Imperator libertatem civium servaturus est.

Because imperator is in the nominative singular, the case normally used for the subject in Latin.

• imperator = the commander / the general / the emperor (depending on context)
• It matches the singular verb phrase servaturus est

So grammatically, imperator is the person who is going to do the action.

Libertatem is the accusative singular of libertas, libertatis (freedom or liberty).

The accusative case is commonly used for the direct object, meaning the thing directly affected by the action.

Here, the action is preserving or protecting, and the thing being preserved is freedom, so Latin uses the accusative:

• nominative: libertas
• accusative: libertatem

So libertatem is the direct object of servaturus est.

Civium is the genitive plural of civis, meaning citizen.

The genitive often shows possession or close relationship, so libertas civium means:

• the freedom of the citizens
• or more naturally in English, the citizens' freedom

So in libertatem civium, the word civium tells us whose freedom is being preserved.

Servaturus est is a future active periphrastic.

It is made of:

• the future active participle: servaturus = about to preserve, going to preserve
• the present tense of sum: est = is

Together, they mean something like:

• is going to preserve
• is about to preserve
• sometimes simply will preserve

So this is a way Latin expresses a future action using a participle plus sum.

Servaturus comes from the verb servo, servare, servavi, servatum.

To form the future active participle, Latin typically uses the supine stem plus -urus:

• supine: servatum
• stem: servat-
• future active participle: servaturus (masculine singular nominative)

Because it agrees with imperator, which is masculine singular nominative, the form is servaturus.

If the subject were feminine, it would be servatura.
If it were plural masculine, it would be servaturi.

Because servaturus is a participle, and Latin participles behave like adjectives in agreement.

That means they agree with the noun they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here:

• imperator is masculine, singular, nominative
• so the participle is also masculine, singular, nominative: servaturus

Even though libertatem is feminine, servaturus does not agree with libertatem, because libertatem is the object, not the noun the participle describes.

Both can refer to the future, but they are not exactly the same in tone.

• servabit = he will preserve
• servaturus est = he is going to preserve, he is about to preserve, or he intends to preserve

The future active periphrastic often adds a sense of:

• intention
• expectation
• imminence
• planned future action

So servaturus est can sound a little more purposeful than a simple future like servabit.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because the endings show each word's job in the sentence.

So Imperator libertatem civium servaturus est can be rearranged without changing the basic meaning, for example:

• Imperator civium libertatem servaturus est
• Libertatem civium imperator servaturus est

However, word order can affect emphasis.

In the given sentence:

• Imperator comes first, which gives the subject prominence
• servaturus est comes at the end, which is very natural in Latin for the verb phrase

So the order is normal and stylistically effective, even though it is not the only possible order.

Because in the future active periphrastic, Latin uses:

• a future participle to show futurity
• plus a present form of sum to complete the verb phrase

So servaturus est literally works like:

• he is one-who-is-going-to-preserve

The future meaning comes mainly from servaturus, not from est by itself.

If Latin wanted a different time frame, it could change the form of sum:

• servaturus erat = was going to preserve
• servaturus erit = will be going to preserve / will be about to preserve

Not normally from this form alone.

Civium is specifically the genitive plural of civis, which means citizen. So its basic sense is of the citizens.

A translator might choose smoother English depending on context, but grammatically the Latin word points to citizens, not directly to the state.

So the most straightforward understanding is:

• libertatem civium = the freedom of the citizens

It is active.

The key clue is servaturus, which is the future active participle. The subject, imperator, is the one performing the action of preserving.

A passive version would look different, for example with a passive verb form such as servabitur or a different participial construction.

So here the meaning is that the commander will preserve the citizens' freedom, not that he will be preserved.

With macrons, it would normally be written:

Imperātor lībertātem cīvium servātūrus est.

The macrons show long vowels:

• Imperātor
• lībertātem
• cīvium
• servātūrus

Macrons are very helpful for learners, especially for pronunciation and for recognizing forms, but many Latin texts are printed without them.