Augur augurium bonum interpretatur, et nauta e portu exit.

Because interpretatur is a deponent verb.

In Latin, deponent verbs look passive in form but have an active meaning. So:

• interpretatur = he/she interprets
• not he/she is interpreted

The dictionary form is interpretor, interpretari, interpretatus sum, meaning interpret.

This is something English speakers often notice quickly, because the ending -tur normally suggests a passive meaning in Latin. With deponent verbs, though, you just learn that the verb has passive-looking forms with active meanings.

Augur is nominative singular, so it is the subject of interpretatur.

Here it means the augur or an augur. Since Latin nouns change form by case, the subject is often identified by its nominative form rather than by word order alone.

So in:

• Augur augurium bonum interpretatur

the subject is augur = the augur, and the object is augurium bonum.

Because bonum must agree with augurium.

Augurium is:

• neuter
• singular
• accusative here, because it is the direct object

So the adjective bonus, bona, bonum must match it in:

• gender
• number
• case

That gives:

• augurium bonum = a good omen

If you used bonus, that would be masculine nominative singular, which would not match augurium.

It is accusative singular.

It is accusative because it is the direct object of the verb interpretatur. In other words, it is the thing being interpreted.

So:

• augur = subject
• interpretatur = verb
• augurium bonum = direct object

English often shows this mainly by word order, but Latin shows it with noun endings.

Yes, they are closely related in meaning.

• augur = augur, a religious official who interprets signs
• augurium = omen, augury, or sign

So the sentence is built from two connected ideas:

• the person who interprets signs
• the sign being interpreted

That resemblance is not accidental; it helps the sentence feel very natural in Latin.

Because some first-declension nouns are masculine, especially nouns referring to male professions or roles.

Nauta means sailor, and although it looks like a typical first-declension feminine noun, it is usually masculine.

This is similar to other common Latin nouns such as:

• poeta = poet
• agricola = farmer
• pirata = pirate

So the ending -a does not always mean feminine. Gender has to be learned with the noun.

Portu is ablative singular.

The preposition e or ex means out of or from, and it takes the ablative case. So:

• e portu = out of the harbor / from the harbor

The noun portus, portus is a fourth-declension noun, and its ablative singular is portu.

That -u ending is very common in fourth-declension ablative singular forms.

Both e and ex mean the same thing here: out of or from.

In many textbooks, you will often see:

• ex before vowels
• e before consonants

Since portu begins with p, e portu is perfectly normal.

That said, Latin authors do not always follow a rigid rule, so you may sometimes see ex before consonants too. For a learner, the main point is:

• e/ex
  • ablative = out of / from

Both are present tense, third person singular.

• interpretatur = he/she interprets
• exit = he/she goes out, leaves

So the whole sentence describes actions happening in the present.

More specifically:

• interpretatur is present indicative deponent
• exit is present indicative active

Yes.

Latin exit comes from exire, meaning to go out. English borrowed exit from Latin, so the connection is direct.

In the sentence:

• nauta e portu exit

it literally means the sailor goes out from the harbor or more naturally the sailor leaves the harbor.

This is a nice example of a Latin word that looks very familiar to English speakers.

Because Latin has no articles.

There is no separate word for:

• the
• a
• an

So:

• augur can mean an augur or the augur
• nauta can mean a sailor or the sailor
• augurium bonum can mean a good omen or the good omen

The translator decides which English article sounds best from the context.

Word order in Latin is more flexible than in English because the endings show the grammatical roles.

Here we have:

• Augur augurium bonum interpretatur
• et nauta e portu exit

This is a very natural order, but Latin could rearrange parts of the sentence for emphasis, style, or rhythm.

For example, because augurium bonum is accusative, you still know it is the object even if it moves around. Likewise, augur remains the subject because it is nominative.

So word order matters for emphasis and style, but case endings do much of the grammatical work.

Yes, adjectives can come either before or after nouns in Latin.

So both of these are possible in principle:

• augurium bonum
• bonum augurium

In this sentence, augurium bonum is a normal and straightforward arrangement. Latin adjective placement is more flexible than English adjective placement.

The important thing is not position but agreement:

• bonum matches augurium in case, number, and gender

Yes.

Et is the ordinary Latin word for and. It simply joins the two parts of the sentence:

• Augur augurium bonum interpretatur
• nauta e portu exit

So the whole sentence contains two coordinated clauses.

Latin also has other ways to express and, but et is the most basic and common one.

Yes, definitely.

A very literal translation is:

• the sailor goes out from the harbor

But in more natural English, we would usually say:

• the sailor leaves the harbor

Both reflect the Latin well. The verb exit carries the idea of going out, and English often expresses that more smoothly with leaves in this context.