Sunt discipuli qui duas fabulas inter se conferant antequam responsum scribant.

Latin often uses sum in an existential sense, where English uses there is / there are.

So:

• Sunt discipuli = There are students
• literally, it is just are students

Latin does not need a dummy word like English there.

Qui is a relative pronoun referring back to discipuli.

It is:

• masculine plural because discipuli is masculine plural
• nominative because it is the subject of conferant

So qui duas fabulas inter se conferant means who compare the two stories with each other, or more exactly in this sentence, who are the sort to compare...

This is a very common question. Here the relative clause is a relative clause of characteristic.

Sunt discipuli qui... conferant does not simply point out a specific, already identified group of students. It describes a type or kind of student:

• There are students who are the sort to compare two stories...
• There are students who would compare two stories...

Because of that idea of characteristic rather than plain fact, Latin uses the subjunctive: conferant.

In simpler English, we often still translate it just as who compare.

Conferant comes from confero, conferre, contuli, collatum.

That verb is a compound of fero, which is irregular, so some of its forms may look less familiar than regular verbs.

Here:

• conferant = present subjunctive active, 3rd person plural
• basic idea = they may compare / they should compare / they are the sort to compare

In this sentence, conferre means to compare.

Inter se is a reciprocal expression meaning with one another, with each other, or among themselves, depending on context.

In this sentence, the most natural meaning is that the two stories are being compared with each other:

• duas fabulas inter se conferant = compare two stories with each other

So inter se helps express the idea of comparison between the two items.

Because it is the direct object of conferant.

They are comparing two stories, so two stories receives the action of the verb.

Both words are accusative plural feminine:

• duas = two, feminine accusative plural
• fabulas = stories, feminine accusative plural

They agree with each other, as they should.

After antequam and priusquam, Latin can use either the indicative or the subjunctive, depending on the sense.

Here the subjunctive is natural because the writing of the answer is anticipated or not yet actualized at the point being described:

• they compare the stories before they write an answer

So antequam responsum scribant means before they write an answer, with the idea that the writing is still future relative to the comparing.

This fits especially well in a sentence that is already general and characterizing rather than reporting one concrete event.

The singular responsum is perfectly normal because the idea is an answer in a general sense, or one answer from each student.

Latin often uses the singular for something that is understood individually or generically:

• each student writes an answer
• so Latin says responsum

If the sentence meant multiple answers from each person, a plural might be more likely.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order.

Both of these would be understandable:

• responsum scribant
• scribant responsum

In prose, Latin often places the verb later, and it is very normal for the object to come before the verb. So responsum scribant is not strange at all.

Because Latin uses endings to show grammatical function, word order can be used more for style, emphasis, or rhythm than for basic sentence structure.