mean various goods as the object of vendit.

Because varias is an adjective modifying merces, and Latin adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Since merces here is feminine, plural, accusative, varias must also be feminine, plural, accusative.

That is why you get:

• nominative singular: varia merx = a various/different good (not very natural in English, but grammatically useful)
• accusative plural: varias merces = various goods

Here it is plural.

The dictionary form of the noun is merx, meaning goods, wares, merchandise. Its plural form in the nominative and accusative is merces.

So:

• merx = singular
• merces = plural

A beginner may find this confusing because merces looks like it could be singular, but in this sentence it is definitely plural, and varias confirms that.

Vendit is the verb, and it tells us several things at once:

• person: third person
• number: singular
• tense: present
• voice: active
• mood: indicative

So vendit means he/she/it sells or is selling, depending on context.

Because the subject is mercator, we understand it as the merchant sells.

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

So mercator can mean:

• a merchant
• the merchant

And merces can mean:

• goods
• the goods

You decide from the context which English wording is most natural.

This is very common in Latin and something English speakers have to get used to.

Latin word order is much freer than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show grammatical function.

So Latin can put words in different orders without changing the basic meaning. The order here, with the verb at the end, is a very common and natural Latin pattern:

• Mercator varias merces vendit.

But other orders are also possible, such as:

• Varias merces mercator vendit.
• Vendit mercator varias merces.

These can sound slightly different in emphasis, but the basic meaning stays the same because the endings show who is doing what.

We know from both the noun form and the verb form.

• mercator is a singular noun form
• vendit is a third-person singular verb form

These match each other. If the subject were plural, the verb would also need to be plural.

For example:

• mercatores varias merces vendunt = the merchants sell various goods

So the singular verb helps confirm that mercator is singular.

Yes, they are related in idea.

• mercator = merchant
• merx / merces = goods, wares, merchandise

Both come from the world of trade and commerce. This can help with vocabulary memory: a mercator is someone who deals in merces.

English words like merchant, mercantile, and merchandise are historically connected to the same general Latin root area, even if the exact forms differ.

A Latin learner would usually meet them like this:

• mercator, mercatoris (masculine) = merchant
• merx, mercis (feminine) = goods, wares, merchandise
• varius, varia, varium = various, different
• vendo, vendere, vendidi, venditum = sell

This helps because Latin dictionaries normally list nouns with the nominative and genitive forms, and verbs with their principal parts.

For this sentence, those dictionary forms explain where the actual sentence forms come from:

• mercator from mercator, mercatoris
• merces from merx, mercis
• varias from varius, varia, varium
• vendit from vendo

Yes. Depending on context, varius can often be translated as various, different, or diverse.

So varias merces could be understood as:

• various goods
• different goods
• a variety of goods

The exact English choice depends on what sounds most natural in context. Latin often allows more than one good English translation.