Ventus nubes pellit.

In Ventus nubes pellit, ventus is the subject and nubes is the object.

• ventus is nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject.
• nubes here is accusative plural, the case normally used for the direct object.
• pellit is third person singular, so it matches a singular subject: ventus.

So the sentence means that the wind is doing the action, and the clouds are receiving it.

That is a very good question, because nubes can indeed look ambiguous.

The noun nubes, nubis is a third-declension noun. Its nominative plural and accusative plural are both nubes.

So by itself, nubes could mean either:

• clouds as the subject, or
• clouds as the object

What makes the meaning clear here is the verb:

• pellit = he/she/it drives
• This verb is singular, not plural.

If nubes were the subject, the verb would need to be plural, such as pellunt. Since the verb is singular, ventus must be the subject, and nubes must be the object.

Pellit is the third person singular present active indicative of pellere, meaning to drive, push, strike, or force away.

Breaking it down:

• pell- = the verb stem
• -it = he/she/it in the present tense for this conjugation pattern

So pellit means:

• he drives
• she drives
• it drives

In this sentence, the subject is ventus (wind), so pellit means drives.

Latin does not have definite and indefinite articles like English the or a/an.

So:

• ventus can mean wind or the wind
• nubes can mean clouds or the clouds

English usually has to choose one, but Latin often leaves that to the context. In a simple sentence like this, English often translates it as The wind drives the clouds.

Latin often puts the verb at or near the end of the sentence, especially in simple textbook examples.

So Ventus nubes pellit has a very typical Latin word order:

• subject: ventus
• object: nubes
• verb: pellit

But Latin word order is much more flexible than English because case endings do a lot of the work. You could also see:

• Ventus pellit nubes
• Nubes ventus pellit
• Pellit ventus nubes

These can all mean basically the same thing, though the emphasis may change. The endings matter more than the position.

Ventus is a second-declension masculine noun. Its dictionary form is ventus, venti, meaning wind.

The ending -us here shows nominative singular, which is the form typically used for the subject.

A few forms of ventus are:

• nominative singular: ventus
• accusative singular: ventum
• nominative plural: venti
• accusative plural: ventos

So in this sentence, ventus is in the form you would expect for the subject.

Nubes is a third-declension noun. Its dictionary form is nubes, nubis, meaning cloud.

In the plural, third-declension nouns often have -es in both the nominative and accusative plural.

So:

• nominative plural: nubes
• accusative plural: nubes

That is why the form looks the same whether it is subject or object. You have to use the rest of the sentence, especially the verb, to decide which it is.

Not as it stands.

If the clouds were the subject, the verb would need to be plural, because clouds is plural. You would expect:

• Nubes ventum pellunt = The clouds drive the wind

Notice two changes:

• nubes stays nubes, but now it is nominative plural
• ventus changes to ventum, the accusative singular
• pellit changes to pellunt, the plural verb

So Ventus nubes pellit cannot mean The clouds drive the wind.

All of those can be possible depending on context, because pellere has a range of meanings.

Common possibilities include:

• drive
• push
• beat
• strike
• force away

In Ventus nubes pellit, drives is a very natural English choice: The wind drives the clouds. It gives the sense that the wind is pushing them along.

A restored classical pronunciation would be approximately:

WEN-toos NOO-bays PEL-lit

A few details:

• v is pronounced like English w
• u is like oo
• e is a pure vowel, like e in bet, not like English ee
• c and g are always hard in Classical Latin, though there are none here
• the stress is usually:
  • Vén-tus
  • nú-bes
  • pél-lit

So you would say something like:

WEN-toos NOO-bays PEL-lit