Tacete et magistram audite.

Because both words are plural commands. In Latin, when you tell more than one person to do something, the imperative usually ends in -te.

• tacete = be quiet! / be silent! (said to more than one person)
• audite = listen! / hear! (said to more than one person)

If you were speaking to just one person, you would usually have:

• tace!
• audi!

So Tacete et magistram audite is a command to a group.

They come from these dictionary forms:

• tacete ← tacēre = to be silent, to be quiet
• audite ← audīre = to hear, to listen to

More fully, the verbs are often listed as:

• taceō, tacēre
• audiō, audīre

The sentence uses the imperative form, which is the form for giving commands.

Because magistram is the direct object of audite.

Latin changes noun endings depending on their role in the sentence. Here, the teacher is the person being listened to, so Latin uses the accusative singular:

• magistra = teacher as the basic form / subject form
• magistram = teacher as the direct object form

So:

• magistra audit = the teacher listens
• magistram audite = listen to the teacher

Because Latin and English do not always build verbs the same way.

In English, listen usually needs to:

• listen to the teacher

But in Latin, audīre commonly takes a direct object:

• magistram audite

So a more literal breakdown is:

• teacher-ACC listen-to!

You should not expect Latin to copy English prepositions exactly. Many Latin verbs take objects directly where English uses to, for, or another preposition.

It can suggest either, depending on context, but in a classroom command like this, listen to is the natural meaning.

So magistram audite is best understood as:

• listen to the teacher

A very literal gloss would be:

• hear the teacher

But idiomatic English usually prefers listen to the teacher here.

Either is fine. Tacete comes from a verb meaning be silent or keep quiet.

In a classroom, natural English translations include:

• Be quiet
• Be silent
• Quiet down

So the exact English wording may vary, even though the Latin form is the same.

Because Latin usually does not need to state the subject pronoun when the verb ending already shows it.

Here, the ending -te tells you the command is addressed to you all or you (plural).

So Latin does not need to add a separate word for you. It is already built into:

• tacete
• audite

This is very common in Latin.

Yes. Latin word order is more flexible than English because the endings show the grammatical roles.

So these could all make sense:

• Tacete et magistram audite
• Magistram audite et tacete
• Et tacete et magistram audite (less basic, but possible in context)

That said, the given order is very natural for a classroom instruction:

1. Be quiet
2. and listen to the teacher

Latin often uses word order for emphasis or style, not just grammar.

Et means and.

It joins the two commands:

• Tacete = Be quiet
• audite = listen
• et = and

So the sentence is simply giving two linked instructions:

• Be quiet and listen to the teacher.

In a common Classical Latin pronunciation, you could say it approximately like this:

tah-KEH-teh et mah-GIS-trahm ow-DEE-teh

A few helpful points:

• c is always hard, like k
• au sounds like ow in cow
• i is like ee
• the e vowels are pronounced clearly, not reduced to a weak sound

So:

• Tacete = tah-KEH-teh
• magistram = mah-GIS-trahm
• audite = ow-DEE-teh

Yes. Magistra is the feminine word meaning female teacher or mistress/teacher, and magistram is its accusative singular form.

If the teacher were male, you would expect:

• magistrum audite = listen to the male teacher

So the sentence specifically refers to a female teacher.

No. They belong to different conjugations, even though their plural imperative forms both end in -te.

• tacēre is a 2nd conjugation verb
• audīre is a 4th conjugation verb

But in both cases, the plural imperative uses -te, which is why the two commands look similar:

• tacēre → tacete
• audīre → audite

So the shared ending does not mean they are the same conjugation; it just means they are both plural imperatives.