Magister Romanus, qui nobiscum iter facit, dicit inscriptionem facilem esse.

Because Magister Romanus is the subject of the main verb dicit.

• magister = teacher
• Romanus = Roman

Both are nominative singular masculine because they refer to the same person and agree with each other.

So the basic main clause is:

• Magister Romanus dicit = The Roman teacher says

Yes, it could come before. Latin word order is more flexible than English word order.

• Magister Romanus = the Roman teacher
• Romanus magister would also be possible

In many ordinary sentences, an adjective may come either before or after the noun. The choice can depend on style, emphasis, or habit, but here there is nothing unusual about Magister Romanus.

Qui means who.

It introduces a relative clause:

• qui nobiscum iter facit = who is traveling with us / who makes a journey with us

It is masculine singular nominative because it refers back to Magister Romanus, which is masculine singular, and it is the subject of facit inside the relative clause.

So:

• antecedent: Magister Romanus
• relative pronoun agreeing with it: qui

With the personal pronouns me, te, se, nobis, vobis, the preposition cum is usually attached to the end:

• mecum = with me
• tecum = with you
• secum = with himself/herself/themselves
• nobiscum = with us
• vobiscum = with you all

So nobiscum is just the normal Latin way to say with us.

Literally, iter facit means makes a journey.

But this is a very common Latin idiom meaning:

• travels
• goes on a journey
• is making a journey

Latin often uses combinations like noun + verb where English prefers a single verb. So iter facere is a normal expression, not strange Latin.

Here it is giving extra information about Magister Romanus:

• Magister Romanus, qui nobiscum iter facit, ...
• The Roman teacher, who is traveling with us, ...

The commas show that it is being treated like a non-restrictive relative clause in English terms: it tells us something additional about the teacher, rather than identifying which teacher out of several.

In Latin manuscripts, punctuation was not always the same as ours, but in a modern printed sentence, the commas help show that this is extra information.

Because after verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, perceiving, and similar verbs, Latin very often uses an indirect statement construction instead of a word like that.

This construction is called the accusative-and-infinitive:

• inscriptionem = accusative subject of the indirect statement
• facilem = adjective agreeing with that accusative subject
• esse = infinitive, to be

So:

• dicit inscriptionem facilem esse
• literally: he says the inscription to be easy
• natural English: he says that the inscription is easy

Because in an indirect statement, the subject of the reported statement goes into the accusative.

Compare:

• direct statement: Inscriptio facilis est = The inscription is easy
• indirect statement after dicit: dicit inscriptionem facilem esse = he says that the inscription is easy

So inscriptio changes to inscriptionem because it is now the subject of an infinitive in indirect statement.

Because facilem must agree with inscriptionem.

Since inscriptionem is:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

the adjective must also be:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

So:

• nominative: facilis
• accusative feminine singular: facilem

This is exactly the same agreement pattern you would expect with adjectives elsewhere in Latin.

Because that is how Latin normally forms an indirect statement.

After dicit, Latin does not usually say something equivalent to that the inscription is easy with a finite verb. Instead it uses:

• accusative subject + infinitive verb

So:

• inscriptionem facilem esse

The infinitive esse corresponds to the English finite verb is in this kind of construction.

Sometimes, yes. Latin can omit esse, especially when the meaning is clear.

So you may see:

• dicit inscriptionem facilem
• meaning: he says that the inscription is easy

However, esse is often included, and here it is fully normal and clear. For learners, it is often helpful when esse is expressed, because it makes the indirect statement easier to recognize.

It helps to break it into parts:

1. Magister Romanus
   the Roman teacher

2. qui nobiscum iter facit
   who is traveling with us

3. dicit
   says

4. inscriptionem facilem esse
   that the inscription is easy

So the skeleton is:

• Magister Romanus dicit
• The Roman teacher says

Then Latin inserts a relative clause after the subject:

• qui nobiscum iter facit

And finally gives the indirect statement:

• inscriptionem facilem esse

The word order is natural, but Latin does not rely on word order as heavily as English does, because the endings show the grammar.

Here the order is:

• subject: Magister Romanus
• relative clause: qui nobiscum iter facit
• main verb: dicit
• indirect statement: inscriptionem facilem esse

That order makes good sense stylistically:

• first, identify the person
• then add extra information about him
• then give the main verb
• then report what he says

A different order could still be grammatical, but this version is straightforward and easy to follow.