Hostes procul sunt, sed cives non timent.

Because both are plural nouns in this sentence.

• hostes = enemies
• cives = citizens

More specifically:

• hostes is the nominative plural of hostis
• cives is the nominative plural of civis

They are both the subjects of their own clauses:

• Hostes procul sunt = The enemies are far away
• sed cives non timent = but the citizens are not afraid / do not fear

Even though the two nouns belong to slightly different declension patterns, their nominative plural forms both happen to end in -es.

You know from both case and verb agreement.

In Latin, subjects are usually in the nominative case. Here:

• hostes is nominative plural and goes with sunt = are
• cives is nominative plural and goes with timent = they fear / they are afraid

So each clause has:

• a nominative plural subject
• a plural verb

That matching helps you identify the subject, even though Latin word order is more flexible than English word order.

Procul means far away, at a distance, or simply far off.

So:

• Hostes procul sunt literally means The enemies are far away

A useful point for learners: procul is an adverb, not an adjective. That means it describes the verb idea are rather than directly describing a noun.

So Latin is not saying the far enemies. It is saying the enemies are far away.

Because Latin word order is much freer than English word order.

In English, we usually need:

• The enemies are far away

But Latin can place words in different orders without changing the core meaning, because the endings already show the grammar.

So Hostes procul sunt is completely normal Latin. The verb sunt often comes later in the clause, especially in simple statements.

A learner should remember:

• Latin does not rely on word order as heavily as English does.
• Endings usually carry the important grammatical information.

Sed means but.

It connects the two clauses:

• Hostes procul sunt
• cives non timent

So the sentence sets up a contrast:

• the enemies are far away,
• but the citizens are not afraid.

This is a very common coordinating conjunction in Latin.

Non is the normal Latin word for not, and it commonly goes right before the word it negates.

Here it negates the verb:

• timent = they fear / they are afraid
• non timent = they do not fear / they are not afraid

That is a very common pattern in Latin:

• non + verb

Timent is a third person plural present active indicative form of timeo, timere, meaning to fear.

Breakdown:

• tim- = the verb stem
• -ent = a present tense ending for they in this conjugation

So timent means:

• they fear
• or in smoother English, sometimes they are afraid

Since the subject is cives = citizens, the full idea is:

• cives non timent = the citizens do not fear / are not afraid

Yes, timeo often takes a direct object, as in they fear the enemy. But it can also be used more generally, with the sense to be afraid.

So in this sentence:

• cives non timent

the idea is simply:

• the citizens are not afraid

The object is either left unstated or understood from the context. Latin often does this when the general meaning is clear.

It is plural.

The ending -nt is a strong clue that the verb is third person plural in the present tense:

• timet = he/she fears
• timent = they fear

Because cives is plural, the verb also has to be plural.

Actually, the second clause does not need are because its main verb is timent = fear.

Compare the two clauses:

• Hostes procul sunt
  Here the main verb is sunt = are
• cives non timent
  Here the main verb is timent = fear / are afraid

In English, we might translate non timent as are not afraid, but Latin is still using the verb fear, not the verb be.

So the structures are different:

• first clause: noun + adverb + are
• second clause: noun + do not fear

Yes. Latin allows several word orders without changing the basic meaning.

For example, these would still mean essentially the same thing:

• Procul hostes sunt, sed cives non timent.
• Hostes sunt procul, sed cives non timent.
• Sed cives non timent, hostes procul sunt.

However, different word orders can change emphasis.

For example:

• putting procul earlier may emphasize far away
• putting non before timent keeps the negation clear
• putting sed at the start of the second clause highlights the contrast

So while the grammar stays clear because of endings, the writer can move words around for style or emphasis.

A simple classroom-style pronunciation would be:

• HOST-es PRO-kool soont, sed KEE-wes non TEE-ment

A few helpful notes:

• c in classical Latin is always hard, like k
• v in classical pronunciation sounds like w
• u is pronounced like oo
• ti in timent is just tee, not like English sh

So in a more classical style, cives sounds closer to kee-wes than to English siv-es.