Hostes ex urbe concedunt.

Hostes means enemies.

Its dictionary form is hostis, a third-declension noun. Here hostes is plural.

A learner often asks whether it is nominative or accusative, because hostes can be either nominative plural or accusative plural. In this sentence, it is understood as the subject: the enemies.

So:

• hostis = enemy
• hostes = enemies

We know from the sentence structure and meaning.

The verb concedunt here means they withdraw / they retreat / they depart. It does not take a direct object in this sentence. Since there is no reason to read hostes as an object, it is naturally understood as the subject.

So the sentence is:

• Hostes = the enemies
• concedunt = withdraw / depart

not:

• someone withdraws the enemies

Ex means out of or from.

It is used when something moves out from within a place. So ex urbe suggests movement out of the city.

This is a very common use:

• ex urbe = out of the city
• ex domo = out of the house
• ex Italia = out of Italy / from Italy

So ex fits well with a verb of leaving or withdrawing.

Because ex takes the ablative case, and the ablative singular of urbs is urbe.

So:

• urbs = city (nominative singular)
• urbe = from/out of the city (ablative singular after ex)

This is a very important pattern in Latin:

• ex + ablative

Yes. Urbs, urbis is a third-declension feminine noun.

Its basic forms are:

• nominative singular: urbs
• genitive singular: urbis
• ablative singular: urbe

In this sentence, you need the ablative singular because of ex:

• ex urbe = out of the city

Concedunt comes from concedo, concedere, concessi, concessum.

In a sentence like this, it means something like:

• they withdraw
• they retreat
• they depart
• they give way

The exact English translation depends on context. With hostes and ex urbe, withdraw from the city or retreat from the city is very natural.

Concedunt is:

• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood
• third person plural

So it means:

• they withdraw
• they are withdrawing
  depending on how you translate the Latin present in English.

The ending -unt tells you it is third person plural: they.

Because Latin usually does not need a separate subject pronoun when the verb ending already shows the person and number.

Here, concedunt already means they withdraw:

• -unt = they

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

That is why Hostes ex urbe concedunt does not need an extra word for they.

Latin has no articles like English the or a/an.

So:

• hostes can mean enemies or the enemies
• urbe can mean a city, the city, or just city depending on context

English has to choose an article when translating, but Latin does not.

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

So all of these could express basically the same idea:

• Hostes ex urbe concedunt
• Ex urbe hostes concedunt
• Concedunt hostes ex urbe

The original order is straightforward and natural:

• subject first: Hostes
• prepositional phrase: ex urbe
• verb last: concedunt

Putting the verb at the end is very common in Latin.

Both are possible in English, but out of the city is more literal.

The preposition ex often suggests movement from inside something to the outside. So:

• literal sense: out of the city
• smoother English in many contexts: from the city

If the context is military, the enemies withdraw from the city is usually a very good translation.

Because ex and ab are similar but not identical.

• ex = out of, from within
• ab = away from, from the vicinity of, from

If the idea is that the enemies were in the city and are now leaving it, ex urbe is the most precise choice.

So:

• ex urbe concedunt = they withdraw out of the city
• ab urbe would suggest movement away from the city rather than specifically out from inside it

A common reconstructed pronunciation would be roughly:

HO-stays eks OOR-beh kon-KAY-doont

A few helpful points:

• h is pronounced
• ex is like eks
• u in urbe is like oo
• c in concedunt is always hard, like k
• ce in restored classical pronunciation sounds like ke, not like English see

So concedunt is approximately kon-keh-DOONT or kon-KAY-doont, depending on how narrowly you represent the vowels for an English speaker.