Senator prudens sententiam suam senatui profert.

Latin word order is much freer than English word order because the endings show each word’s function.

Here:

• Senator = the subject
• sententiam suam = the direct object
• senatui = the indirect object
• profert = the verb

So Latin does not need a fixed subject-verb-object order the way English does. A Roman could rearrange the sentence for emphasis, for example:

• Prudens senator sententiam suam senatui profert
• Sententiam suam senator prudens senatui profert
• Senatui senator prudens sententiam suam profert

The version you have is a perfectly normal Latin sentence. Also, Latin often puts the verb near the end, though not always.

Senator is nominative singular. The nominative case is typically used for the subject of the sentence.

We know it is the subject because:

• it is in the nominative
• the verb profert is third person singular
• senator is singular, so it matches the verb

So senator is the senator as the person doing the action.

Prudens is an adjective meaning wise, prudent, or judicious, and it agrees with senator.

It is:

• nominative
• singular
• masculine here because it describes senator

A point that often confuses learners: prudens is a third-declension adjective with the same nominative singular form for masculine and feminine. So the form does not change to something like prudentus. The correct form is simply prudens.

So:

• senator prudens = the prudent senator

Sententiam is the direct object of profert.

The verb proferre means to bring forth, to present, or to express. What is the senator presenting or expressing? Sententiam.

That is why it is in the accusative singular:

• nominative: sententia
• accusative: sententiam

So sententiam is the thing being brought forward or stated.

This is a very common question.

Latin uses suus, -a, -um when the possessor is the subject of the clause. Here, the subject is senator, and the opinion belongs to that same senator. So Latin uses suam:

• sententiam suam = his own opinion

By contrast, eius usually refers to someone else’s opinion, not the subject’s own.

Also notice that suam agrees with sententiam, not with senator. That means it is:

• accusative
• singular
• feminine

because sententiam is accusative singular feminine.

So:

• suam tells you whose opinion it is: the subject’s own
• its form matches sententiam, the noun it modifies

Senatui is in the dative singular because it is the indirect object.

The idea is:

• the senator presents his opinion
• to the senate

Latin often uses the dative for the person or group to whom something is given, said, shown, or presented.

So:

• sententiam suam = the thing presented
• senatui = the recipient

This is similar to English to the senate, though English usually uses a preposition where Latin often just uses the dative ending.

Senatui is the dative singular of senatus, meaning senate.

Senatus is a fourth-declension noun. Fourth-declension nouns often have a dative singular in -ui.

So the forms are:

• nominative singular: senatus
• dative singular: senatui

That ending may look unusual if you are more used to first- and second-declension patterns, but it is normal for the fourth declension.

Profert is the third person singular present active indicative of profero, proferre.

This verb is a compound built from pro- + fero. The important thing is that fero is an irregular verb, so its forms do not follow the regular third-conjugation pattern.

That is why you get:

• fero = I carry / bring
• fers = you carry
• fert = he/she carries

and similarly:

• profero
• profers
• profert

So profert is correct. A form like proferit would wrongly treat it like a regular verb.

No. Even though English sentence comes historically from Latin sententia, the Latin word here means something more like:

• opinion
• judgment
• view
• proposal

In a political setting, especially with senator and senate, sententia often means a senator’s opinion or position in debate.

So learners should be careful not to assume it means a grammatical sentence in this context.

Latin has no articles. There is no direct equivalent of English the or a/an.

So:

• senator can mean the senator or a senator
• senatui can mean to the senate or sometimes to a senate, depending on context

You figure out whether English should use the, a, or no article at all from the context and the overall sense.

Yes, it could be omitted if the context already makes it obvious whose opinion is being presented.

For example:

• Senator prudens sententiam senatui profert

would still mean that a prudent senator presents an opinion to the senate.

But suam adds clarity and emphasis:

• it explicitly says the opinion is his own
• it can help distinguish his opinion from someone else’s

So suam is not always strictly necessary, but it is meaningful and natural here.