Si hostes iterum oppugnabunt, cives et milites una urbem defendent.

If the enemies attack again, citizens and soldiers will defend the city together.

Breakdown of Si hostes iterum oppugnabunt, cives et milites una urbem defendent.

• et: and
• urbs: the city
• si: if
• miles: the soldier

Questions & Answers about Si hostes iterum oppugnabunt, cives et milites una urbem defendent.

Why are both verbs in the future tense? In English we usually say If the enemies attack again, the citizens and soldiers will defend the city, not if the enemies will attack.

This is a very common question. In Latin, a simple future condition often uses the future indicative in both clauses:

• Si hostes iterum oppugnabunt = If the enemies attack / will attack again
• cives et milites una urbem defendent = the citizens and soldiers will defend the city together

So Latin can say si ... oppugnabunt where English normally prefers if ... attack. The Latin future makes the future time very explicit.

What does si do in this sentence?

Si means if and introduces the condition.

So the sentence has two parts:

• Si hostes iterum oppugnabunt = the if-clause (the condition)
• cives et milites una urbem defendent = the main clause (what will happen if the condition is met)

This is the basic Latin way to build a conditional sentence.

What case is hostes, and how do we know?

Here hostes is nominative plural, because it is the subject of oppugnabunt.

So:

• hostes =