Emptor tabulas auctionarias legit prope hastam publicam.

Look at the endings and the preposition:

• Emptor = the subject: the one doing the action
• tabulas auctionarias = the direct object: the thing being read
• legit = the verb
• prope hastam publicam = a prepositional phrase telling where

So the sentence is built like this:

subject + object + verb + place phrase

Latin often relies on endings more than word order to show these roles.

Emptor is in the nominative singular, which is the case typically used for the subject of a sentence.

Its dictionary form is:

• emptor, emptoris = buyer, purchaser

Because it is nominative singular, it naturally works as the buyer as the doer of the action.

Because tabulas is the direct object of legit.

The dictionary form is:

• tabula, -ae = tablet, board, record, notice

Its form here, tabulas, is:

• accusative plural feminine

Latin usually puts the direct object of a transitive verb in the accusative, so tabulas means something like the tablets/notices/records as the thing being read.

Auctionarias is an adjective modifying tabulas.

It agrees with tabulas in:

• gender: feminine
• number: plural
• case: accusative

So:

• tabulas = feminine accusative plural
• auctionarias = feminine accusative plural

That matching tells you they belong together: auction notices/auction records/auction tablets.

Because Latin adjective placement is much freer than English adjective placement.

English strongly prefers:

• auction notices

Latin can do either:

• auctionarias tabulas
• tabulas auctionarias

Both are grammatical. Putting the adjective after the noun is very common and natural in Latin.

Literally, it means something like auction tablets or auction records/notices.

The adjective auctionarius, -a, -um means connected with an auction. Depending on context, the whole phrase could refer to:

• auction records
• auction lists
• auction notices
• auction tablets/boards

So the Latin is straightforward, but the best English wording depends on context.

Yes — this is a very common learner question.

Without macrons, legit can be ambiguous in writing:

• legit = reads / is reading (present)
• lēgit = read / has read (perfect)

Many Latin texts for learners omit macrons, so context has to tell you which one is meant. In this sentence, you should take it according to the meaning you were given.

Also, the verb form is 3rd person singular, so it goes with emptor.

Because Latin often likes to place the verb near the end of the sentence, especially in a neutral or prose style.

English usually depends more on word order:

• subject + verb + object

Latin is more flexible because case endings already show the grammar. So a verb-final order like this is very normal:

• Emptor tabulas auctionarias legit

It can sound more natural in Latin than in English.

There are not two direct objects.

• tabulas auctionarias is the direct object of legit
• hastam publicam is the object of the preposition prope

Here prope means near and takes the accusative case. So:

• prope hastam publicam = near the public spear

Latin can therefore have an accusative direct object and another accusative after a preposition in the same sentence.

Literally, it means public spear.

This is also a Roman cultural expression. A spear could be used as a symbol of a public sale or auction, so hasta publica can refer not just to a physical spear, but to the auction setting itself.

So depending on how the meaning was translated for you, the phrase may be understood:

• literally, as near the public spear
• culturally, as near the public auction area or something similar

Because of agreement.

• hastam = feminine accusative singular
• publicam = feminine accusative singular

Those match, so they go together.

But:

• tabulas = feminine accusative plural

Since publicam is singular, it cannot describe tabulas. In Latin, agreement in case, number, and gender is what matters most.

Because Latin has no articles.

A Latin noun by itself can mean:

• a buyer
• the buyer

and context tells you which is more natural in English.

So emptor could be translated either way depending on the situation, and the same is true for the other nouns in the sentence.

Yes, often it could.

For example, these are all possible Latin word orders:

• Emptor tabulas auctionarias legit prope hastam publicam.
• Tabulas auctionarias emptor legit prope hastam publicam.
• Prope hastam publicam emptor tabulas auctionarias legit.

The basic meaning stays the same because the endings still show the grammatical relationships. What changes is usually emphasis or style, not the core meaning.

A useful set would be:

• emptor, emptoris = buyer
• tabula, -ae = tablet, record, notice
• auctionarius, -a, -um = auction-related
• lego, legere, legi, lectum = read
• prope = near
• hasta, -ae = spear
• publicus, -a, -um = public

Learning dictionary forms helps you recognize why the words look the way they do in the sentence.