Superbia fratrem impedit, ne culpam suam fateatur.

The sentence breaks down like this:

• Superbia = the subject, pride
• fratrem = the direct object, the brother
• impedit = the main verb, hinders / prevents
• ne culpam suam fateatur = a subordinate clause explaining what he is prevented from doing, from admitting his own fault

So the structure is:

[subject] + [object] + [main verb] + [negative hindering clause]

In smoother English, that becomes something like:

Pride prevents the brother from admitting his own fault.

Because fratrem is the direct object of impedit.

The verb impedire means to hinder, impede, prevent, and here the person being hindered is the brother. In Latin, the direct object is usually in the accusative.

So:

• superbia = nominative subject
• fratrem = accusative object

A native English speaker may want to read fratrem as brother without noticing the case, but the -em ending tells you it is accusative singular.

Because superbia is the subject of impedit.

It is the thing doing the action:

• Pride prevents
• the brother is prevented

So superbia is nominative singular, which is the normal case for the subject of a finite verb.

Here ne means something like:

• that ... not
• or, more naturally in English after a verb of hindering, from

So impedit, ne ... fateatur literally means:

prevents ... that he not admit...

But natural English says:

prevents ... from admitting...

This is a very common Latin pattern after verbs of preventing, hindering, stopping, and the like.

Because it is in a clause introduced by ne after a verb of hindering: impedit.

Latin regularly uses:

• verb of hindering/preventing
• • ne
• • subjunctive

So ne ... fateatur is not an independent statement like he admits. It is a dependent clause showing what is being prevented.

That is why Latin uses the subjunctive here.

It is usually called a clause of hindering or clause of prevention.

It is closely related to a negative purpose idea, but in practice learners often just remember the pattern:

• impedire aliquem, ne...
• to prevent someone from...

So in this sentence:

• fratrem impedit = prevents the brother
• ne culpam suam fateatur = from admitting his own fault

Because fateatur comes from fatērī, which is a deponent verb.

A deponent verb:

• has passive-looking forms
• but active meaning

So:

• fateatur looks passive in form
• but means he may admit / confess

It does not mean is admitted.

This is something English speakers often have to get used to in Latin.

Fateatur is:

• 3rd person singular
• present subjunctive
• of the deponent verb fatērī = to admit, confess

So it means:

• he may admit
• or in context, simply he admit

Because the subject of the subordinate clause is the brother, the sense is:

that he admit his own fault or more naturally, from admitting his own fault

The subject is understood, not stated separately. It is the brother.

Latin often leaves out subject pronouns when the meaning is clear from context and verb ending.

So the sentence means:

Pride prevents the brother, so that he does not admit his own fault.

The he in fateatur is the same person as fratrem in the main clause.

Because suam is the reflexive possessive adjective, and it refers to the subject of its own clause.

In ne culpam suam fateatur, the understood subject of fateatur is the brother. Therefore:

• suam = his own
• meaning the brother’s own fault

If Latin used eius, that would normally refer to someone else’s fault, not the subject’s own.

So:

• culpam suam = his own fault
• culpam eius = his fault in the sense of someone else’s fault, depending on context

This distinction is very important in Latin.

It refers to the understood subject of fateatur, which is the brother, not to superbia.

Even though fratrem is the object of the main clause, he becomes the logical subject of the subordinate clause:

• Pride prevents the brother
• from admitting his own fault

So suam points to the brother.

Because it is the direct object of fateatur.

The brother is admitting what?

culpam suam = his own fault

So:

• culpam is accusative singular
• suam agrees with culpam in case, number, and gender

That is why both are accusative feminine singular.

A very literal translation is:

Pride hinders the brother, that he not admit his own fault.

But that is not natural English. Better translations are:

• Pride prevents the brother from admitting his own fault.
• Pride keeps the brother from admitting his own fault.

When you see impedire + accusative + ne + subjunctive, prevents someone from... is usually the most natural English rendering.

Because Classical Latin often prefers a finite subordinate clause with ne after verbs of preventing or hindering.

So instead of something directly parallel to English prevents the brother to admit, Latin uses:

• fratrem impedit
• ne ... fateatur

This is simply one of the normal Latin constructions you need to learn as a pattern.

Yes, but only in the subordinate clause.

The main clause is affirmative:

• Superbia fratrem impedit = Pride prevents the brother

The ne makes the subordinate action negative in sense:

• ne ... fateatur = that he not admit
• or in natural English, from admitting

So the overall idea is that pride stops the admission from happening.

Because Latin word order is much freer than English, and verbs often come at or near the end of their clause.

So:

• Superbia fratrem impedit
• ne culpam suam fateatur

is perfectly normal Latin style.

Also, placing fateatur at the end gives the clause a neat finish, which is very common in Latin prose.

Because Latin has no articles like English the or a/an.

So:

• fratrem can mean brother, a brother, or the brother
• culpam can mean fault, a fault, or the fault

The exact English article depends on context and what sounds natural in translation.

Not by itself.

Fratrem simply means brother in the accusative singular. Latin does not automatically supply his here.

If the sentence specifically wanted to say his brother, it would usually make that clearer, for example with a possessive or with context.

So in isolation, the safest reading is just the brother or a brother, depending on context.

The dictionary form is impediō, impedīre, impedīvī, impeditum.

Here impedit is:

• 3rd person singular
• present active indicative

So it means:

• he/she/it hinders
• prevents

Since the subject is superbia, the translation is pride prevents.

The dictionary form is superbia, superbiae, a first-declension noun.

It means:

• pride
• arrogance
• haughtiness

In this sentence it is nominative singular, serving as the subject.

You can see a connection, since ne + subjunctive often appears in negative purpose clauses. But here it is better to identify it specifically as a clause after a verb of hindering/preventing.

That is the most helpful way to understand the sentence:

• impedit
• ne + subjunctive

So while it is related to the idea of negative purpose, the most practical label for a learner is a clause of prevention/hindering.

Probably this one:

impedire + person in the accusative + ne + subjunctive

Meaning:

to prevent someone from doing something

This sentence is a good model:

• Superbia = what does the preventing
• fratrem = the person prevented
• ne culpam suam fateatur = what he is prevented from doing

If you remember that pattern, the whole sentence becomes much easier to read.