Spes aeterna civem iuvat.

• spes = hope. Its dictionary form is spes, spei, a feminine noun of the 5th declension.
• aeterna = eternal or everlasting. Its dictionary form is aeternus, aeterna, aeternum, an adjective.
• civem = citizen. Its dictionary form is civis, civis, a noun of the 3rd declension.
• iuvat = helps, pleases, or benefits, depending on context. Its dictionary form is iuvo, iuvare, iuvi, iutus.

So the sentence is built from:

• a subject: spes aeterna
• an object: civem
• a verb: iuvat

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

In Spes aeterna civem iuvat, spes is the thing doing the action of the verb iuvat, so it is the subject: eternal hope helps.

Even though English relies heavily on word order, Latin often shows the job of a word by its ending.

Because civem is in the accusative singular, the case commonly used for a direct object.

The verb iuvat is acting on civem, so civem is the person being helped.

A native English speaker may wonder why it is not something like civi, but with iuvo the person helped is normally put in the accusative, not the dative:

• civem iuvat = helps the citizen

Because the adjective has to agree with the noun it describes.

Here, aeterna describes spes, so it must match it in:

• gender: feminine
• number: singular
• case: nominative

Since spes is feminine nominative singular, the adjective must also be feminine nominative singular:

• spes aeterna = eternal hope

This is called adjective agreement.

Because spes belongs to the 5th declension, and many 5th-declension nouns have a nominative singular ending in -es.

So the ending -es does not automatically mean plural. In this word:

• spes = nominative singular
• spei = genitive singular
• spem = accusative singular

This is a good reminder that Latin endings must be understood according to the declension pattern, not by one simple rule.

iuvat is:

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

So it means he/she/it helps, or more naturally here, helps.

Since the subject spes is singular, the verb is also singular:

• spes ... iuvat = hope ... helps

Latin often places the verb near the end of the sentence, although this is not required.

So Spes aeterna civem iuvat has a very normal Latin feel:

• subject + adjective
• object
• verb

But Latin word order is more flexible than English because the endings show the grammatical roles. You could rearrange the sentence without changing the basic meaning, for example:

• Civem spes aeterna iuvat
• Iuvat civem spes aeterna

These may sound different in emphasis, but the core meaning stays the same because:

• spes is still nominative
• civem is still accusative

No. Classical Latin has no articles.

So spes can mean:

• hope
• the hope
• a hope

And civem can mean:

• citizen
• the citizen
• a citizen

English has to choose an article when translating, but Latin usually leaves that to context.

Yes. The verb iuvo can mean:

• help
• aid
• assist
• sometimes please or delight, depending on context

In this sentence, helps is the most straightforward meaning:

• Eternal hope helps the citizen

But it is useful to know that Latin verbs often cover a range of meanings broader than a single English word.

A common restored Classical pronunciation would be roughly:

spays ah-eh-TER-nah KEE-wem YOO-waht

A few helpful points:

• spes sounds like spays
• ae in aeterna is like the ai in aisle
• c in civem is always hard, like k
• v is pronounced like English w
• iuvat begins with a consonantal i, sounding like y: yuvat

So iuvat is approximately YOO-waht.

Yes. Civem is clearly singular accusative.

If it were plural, you would expect cives in the accusative plural for this noun.

So:

• civem = citizen or the citizen
• cives = citizens or the citizens

That means the sentence refers to one citizen, not several.