Medipontus et funis subductarius prope trochleam sunt.

They are in the nominative case, because they are the subject of the sentence.

• medipontus = nominative singular
• funis = nominative singular
• subductarius agrees with funis, so it is also nominative singular

Together, the two nominative nouns make up the compound subject.

Because prope takes the accusative case.

So:

• prope = near
• trochleam = accusative singular, near the pulley

This is very common in Latin: prepositions often require a specific case, and prope normally goes with the accusative.

Here prope is a preposition meaning near or close to. It introduces the phrase prope trochleam.

So the structure is:

• subject: Medipontus et funis subductarius
• prepositional phrase: prope trochleam
• verb: sunt

It describes funis only.

A learner can tell this because funis subductarius forms a clear noun + adjective phrase, and the adjective is singular, matching funis. It is not written in a way that naturally makes it modify both nouns.

So the sentence means:

• medipontus
• and the subductarius rope

not

• the subductarius medipontus and rope

Because the adjective subductarius agrees with funis in case, number, and gender.

That agreement is a major clue in Latin. When an adjective matches a noun like this, it usually belongs with that noun.

Because Latin adjective position is flexible. An adjective can come before or after its noun.

So:

• funis subductarius
• subductarius funis

could both be possible Latin, depending on style and emphasis.

In this sentence, the noun-first order is perfectly normal.

Because Latin does not have articles like English the, a, or an.

Latin often leaves that idea to context. So a noun like funis could be translated as:

• a rope
• the rope

depending on what makes sense in English.

The basic meaning stays the same even if the word order changes, because Latin uses endings more than English does to show grammatical roles.

This sentence has a very natural order:

• subject first
• location phrase next
• verb last

That is a common Latin pattern. The final sunt is especially normal.

Sunt is the third-person plural present indicative of esse (to be).

So:

• est = he/she/it is
• sunt = they are

Here it means are.

Because Latin nouns belong to different declensions, and different declensions have different nominative singular endings.

So two subject nouns do not have to look alike.

For example here:

• medipontus has a nominative form ending in -us
• funis has a nominative form ending in -is

Both can still be nominative singular, even though their endings are different.

Yes, Latin can sometimes join words with -que instead of et.

For example, a writer might use a form equivalent to medipontus funisque subductarius. But et is the straightforward and very common way to say and, and it is what this sentence uses.