Multi cives imperatori favent, quia paci et concordiae favet.

Because both words are in the nominative plural, which is the normal case for the subject.

• multi = many
• cives = citizens

So multi cives means many citizens and is the thing doing the action favent.

Because the verb favere takes the dative, not the accusative.

In English we say favor someone, so learners often expect a direct object. But in Latin, favere works more like:

• to be favorable to
• to show support to

So:

• imperatori = to the general/commander/emperor in the dative singular

The same pattern appears later in the sentence with paci and concordiae.

For the same reason: they depend on favet.

Since favere takes the dative, Latin says:

• paci favet = he favors peace
• concordiae favet = he favors harmony

More literally, you could think of it as:

• he is favorable to peace and harmony

So paci and concordiae are both dative singular.

Because the subjects are different.

• favent = they favor
  Subject: multi cives
• favet = he/she/it favors
  Subject: understood from context as imperator

So the sentence means:

• Many citizens favor the commander, because he favors peace and harmony.

The change from -nt to -t shows the difference between plural and singular.

Latin often leaves out the subject when it is clear from context.

Here, favet is third person singular, so it means he/she/it favors. The most natural understood subject is imperator from the previous clause.

So Latin does not need to repeat imperator. English often does repeat it with he.

Quia means because and introduces a subordinate clause giving the reason.

Structure:

• main clause: Multi cives imperatori favent
• reason clause: quia paci et concordiae favet

So the second clause explains why the citizens support the commander.

Latin word order is more flexible because the endings show each word’s role.

In English, word order is crucial:

• Many citizens favor the commander

In Latin, the endings already tell you:

• multi cives = subject
• imperatori = dative after favent

So Latin can arrange words for emphasis or style more freely. This sentence is actually quite straightforward, but it still does not need to match English order exactly.

Here cives is nominative plural.

You can tell from the sentence structure:

• it goes with multi
• it is the subject of favent

The noun civis, civis is third declension, and cives can be either:

• nominative plural
• accusative plural

In this sentence it must be nominative plural because it is the subject.

Because multi agrees with cives as the subject.

Since cives is nominative plural, the adjective must also be nominative plural:

• multi cives = many citizens

If it were multos, that would be accusative plural, which would not fit here.

Because multi is the masculine nominative plural form.

The noun civis can refer to a male or female citizen, but in a mixed or unspecified group Latin normally uses the masculine plural. So multi cives is the expected form for many citizens in general.

If the group were specifically female, Latin could use a feminine adjective form.

They are both present tense.

• favent = they favor / they support / they are favorable to
• favet = he favors / he supports / he is favorable to

In context, the present tense can describe a general current situation:

• Many citizens support the commander because he supports peace and harmony.

Not necessarily. The form imperatori comes from imperator, which can mean different things depending on context, especially in historical Latin.

Possible meanings include:

• commander
• general
• emperor

In a beginner sentence, the exact English choice often depends on the context already provided. Grammatically, though, it is simply the dative singular of imperator.

Because et simply joins the two dative nouns:

• paci = to peace
• concordiae = to harmony
• et = and

Both nouns depend equally on favet. So the phrase means:

• he favors peace and harmony

Both are in the same case because they have the same grammatical function.