Emptores inter se licitantur, et licitatio incipit.

Emptores is nominative plural, so it works as the subject of licitantur.

Its singular form is emptor, meaning buyer. The ending -es here shows the nominative plural of this third-declension noun.

So:

• emptor = buyer
• emptores = buyers

Because licitantur is also plural, emptores matches it naturally as the subject.

Inter se means among themselves or with one another.

• inter = among, between
• se = themselves

The pronoun se is reflexive, so it refers back to the subject, which here is emptores.

So emptores inter se licitantur gives the idea that the buyers are bidding against one another, not just bidding in some vague general sense.

Latin uses se when the pronoun refers back to the subject of its own clause.

Here, the subject is emptores, and se points back to those same buyers:

• emptores inter se = the buyers among themselves

If Latin used eos, that would normally mean them in a non-reflexive way, referring to some other group, not back to the subject itself.

So se is the correct choice because the buyers are interacting with each other.

Because licitor is a deponent verb.

Deponent verbs:

• have passive forms
• but active meanings

So licitantur looks like a passive form because of the ending -ntur, but it means they bid, not they are bid.

This is very common in Latin and often surprises English speakers at first.

The dictionary form is licitor.

It is a deponent verb, so its principal parts are typically given something like:

• licitor
• licitari
• licitatus sum

From that verb, licitantur means they bid or they make bids.

Yes. Licitatio is a noun built from the same root as licitor.

So:

• licitor = to bid
• licitatio = bidding, an auction, or the act of bidding

This is a very common pattern in Latin: a verb and a related noun are formed from the same base.

In this sentence, the first clause has the action the buyers bid, and the second clause names that activity more abstractly: the bidding begins.

Because its subject is licitatio, which is singular.

• licitatio = singular
• incipit = it begins

Even though the first clause has a plural subject (emptores), the second clause starts a new idea with a different subject:

• emptores ... licitantur = plural verb
• licitatio incipit = singular verb

Latin verbs agree with their own subject, not with a noun somewhere earlier in the sentence.

Latin has no articles, so it does not have separate words for the, a, or an.

That means:

• emptores can mean buyers or the buyers
• licitatio can mean bidding, the bidding, or sometimes an auction

The correct English article has to be supplied from context.

This is very normal in Latin, and learners quickly get used to it.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because the endings show how words function.

So this sentence could be rearranged in other ways without changing the basic meaning very much. For example, Latin could move incipit or inter se for emphasis.

Still, the given order is natural and clear:

• Emptores inter se licitantur first gives the people and the action
• et licitatio incipit then adds the next idea

English depends heavily on word order, but Latin depends much more on endings.

Et simply means and.

It joins the two clauses:

• Emptores inter se licitantur
• licitatio incipit

So it links two related actions:

1. the buyers are bidding against one another
2. the bidding begins

It is a very common coordinating conjunction in Latin, just like and in English.

Yes, it is perfectly understandable and natural.

Latin often uses an abstract noun like licitatio together with a verb like incipit:

• the bidding begins
• the auction starts

English can do the same thing, so this part of the sentence maps quite neatly between the two languages.

The main thing that may feel less familiar to an English-speaking learner is the earlier clause with the deponent verb licitantur and the reflexive phrase inter se.