Quaedam miles ante portam urbis vigilat, dum ceteri dormiunt.

Because quidam, quaedam, quiddam means a certain, and it must agree with the noun it describes in gender, number, and case.

Here, quaedam is feminine singular nominative. That suggests miles is being understood as female here: a certain female soldier.

This can surprise learners because miles often appears as a masculine noun, but it can be used for a woman if the context requires it. If the sentence meant a certain male soldier, you would normally expect quidam miles.

Miles is nominative singular, because it is the subject of vigilat.

A useful way to see this is:

• miles = soldier
• vigilat = keeps watch / is awake / stands guard

So miles is the one doing the action.

This is also a good reminder that third-declension nominatives do not always have obvious endings. The dictionary form is miles, militis, and the nominative singular is simply miles.

In the singular, quidam / quaedam / quiddam usually means a certain.

So here quaedam miles means a certain soldier, not some soldiers.

In English, some can sometimes sound natural in translation, but grammatically this is singular, so the idea is one particular but unnamed person.

Because ante is a preposition that takes the accusative case.

So:

• ante = before / in front of
• porta = gate
• portam = accusative singular, used after ante

This is something English speakers just have to learn with Latin prepositions: many prepositions regularly require a certain case.

Urbis is genitive singular of urbs, meaning city.

The genitive often expresses of:

• urbs = city
• urbis = of the city

So portam urbis means the gate of the city.

Because ante requires the accusative, not the nominative or ablative.

So:

• nominative: porta = gate
• accusative: portam = gate, as the object of ante

Meanwhile, urbis stays genitive because it depends on portam and means of the city.

Here dum means while.

It introduces a clause showing what is happening at the same time as the main action:

• Quaedam miles ... vigilat = a certain soldier keeps watch
• dum ceteri dormiunt = while the others sleep

So the sentence contrasts the one soldier who is awake with the others who are asleep.

Because the sentence describes two actions happening at the same time in the present:

• vigilat = she keeps watch
• dormiunt = they sleep

With dum meaning while, Latin often uses the present indicative for an action going on at the same time as another action. In this sentence, that is exactly what is happening.

Vigilat comes from vigilare, which means to stay awake, to keep watch, or to stand guard.

In this context, it does not just mean is alert in a vague modern sense. It has a more concrete military meaning: the soldier is on watch duty.

Ceteri means the others or the rest.

It is originally an adjective, but Latin often uses adjectives by themselves when the noun is obvious from context. So ceteri probably means something like the other soldiers.

This is very common in Latin. English does it too sometimes:

• the rich
• the poor
• the others

So Latin does not need to repeat milites here.

Because it refers to a plural group understood from the context, probably the other soldiers.

Masculine plural in Latin can refer to:

• a group of males
• a mixed group

If the writer wanted to make it explicitly feminine, you would expect ceterae instead.

The verb ending helps you.

Dormiunt is third person plural, meaning they sleep. So it needs a plural subject. Ceteri is nominative plural, so it fits perfectly as the subject.

That gives:

• ceteri dormiunt = the others sleep

Because Latin has no articles.

Unlike English, Latin does not have separate words for a, an, or the. Whether something is definite or indefinite is usually understood from context.

So:

• miles can mean a soldier or the soldier
• portam urbis can mean the gate of the city
• ceteri naturally means the others

In this sentence, quaedam helps make the first noun more specific: a certain soldier.

It matters, but not in the same rigid way as in English.

Latin word order is more flexible because case endings show how words relate to each other. Here, the order is quite natural:

• Quaedam miles introduces the subject
• ante portam urbis gives the location
• vigilat gives the main action
• dum ceteri dormiunt adds the contrasting clause

An English speaker may want to depend mostly on word order, but in Latin it is usually safer to look first at:

• case endings
• verb endings
• agreement

Those tell you the grammar more reliably than position alone.