Hodie comitia in foro habentur, et multi cives de uno candidato inter se disputant.

Comitia is a Latin noun that is normally plural in form. It refers to a public assembly, especially a political or voting assembly of Roman citizens.

So even when English uses a singular expression like the election or the assembly, Latin often uses comitia as a neuter plural noun.

• nominative plural: comitia
• verb with it: habentur = are held

This is similar to how some English nouns are grammatically plural even when they refer to one event or institution.

Habentur is passive, from habeo, habere.

Here, comitia habentur means the elections/assembly are being held.

This is an idiomatic Latin way to talk about public events:

• ludi habentur = games are being held
• comitia habentur = elections/assemblies are being held

So although habeo often means have or hold, the passive is very natural here when the event itself is the subject.

Habentur is present tense, passive, third person plural.

Breaking it down:

• present = happening now
• passive = the subject receives the action
• third person plural = they are held

So Hodie comitia in foro habentur means something like:

• Today the elections are being held in the forum
• or more simply, Today there is an election in the forum

Because in takes different cases depending on meaning.

• in + ablative = in/on a place, showing location
• in + accusative = into/onto a place, showing motion toward

Here there is no movement; the elections are happening in the forum, so Latin uses the ablative:

• forum = nominative/accusative singular
• foro = ablative singular

So:

• in foro = in the forum
• but in forum would mean into the forum

Because multi cives is the subject of disputant.

The second clause is: et multi cives de uno candidato inter se disputant

The people doing the action are many citizens, so they must be in the nominative case.

• multi = nominative plural masculine
• cives = nominative plural of civis

If they were the direct object, you would expect the accusative:

• multos cives

But here they are the ones arguing/discussing, so multi cives is correct.

Because it follows the preposition de, and de takes the ablative.

• de uno candidato = about one candidate

This is a very common pattern in Latin:

• de re = about the matter
• de amico = about the friend
• de bello = about the war

So candidato is ablative singular because de requires it.

Uno is the ablative singular of unus, meaning one.

Since it agrees with candidato, it is also:

• masculine
• singular
• ablative

So de uno candidato literally means about one candidate.

Depending on context, one here can mean:

• a single candidate
• one particular candidate

It does not necessarily stress the number strongly in English; sometimes it simply helps identify that the discussion is about a certain individual.

Inter se is an idiomatic Latin expression meaning:

• with one another
• among themselves
• with each other

It is made of:

• inter = among, between
• se = themselves

So multi cives ... inter se disputant means that the citizens are debating with each other, not speaking to some outside person.

Not exactly.

Latin disputare often means:

• to discuss
• to debate
• to argue about

So de uno candidato disputant means the citizens are discussing or debating that candidate.

The English word dispute often sounds more confrontational, but Latin disputare can be more neutral. It does not always imply a hostile quarrel.

Because Classical Latin has no articles.

There is no separate word for:

• the
• a/an

So Latin simply says:

• in foro
• multi cives
• de uno candidato

English must supply the article based on context:

• in the forum
• many citizens
• about a/one candidate

This is something English speakers often have to get used to when reading Latin.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show grammatical roles.

English depends heavily on word order:

• subject + verb + object

Latin can move words around more freely for emphasis, style, or rhythm.

In this sentence:

• Hodie comes first to emphasize time: today
• comitia appears early as the main topic
• in foro is placed before the verb
• inter se is inserted before disputant

Even though the order is different from normal English, the endings make the structure clear.

Civis is a third-declension noun meaning citizen.

Its nominative singular is:

• civis

Its nominative plural is:

• cives

So multi cives means many citizens.

This is a good noun to memorize because it is very common in political and historical Latin.

Because the sentence has two coordinated clauses joined by et:

1. Hodie comitia in foro habentur
2. et multi cives de uno candidato inter se disputant

Each clause has its own verb:

• habentur = are being held
• disputant = discuss/argue

So the sentence is basically:

• Today the elections are being held in the forum, and many citizens are debating with each other about one candidate.

Hodie is an adverb meaning today.

It modifies the whole first clause by giving the time of the action:

• Hodie comitia in foro habentur = Today the elections are being held in the forum

Because it stands first, it also gives a slight emphasis to the time setting. Latin often places an important adverb early in the sentence.