Balneator temperaturam probat.

The subject is balneator.

You can tell because balneator is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject of a sentence. Also, the verb probat is third-person singular, so it matches a singular subject: he/she/it checks.

Because it is the accusative singular form of temperatura.

The accusative case is usually used for the direct object, the person or thing directly affected by the action. So in this sentence, temperaturam is the thing being checked.

For a first-declension noun, accusative singular is very often -am.

Probat is:

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

It comes from the verb probare.

So grammatically it means he/she/it checks, tests, approves, or proves, depending on context.

Not always.

Latin probare can mean several related things, such as:

• to test
• to check
• to approve
• to prove

In this sentence, with temperaturam, the most natural sense is checks/tests, not mathematical or logical proves.

Because Latin normally has no articles.

So balneator can mean either:

• the bath attendant
• a bath attendant

And temperaturam can mean:

• the temperature
• sometimes a temperature, depending on context

Latin usually leaves that for the reader to infer from the situation.

Because the ending of the verb already tells you that.

The -t in probat shows that the verb is third-person singular: he/she/it checks. Latin often leaves out subject pronouns unless they are needed for emphasis or contrast.

So Latin does not need to say he checks with a separate word for he.

Yes. Balneator temperaturam probat has subject-object-verb order, which is very common in Latin.

But Latin word order is more flexible than English word order, because the endings show the grammatical roles. So these would still mean basically the same thing:

• Balneator probat temperaturam
• Temperaturam balneator probat

The main difference would be emphasis, not the core meaning.

Balneator is a third-declension masculine noun.

A learner might expect a masculine noun to be second declension, but many masculine nouns are third declension instead.

Typical forms would be:

• nominative singular: balneator
• genitive singular: balneatoris
• accusative singular: balneatorem
• nominative plural: balneatores

So in this sentence, balneator is the nominative singular subject form.

Temperatura is a first-declension noun.

Some useful forms are:

• nominative singular: temperatura
• accusative singular: temperaturam
• genitive singular: temperaturae
• nominative plural: temperaturae

That is why the object in the sentence appears as temperaturam.

Yes, it is clearly related, and that can help with vocabulary.

But even when a Latin word looks familiar, you still have to pay attention to its Latin form and case ending. Here, the familiar-looking stem is combined with the accusative ending -am, giving temperaturam.

A simple classroom Classical Latin pronunciation would be roughly:

bal-ne-A-tor tem-pe-ra-TU-ram PRO-bat

So the stressed syllables are:

• A in balneator
• TU in temperaturam
• PRO in probat

If your course uses a different pronunciation system, the grammar still stays the same.