Miles arcum tendit.

Because miles belongs to the 3rd declension, where singular nominatives can have many different endings.

So here:

• miles = singular nominative = the soldier
• milites = plural nominative = the soldiers

A very common beginner mistake is to assume -es must be plural, but in Latin that is not always true. In this word, miles is singular.

Because arcum is the accusative singular, the case used for the direct object.

Here, the soldier is doing the action, and the bow is receiving it:

• miles = subject
• arcum = direct object

The dictionary form is:

• arcus, arcūs = bow

Its forms include:

• arcus = nominative singular
• arcum = accusative singular

So arcum is used because the bow is the thing being acted on.

We know from the cases, not mainly from the word order.

• miles is in the nominative case, which usually marks the subject.
• arcum is in the accusative case, which usually marks the direct object.

That is one of the biggest differences from English. English relies heavily on word order; Latin relies much more on endings.

So even if the words were rearranged, the endings would still tell you their jobs.

tendit is:

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

It comes from the verb tendo, tendere.

So tendit means he/she/it stretches/draws/aims depending on context.

Because the subject here is miles, we understand it as the soldier ...s.

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

So:

• miles can mean the soldier or a soldier
• arcum can mean the bow or a bow

Which one sounds best is decided by context or by the translation you are given.

This often feels strange to English speakers at first, but it is completely normal in Latin.

Yes, Latin could say it differently.

For example, these would still be understood grammatically because the endings show the roles:

• Miles arcum tendit
• Arcum miles tendit
• Tendit miles arcum

That said, word order in Latin is not random. Writers often move words for emphasis, style, or rhythm.

The order here, subject + object + verb, is a very common Latin pattern.

No. This is a very common false-friend problem.

Latin tendit comes from tendo, which can mean things like:

• stretch
• draw
• aim
• direct

It does not normally mean English tends in the sense of usually does or takes care of.

So you should not connect Latin tendit too closely with the modern English verb tend.

They are usually learned as:

• miles, militis = soldier
• arcus, arcūs = bow
• tendo, tendere, tetendī, tentum = stretch, draw, aim

These dictionary forms are important because they tell you what declension or conjugation the word belongs to and help you recognize forms like arcum and tendit.

Because the verb ending already tells you the person and number.

In tendit, the ending -it shows 3rd person singular:

• he/she/it stretches, draws, aims

Since the sentence already has miles as the subject, adding a separate pronoun would usually be unnecessary.

Latin often leaves pronouns out unless they are needed for emphasis or contrast.