Medipontus prope prelum est.

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

In Medipontus prope prelum est, the basic structure is:

• Medipontus = subject
• prope prelum = prepositional phrase, near the press
• est = is

So the sentence means that Medipontus is the thing being described as near something else.

A learner might wonder this because prelum could look like either nominative singular or accusative singular—for many neuter nouns, those two forms are identical.

But here prelum comes after prope, and prope as a preposition takes the accusative case. So in this sentence, prelum must be accusative, not nominative.

That means it belongs with prope:

• prope prelum = near the press

So prelum is not the subject.

Prope takes the accusative when it is used as a preposition.

So:

• prope prelum = near the press

This is worth noticing because English speakers often learn that many Latin location expressions use the ablative, but prope is one of the prepositions that uses the accusative instead.

Because Latin prepositions do not all behave the same way. You have to learn which case each preposition governs.

For example:

• in can take the ablative in some location meanings
• cum takes the ablative
• prope takes the accusative

So even though the meaning involves location (near), Latin still uses the case required by prope, which is the accusative.

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

In English, we usually need a fairly fixed order:

• Medipontus is near the press

In Latin, est often comes later in the sentence, especially at the end. That is a very common and natural placement.

So Medipontus prope prelum est is normal Latin word order, even though in English we would not usually put is at the end.

Yes, often they could.

For example, Latin could also have:

• Prope prelum Medipontus est
• Medipontus est prope prelum

These would still mean essentially the same thing, because the case endings and the preposition show the relationships.

However, word order can affect emphasis or style. The version you were given is a straightforward, natural sentence.

No. Prope can also be used as an adverb, meaning something like nearby or almost, depending on context.

But in this sentence it is clearly a preposition, because it is followed by a noun:

• prope prelum = near the press

So here it is introducing a prepositional phrase.

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

So prelum can mean:

• a press
• the press

The exact sense depends on context.

English requires an article, but Latin usually does not.

Est is the third-person singular present active indicative form of esse, meaning to be.

So est means:

• he is
• she is
• it is
• is

In this sentence, it means is, agreeing with the singular subject Medipontus.

Prelum is a second-declension neuter noun.

That helps explain why its nominative singular and accusative singular look the same:

• nominative singular: prelum
• accusative singular: prelum

In this sentence, context tells you it is accusative because it follows prope.

Yes, it appears to be a proper noun, probably the name of a person or place.

That is why it is capitalized in English-style presentation. In Latin manuscripts, capitalization was not used in the same way we use it today, but in modern printed texts and teaching materials, proper names are usually capitalized.

In this sentence, Medipontus is treated as the named subject: Medipontus is near the press.

A good way is to break it into three parts:

• Medipontus = nominative subject
• prope prelum = prepositional phrase
• est = linking verb

So the pattern is:

subject + prepositional phrase + verb

That makes the sentence a very simple equational/location statement:
Medipontus is near the press.