Rea apud iudicem veritatem tandem fatetur.

Rea is the nominative singular feminine form of a noun meaning the defendant or the accused woman.

• reus = a male defendant / accused man
• rea = a female defendant / accused woman

In this sentence, rea is the subject, so it is in the nominative case.

We know rea is the subject because it is in the nominative case, which is the normal case for the subject in Latin.

Also, the verb fatetur is third person singular, so it matches a singular subject: rea = she.

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

So:

• apud = before, in the presence of, among, sometimes at the house/place of
• iudicem = accusative singular of iudex (judge)

Together, apud iudicem means something like before the judge or in the presence of the judge.

Not usually. Apud does not normally mean movement to someone in the way English to can.

Here apud iudicem means:

• before the judge
• in the judge’s presence

If Latin wanted to express something more like to the judge, it might use a different construction, depending on the exact sense.

Veritatem is accusative singular of veritas (truth).

It is in the accusative because it is the direct object of the verb fatetur:

• fatetur veritatem = she confesses/admits the truth

So the action of the verb is directed toward veritatem.

Because fateor, fateri, fassus sum is a deponent verb.

A deponent verb:

• has passive forms
• but an active meaning

So fatetur looks like a passive form, but it means:

• she admits
• she confesses

not she is confessed.

This is a very common thing in Latin, and learners often have to get used to it.

Fatetur is:

• present tense
• indicative mood
• third person singular
• from the deponent verb fateor

So it means he/she admits, he/she confesses, or in context she admits/confesses.

The verb fatetur by itself only tells us he/she/it because Latin third-person singular verbs do not show gender.

We know it is she because the subject noun is rea, which is feminine.

So:

• fatetur = he/she admits
• rea fatetur = the female defendant admits

Tandem is an adverb meaning:

• at last
• finally
• in the end

It adds the idea that the confession happens after some delay, hesitation, or resistance.

So it gives the sentence a sense like: the defendant finally admits the truth.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because the endings show the grammatical relationships.

Placing the verb at the end is very common in Latin, especially in straightforward prose.

So this order is natural:

• Rea = subject
• apud iudicem = prepositional phrase
• veritatem = object
• tandem = adverb
• fatetur = verb

But Latin could rearrange these words for emphasis without changing the basic meaning.

Yes. Latin allows a lot of variation in word order.

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

• Rea veritatem tandem apud iudicem fatetur.
• Tandem rea veritatem apud iudicem fatetur.
• Veritatem rea apud iudicem tandem fatetur.

However, different orders can change emphasis:

• putting veritatem early can emphasize the truth
• putting tandem early can emphasize finally
• keeping fatetur at the end gives a very classical Latin feel

Because Latin has no articles.

There is no separate word for:

• the
• a / an

So a noun like rea can mean:

• the defendant
• a defendant

and the exact choice in English depends on context.

The same is true for iudicem and veritatem.

Yes. Fateor commonly takes a direct object in the accusative, especially with things that are admitted or confessed.

So a pattern like this is normal:

• culpam fatetur = he admits guilt
• hoc fatetur = she admits this
• veritatem fatetur = she admits the truth

So this sentence uses a very standard structure.

Here are the dictionary forms:

• rea → rea, reae = female defendant / accused woman
• apud = preposition meaning before, among, in the presence of
• iudicem → iudex, iudicis = judge
• veritatem → veritas, veritatis = truth
• tandem = adverb meaning finally, at last
• fatetur → fateor, fateri, fassus sum = admit, confess (deponent)

Yes. Several words have a legal flavor:

• rea = defendant / accused woman
• iudex = judge
• fatetur can mean admits or confesses in a legal or formal sense

So the whole sentence sounds like a courtroom situation: the female defendant, at last, admits the truth before the judge.