Pudor sine metu melior est, quia hominem monet ut recte faciat etiam sine poena.

Melior means better and agrees with pudor, the subject of the sentence.

• pudor = masculine nominative singular
• melior = masculine/feminine nominative singular comparative adjective

So Pudor ... melior est means shame/modesty ... is better.

Also, Latin often uses a comparative without stating the second thing explicitly. So melior est can simply mean is better, even without saying better than fear in a separate grammatical construction.

Because sine takes the ablative case.

So:

• sine metu = without fear
• sine poena = without punishment

This is a standard prepositional rule in Latin: whenever you use sine, the noun after it will be ablative.

Because hominem is the direct object of monet.

• monet = advises, warns, reminds
• the person being advised is put in the accusative

So:

• hominem monet = it advises the person / it warns the person

This is a very common pattern with moneo.

It is an ut-clause used after a verb of advising or urging. In beginner-friendly terms, it means to do something after monet.

So:

• hominem monet ut recte faciat = it advises a person to do what is right / it tells a person to act rightly

More formally, this is often called an indirect command or a substantive clause after a verb of warning/advising.

Because after monet with ut, Latin uses the subjunctive.

That is the normal construction:

• moneo aliquem ut faciat = I advise/warn someone to do something

So faciat is not subjunctive because the action is doubtful. It is subjunctive because the grammar of this kind of ut-clause requires it.

It is specifically present subjunctive, because the main verb monet is present, and the action is viewed as happening at the same time or after the advising.

The subject is understood rather than stated. It is the same person as hominem in the main clause.

So the sense is:

• pudor ... hominem monet ut recte faciat
• shame/modesty advises the person so that he may act rightly

Latin often leaves such a subject unstated when it is clear from the context.

Because recte is an adverb, and it modifies the verb faciat.

• recte = rightly, properly
• faciat = may do, may act

So recte faciat means may act rightly or may do the right thing.

If Latin used rectus, that would be an adjective describing a noun, not an adverb describing the action.

Quia means because and introduces a reason.

So the sentence is structured like this:

• Pudor sine metu melior est
• quia hominem monet ut recte faciat etiam sine poena

That means Shame/modesty without fear is better, because it advises a person to act rightly even without punishment.

The verb monet is indicative because this is presented as a straightforward real reason, not as a purpose or a hypothetical idea.

It means even without punishment.

Here etiam adds emphasis:

• sine poena = without punishment
• etiam sine poena = even without punishment

The idea is that pudor makes someone act rightly not only when punishment exists, but even when there is no punishment to fear.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because the endings show the grammatical roles of the words.

For example:

• Pudor is nominative, so it is the subject
• hominem is accusative, so it is the object
• metu and poena are ablative because of sine

Because those endings already tell you what each word is doing, Latin can arrange words for emphasis or style rather than following a fixed English-like order.

So Pudor sine metu melior est is not strange Latin word order; it is a natural way to put the important idea pudor first.

Because Latin has no articles.

So:

• pudor can mean shame, modesty, the sense of shame
• hominem can mean a person, the person, or simply man/person depending on context
• poena can mean punishment or the punishment

English has to choose an article, but Latin usually leaves that to context.