Pater, qui olim oratorem quendam audiverat, censet vocem claram plus valere quam verba nimis multa.

A useful way to divide it is:

Pater — the main subject
qui olim oratorem quendam audiverat — a relative clause describing pater
censet — the main verb
vocem claram plus valere quam verba nimis multa — what the father thinks, expressed as an indirect statement

So the skeleton is:

Pater censet ... = The father thinks/judges ...

Everything between pater and censet is extra information about the father.

Qui means who and introduces the relative clause.

It refers back to pater, so it is:

• masculine, because pater is masculine
• singular, because pater is singular

Its case is nominative because inside its own clause it is the subject of audiverat.

So:

pater, qui ... audiverat = the father, who had heard ...

This is a very common Latin pattern: the relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent in gender and number, but its case depends on its role in the relative clause.

Olim usually means once, formerly, long ago, or at one time.

Here it gives past background: the father had, at some earlier time in his life, heard a certain orator.

So it adds the sense of an earlier experience, not something recent.

Audiverat means had heard.

The pluperfect presents that hearing as an action already completed in an earlier period. With olim, it gives the feeling of a past experience that belongs to an earlier stage of the father's life.

In English, depending on style, you might translate it either as:

• had once heard
• or more simply once heard

But the Latin form itself is definitely pluperfect.

Oratorem is orator in the accusative singular, because it is the direct object of audiverat.

Quendam comes from quidam and means a certain or a certain one.

So oratorem quendam means:

• a certain orator
• some particular orator

It usually suggests that the speaker has a specific person in mind, but does not name him.

Also notice that quendam matches oratorem in:

• gender: masculine
• number: singular
• case: accusative

No. That is a very common trap for English speakers.

Here censet comes from censeo, which often means:

• think
• judge
• consider
• hold the opinion

So pater censet ... means the father thinks/judges that ..., not the father criticizes ...

Because Latin is using an accusative-and-infinitive construction after censet.

Instead of using a word like that, Latin often says something like:

He thinks [a clear voice] [to be worth more] ...

In that construction:

• the subject of the infinitive goes into the accusative
• the verb stays in the infinitive

So:

• vocem claram = the subject of valere, but in the accusative
• valere = the infinitive

That is why Latin has vocem claram, not vox clara.

Valere has several meanings in Latin, including be strong, be well, and be worth or have force.

Here it means something like:

• to have more value
• to count for more
• to be more effective
• to carry more weight

So the idea is not physical strength, but rhetorical or practical force: a clear voice has more impact than too many words.

Here plus means more.

In plus valere, it gives the sense to be worth more or to have greater force.

Latin can use both magis and plus in comparative ideas, but plus is very natural with verbs like valere. The phrase plus valere is a standard kind of expression.

So:

vocem claram plus valere = that a clear voice is worth more / has more force

Yes. After quam, the verb valere is understood again.

So the full sense is:

vocem claram plus valere quam verba nimis multa (valere)

Literally: that a clear voice is worth more than too many words (are worth)

Latin often leaves out a repeated verb when it is easy to understand from context.

Nimis is an adverb meaning too, excessively, or too much.

Multa is the neuter plural of multus, agreeing with verba.

So:

• verba multa = many words
• verba nimis multa = too many words

This is very similar to English:

• many words
• too many words

Even though nimis is an adverb, it can modify the idea of quantity in multa.

Verbum is a neuter noun, so its plural is verba.

Here verba nimis multa is the second thing in the comparison after quam:

• vocem claram
• quam verba nimis multa

Because verba is neuter plural, its nominative and accusative forms are the same, so the form itself does not show the distinction. In sense, it is the thing being compared with vocem claram, and the omitted valere is understood with it.

For a learner, the important point is simply: quam verba nimis multa = than too many words

Because Latin has no articles.

So:

• pater can mean father, a father, or the father
• vox/vocem claram can mean a clear voice or the clear voice, depending on context
• verba can mean words or the words

Latin lets context do the job that English articles often do.

The one word here that gives an explicitly indefinite feeling is quendam, which adds the sense a certain.

It is flexible, but not unusual for Latin.

The main framework is:

Pater ... censet ...

The relative clause is inserted right after pater because it describes the father:

Pater, qui olim oratorem quendam audiverat, censet ...

Then the indirect statement comes after censet.

Latin word order is often shaped by emphasis and structure rather than by a fixed English-style pattern. Here the order is quite natural:

• first the person
• then background about him
• then what he thinks

So although it may feel more layered than English, it is a normal Latin sentence structure.