Praeco cives monet ut tabellas in urnam deponant.

Because cives is the object of monet.

• praeco = the herald
• monet = warns, advises, reminds
• cives = the citizens

So the herald is doing the warning, and the citizens are the people being warned/advised. In Latin, the person directly affected by the verb often goes in the accusative case.

Here, cives is the accusative plural form of civis.

Because the subject is praeco, not cives.

• praeco = singular subject, so the verb is singular
• monet = he/she warns/advises
• cives = object, not subject

A native English speaker may be tempted to connect the verb with the nearest plural noun, but in Latin the verb agrees with the subject, not with the object.

Here ut introduces a subordinate clause that expresses what the herald is urging or advising the citizens to do.

So:

• monet ut... deponant = warns/advises them to place...

This is a very common Latin pattern:

• verb of urging, advising, warning, ordering, etc.
• followed by ut
• followed by a subjunctive verb

This is often called an indirect command or substantive clause of purpose.

Because after monet ut, Latin normally uses the subjunctive.

The clause is not just stating a fact; it expresses the action that is being urged or advised. That is why Latin uses:

• ut deponant = that they should place / to place

So deponant is:

• present
• subjunctive
• active
• 3rd person plural

It matches the idea of an indirect command after monet.

The subject is understood from the context: cives.

So the sense is:

• Praeco cives monet ut tabellas in urnam deponant.
• The herald advises the citizens that they should put the ballots into the urn.

Latin often does not repeat the subject in the subordinate clause if it is already clear. The ending -ant shows that the subject is they.

Because the understood subject is plural: the citizens.

The ending -ant tells you the verb is 3rd person plural. Latin verb endings carry a lot of information, so even without an expressed pronoun, you can tell the number and person.

• deponat = he/she/it should place
• deponant = they should place

Since cives is plural, deponant is plural too.

Because in with the accusative usually shows motion toward something, while in with the ablative usually shows location.

Here the ballots are being put into the urn, so Latin uses:

• in urnam = into the urn

Compare:

• in urna = in the urn, inside the urn
• in urnam = into the urn

This is a very important Latin distinction.

Tabellas is accusative plural.

Its dictionary form is tabella, meaning a small tablet, writing-tablet, slip, or ballot, depending on context.

So here it is the direct object of deponant:

• the citizens place the ballots/tablets

Because it is plural and feminine first declension:

• nominative plural = tabellae
• accusative plural = tabellas

Tabella is a diminutive form related to tabula.

A diminutive originally suggests smallness, so tabella literally means something like small tablet. But in actual usage, diminutives often become normal vocabulary words and do not always feel especially cute or tiny.

In this context, tabellae often refers to voting tablets or ballots. So a learner should not over-translate the diminutive sense every time.

Moneo can take:

1. a person in the accusative
2. an ut clause explaining what that person is urged or warned to do

So this sentence has:

• cives = the people being advised
• ut tabellas in urnam deponant = what they are advised to do

This is a very normal construction in Latin.

Normally, with a verb like moneo in this kind of sense, Latin prefers ut + subjunctive rather than an infinitive.

English often says:

• The herald advises the citizens to put the ballots into the urn.

But Latin more naturally says:

• The herald advises the citizens that they should put the ballots into the urn.

So the Latin structure is not a literal match for the English infinitive structure.

Praeco is nominative singular, the subject of the sentence.

You can tell from the sense:

• the herald is the one doing the action of monet

Also, praeco is a third-declension noun. Its nominative singular happens to end in -o, which may look unusual if you are expecting first- or second-declension patterns. So this is a good reminder that nominative singular forms in the third declension can vary a lot.

The word order is natural, but Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because case endings show each word’s role.

This sentence is arranged as:

• Praeco = subject first
• cives = object next
• monet = main verb
• ut... deponant = subordinate clause after that

That order is clear and straightforward. But Latin could rearrange parts for emphasis without changing the basic meaning, as long as the forms remain the same.

So word endings, not just position, tell you who is doing what.

Because the sentence has two different clauses:

1. the main clause: Praeco cives monet
2. the subordinate clause: ut tabellas in urnam deponant

In the main clause:

• praeco is the subject
• cives is the object

In the subordinate clause:

• the understood subject of deponant is cives

So the same people can be the object in one clause and the subject of another clause. That is completely normal.

Depono literally means put down, lay down, deposit, or place.

In this sentence, because of in urnam, it means something like:

• put into
• deposit into

So tabellas in urnam deponant means the citizens are to place or deposit the ballots into the urn.

Because the verb ending already includes that information.

• deponant = they should place

Latin often leaves pronouns unstated unless they are needed for emphasis or contrast. English usually needs they, but Latin does not.

So the subject is understood from the verb ending and the context.