Spes pacis timorem vincit.

The subject is spes.

You can tell because:

• spes is in the nominative case, the case normally used for the subject.
• vincit is third person singular, so it matches a singular subject: spes = hope.

So the basic structure is:

• spes pacis = the hope of peace
• timorem = fear
• vincit = conquers / overcomes

Pacis is the genitive singular form of pax, meaning of peace.

So:

• pax = peace (nominative)
• pacis = of peace

In this sentence, pacis depends on spes and tells us what kind of hope it is:

• spes pacis = hope of peace

A native English speaker may want to translate this very literally as peace's hope, but in smoother English we usually say hope of peace.

Timorem is the accusative singular of timor, and it is the direct object of vincit.

That means it is the thing being conquered:

• spes = the subject, doing the action
• vincit = conquers
• timorem = fear, the thing conquered

So timorem is accusative because Latin uses the accusative for the direct object.

Vincit is:

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

It comes from the verb vincere, meaning to conquer, to overcome, or to defeat.

So vincit means:

• he/she/it conquers
• or more naturally here, conquers / overcomes

Because the subject is spes (hope), the sense is hope conquers or hope overcomes.

It actually could. Latin word order is much freer than English word order because the grammatical endings show what each word is doing.

All of these would mean basically the same thing:

• Spes pacis timorem vincit
• Spes pacis vincit timorem
• Timorem spes pacis vincit

The endings tell you the roles:

• spes = nominative subject
• pacis = genitive
• timorem = accusative object
• vincit = verb

So the given order may be chosen for style, emphasis, or rhythm rather than strict grammatical necessity.

Yes. Spes pacis is a noun phrase made up of:

• spes = hope
• pacis = of peace

Together they form one idea: the hope of peace.

This is very common in Latin: a noun followed by a genitive noun that defines it more closely.

Other similar patterns would be:

• amor patriae = love of country
• timor dei = fear of God

So in this sentence, you should read spes pacis together.

They belong to different declensions:

• spes, spei = fifth declension
• pax, pacis = third declension
• timor, timoris = third declension

That is why their forms look different:

• spes is nominative singular
• pacis is genitive singular
• timorem is accusative singular

A learner may notice that the words do not all follow the same pattern, and that is completely normal in Latin.

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

So spes can mean:

• hope
• a hope
• the hope

The same is true for the whole sentence. Depending on context, it could be understood as:

• Hope of peace conquers fear
• The hope of peace conquers fear

English has to choose an article; Latin usually does not.

Because pacis is the genitive singular form of pax, pacis.

For this noun, the genitive plural is different: pacum in older or poetic usage is rare, while classical Latin normally avoids a common plural of pax because peace is often treated as an abstract singular idea.

So in ordinary reading, pacis here is understood as of peace, singular.

A common reconstructed classical pronunciation would be approximately:

spays PAH-kis tih-MOH-rem WING-kit

A few helpful notes:

• spes sounds roughly like spays
• c in pacis is always hard, like k
• v in classical Latin is pronounced like an English w, so vincit is closer to wing-kit
• the stress falls like this:
  • spes
  • PA-cis
  • ti-MO-rem
  • VIN-cit

If you are using an ecclesiastical pronunciation instead, vincit will sound more like VEEN-chit.

Not exactly. Pacis is a genitive noun, not an adjective.

So Latin is not saying:

• peaceful hope

It is saying:

• hope of peace

That distinction matters. Peaceful hope would mean a hope that is calm or peace-like.
Hope of peace means a hope directed toward peace.

So the relationship is one of possession or specification, not simple description by an adjective.