Magistrae placet non solum labor discipulorum, sed etiam concordia eorum.

Because magistrae can be either dative singular or genitive singular in form, but the verb placet normally takes the person who is pleased in the dative.

So here:

• magistrae = to the teacher
• placet = is pleasing

A literal translation is is pleasing to the teacher, not is pleasing of the teacher.

Latin often uses placet where English would use likes.

The pattern is:

• someone in the dative
• the thing liked in the nominative
• placet = is pleasing

So:

• Magistrae placet labor
  = The work is pleasing to the teacher
  = more natural English: The teacher likes the work

This is why the teacher is not the grammatical subject in Latin.

Both are nominative singular, because they are the things that please the teacher.

• labor = work or effort
• concordia = harmony or agreement

They function as the subjects of the idea with placet.

A learner may especially notice that labor does not end in -us or -a. That is because labor is a third-declension noun, and third-declension nominative singular forms can have a variety of endings.

That is a very natural question. Since there are two coordinated nouns, a learner might expect placent.

In Latin, however, a singular verb can appear when:

• the verb comes before the full compound subject, and
• the second item is added afterward with a structure like non solum ... sed etiam

So the sentence means that both the work and the harmony please the teacher, even though the verb is singular.

In many contexts, a plural placent would also make good sense, so this is one of those places where Latin style can be a bit looser than an English speaker expects.

Because labor discipulorum means the work of the students or the students' work as a single idea.

Latin is not saying that there is only one student. It is saying that the students' work is being viewed collectively.

If the author wanted to emphasize several separate works or efforts, a plural such as labores might be used instead.

Because it shows possession or association: whose work? The students' work.

So:

• labor discipulorum = the work of the students
• discipulorum is genitive plural

This is one of the most common uses of the genitive in Latin.

Eorum means of them or their.

Here it refers back to discipulorum, so:

• concordia eorum = their harmony

Latin often uses a pronoun like eorum to avoid repeating the noun:

• labor discipulorum
• concordia eorum

instead of repeating discipulorum twice.

Because suus, sua, suum normally refers back to the subject of its own clause.

In this sentence, the grammatical subject is the thing that pleases the teacher: labor ... concordia, not discipuli.

Since the pronoun refers back to the students, who are not the grammatical subject here, Latin uses eorum rather than suorum.

It is a very common paired expression meaning:

• not only ... but also

In this sentence it links two parallel noun phrases:

• non solum labor discipulorum
• sed etiam concordia eorum

So the sentence emphasizes that the teacher is pleased by both things, with special focus on adding the second one.

Classical Latin does not have definite or indefinite articles like English the or a/an.

So a word like labor can mean:

• work
• the work
• sometimes even a piece of work

depending on context.

That is why English translations must add articles where natural, even though no separate Latin word is present.

Because Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order. Latin relies heavily on endings to show grammatical function, so the author can arrange words for emphasis or style.

Here the sentence begins with Magistrae, which puts the teacher first in the reader's mind. Then placet appears early, and the two pleasing things are presented in a balanced pair:

• non solum ...
• sed etiam ...

So the order is not random; it helps create emphasis and balance.