Innocens veritatem timere non debet.

It is originally an adjective, meaning innocent, but here it is being used substantively—that is, as a noun-like word.

So innocens means an innocent person or the innocent person.

Latin does this very often: an adjective can stand by itself when the noun is understood.

Innocens is nominative singular, which is the normal case for the subject of the sentence.

We know it is the subject because:

• debet is third person singular
• innocens is singular and fits as the doer of the verbal idea
• veritatem is accusative, so it is not the subject

So innocens is the one who ought not to fear.

It could be either masculine or feminine.

The form innocens is the same for both genders in the nominative singular. Latin often leaves this unspecified unless the context makes it clear.

So depending on context, it could mean:

• an innocent man
• an innocent woman
• more generally, an innocent person

Because veritatem is the direct object of timere.

The verb timeo, timere means to fear, and in Latin it normally takes a direct object in the accusative:

• veritatem timere = to fear the truth

So veritatem is accusative singular from veritas, veritatis.

Because it depends on debet.

Debet means he/she ought, must, or should, and verbs like debeo are commonly followed by an infinitive to complete the meaning:

• debet timere = ought to fear
• non debet timere = ought not to fear

This is very similar to English ought to fear or should fear.

Debet is the third person singular present indicative active of debeo, debere.

In this sentence it means something like:

• ought
• should
• is supposed to
• sometimes must

So the sense is not just simple action, but duty, appropriateness, or obligation.

Because non negates the verbal idea, and placing it before the finite verb is very common in Latin.

So:

• non debet timere = ought not to fear

Latin word order is flexible, so you may also see negation in slightly different positions in other sentences, but non before the finite verb is extremely normal.

Yes. Latin word order is much freer than English word order because the endings show the grammatical relationships.

For example, these would express basically the same idea:

• Innocens veritatem timere non debet
• Innocens non debet veritatem timere
• Veritatem innocens timere non debet

The differences are mostly about emphasis rather than basic meaning.

In the given sentence, putting veritatem before timere keeps the object closely connected to the infinitive phrase.

Latin has no articles.

So innocens can mean:

• an innocent person
• the innocent person
• simply the innocent

and veritatem can mean truth or the truth, depending on context.

English has to choose an article, but Latin usually does not state one.

Yes. Innocens is a present participle in form, from innocere meaning to do harm in the negative sense not harming. Over time it functions as a regular adjective meaning innocent.

For a learner, the main practical point is:

• treat innocens, innocentis as a third-declension adjective
• here it means innocent or an innocent person

A helpful way to see the structure is:

• innocens = subject
• veritatem = object
• timere = infinitive, to fear
• non debet = ought not

So the pattern is:

subject + object + infinitive + negative + finite verb

In smoother English-style structural terms, you can think of it as:

An innocent person ought not to fear the truth.

Even though the meaning is already known, seeing the grammar this way helps explain why each Latin word has the form it does.