Multi cives hodie ad forum veniunt ut suffragium ferant.

Because multi agrees with cives.

• cives is the subject of the sentence, so it is nominative plural
• the adjective modifying it must also be nominative plural
• here the masculine plural form multi is used

So multi cives means many citizens.

A useful point: civis can refer to a male or female citizen, but the adjective will show gender when needed. So you could also see multae cives for many female citizens.

Cives is nominative plural.

You can tell because it is the subject of veniunt:

• veniunt = they come / they are coming
• the people doing that action are the citizens

So cives must be in the nominative.

Also, cives is the nominative plural of civis, a 3rd-declension noun.

Because ad with the accusative commonly shows movement toward a place.

So:

• ad forum = to the forum
• forum is in the accusative singular because ad takes the accusative

This is different from:

• in foro = in the forum or at the forum (location)
• ad forum = to the forum (direction)

English often uses both to and at very naturally, so this is a distinction worth noticing in Latin.

Because it follows the preposition ad, and ad takes the accusative.

The noun is forum, fori, a 2nd-declension neuter noun. Its accusative singular form is forum, which happens to look the same as the nominative singular. That is very common with neuter nouns.

So even though the form looks unchanged, its case here is accusative because of ad.

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

So hodie can appear in different places, for example:

• Multi cives hodie ad forum veniunt
• Hodie multi cives ad forum veniunt
• Multi cives ad forum hodie veniunt

All of these can mean basically the same thing.

Its position can slightly affect emphasis, but not the core meaning. In this sentence, hodie simply modifies veniunt and tells you when they come.

Veniunt is the 3rd person plural present indicative active of venire.

It means:

• they come
• or they are coming

Latin present tense can often be translated in more than one natural English way, depending on context.

Here it gives a straightforward present-time statement: the citizens are coming today.

Here ut introduces a purpose clause.

So ut suffragium ferant means:

• so that they may cast a vote
• in order to cast a vote

This is one of the most common uses of ut in Latin.

A very useful pattern to remember is:

• ut + subjunctive = in order that / so that

Because it is inside a purpose clause introduced by ut.

In Latin, purpose clauses normally use the subjunctive, not the indicative. So:

• ut ... ferant = so that ... they may cast

The subjunctive here does not necessarily sound especially doubtful or hypothetical in English. It is simply the normal grammar Latin uses after ut when expressing purpose.

Because the main verb is veniunt, a present tense verb, and that normally leads to primary sequence.

In a purpose clause:

• after a present, future, or perfect with present force, Latin commonly uses the present subjunctive
• after a past main verb, Latin commonly uses the imperfect subjunctive

So:

• veniunt ut suffragium ferant = present main verb + present subjunctive
• if the main verb were past, you might get veniebant ut suffragium ferrent

This is part of the Latin sequence of tenses.

Ferant comes from fero, meaning I carry, bear, bring.

This is an irregular verb, so its forms do not always look like those of regular verbs. The form ferant is:

• 3rd person plural
• present subjunctive active

So literally it means something like they may carry/bear.

But in this sentence, it appears in the idiom suffragium ferre.

Yes, literally it does involve the idea of carrying or bringing a vote, because fero means carry/bear.

But as an idiom, suffragium ferre means:

• to cast a vote
• to vote

This is a good example of why Latin expressions should not always be translated word-for-word. If you translated it too literally, the English would sound unnatural.

Normally, for a straightforward purpose clause like this, Latin uses ut with the subjunctive.

So ut suffragium ferant is the standard way to express in order to cast a vote.

Latin can express purpose in other ways in some contexts, but for a learner this is the main pattern to remember:

• verb of motion or action + ut + subjunctive for purpose

So in this sentence, ut is exactly what you would expect.

Yes. Latin word order is flexible because endings show grammatical relationships.

For example, these are all possible with little or no change in basic meaning:

• Hodie multi cives ad forum veniunt ut suffragium ferant.
• Ad forum multi cives hodie veniunt ut suffragium ferant.
• Multi cives ad forum hodie veniunt ut suffragium ferant.

However, the original order is very natural:

• subject first: Multi cives
• time word early: hodie
• destination next: ad forum
• main verb: veniunt
• purpose clause after it: ut suffragium ferant

So while Latin allows variation, the sentence as given is clear and idiomatic.