Discipuli, cum domum redierint, inter se conferunt utrum philosophus an rhetor utiliora praecepta dederit.

The backbone of the sentence is Discipuli ... inter se conferunt = the students discuss among themselves.

Everything else hangs off that main clause:

• cum domum redierint = a time/circumstance clause, when/after they have returned home
• utrum philosophus an rhetor utiliora praecepta dederit = an indirect question, telling us what they are discussing

So the sentence is basically:

The students discuss among themselves + when they do this + what they discuss.

Because domum is a special idiom in Latin.

With domus (home/household), Latin often uses the accusative without a preposition to show motion toward home:

• domum ire = to go home
• domum redire = to return home

So domum redierint is the normal Latin way to say they have returned home.

Redierint comes from redeo, redire, redii/redivi, reditum = to go back, return.

A useful thing to know is that redierint is a form that can look the same as:

• future perfect indicative, or
• perfect subjunctive

In this sentence, the important idea is that the returning happens before the discussing. So the sense is:

when they have returned home / after they return home

If your textbook is treating this as a cum clause with the subjunctive, it will call redierint a perfect subjunctive. Either way, the time relation is the key point: first they get home, then they discuss.

Here cum means when or after.

It introduces the clause cum domum redierint, which gives the time/circumstance for the main action. So it tells us when the students have their discussion.

This is not the preposition cum meaning with. It is the conjunction cum meaning when/since/although, depending on context.

Inter se means among themselves or with one another.

• inter = among / between
• se = themselves (a reflexive pronoun)

The se refers back to discipuli, so the idea is that the students are talking to each other, not to someone else.

Literally, conferre does mean to bring together. From that basic idea, it can also mean:

• compare
• consider together
• discuss

With inter se, the sense becomes something like they compare ideas among themselves or they discuss together.

So in this sentence, inter se conferunt is a natural way to say they discuss among themselves.

Utrum ... an ... is a standard Latin way to introduce an indirect either/or question:

• utrum = whether
• an = or

So:

utrum philosophus an rhetor ... dederit
= whether the philosopher or the rhetorician ... gave

This is different from simply using aut or vel for or.
Utrum ... an ... specifically sets up a question between two alternatives.

They are in the nominative because they are the two possible subjects of dederit:

• philosophus = the philosopher
• rhetor = the rhetorician

The verb dederit is singular because the meaning is not the philosopher and the rhetorician gave. It is whether the philosopher or the rhetorician gave — one or the other.

So Latin treats this as an alternative singular subject, not a plural one.

Dederit is subjunctive because it is inside an indirect question introduced by utrum ... an ....

Latin normally puts the verb of an indirect question in the subjunctive.

The tense is perfect subjunctive, and here it shows action earlier than the main verb conferunt. The students are now discussing something that was given before.

In English, you will often translate it simply as:

• gave
• or sometimes has given

So utrum philosophus an rhetor utiliora praecepta dederit means:

whether the philosopher or the rhetorician gave more useful advice/precepts.

Because it agrees with praecepta.

• praecepta is neuter plural
• utiliora is the comparative of utilis and must match it

So:

• praecepta = precepts / teachings / advice
• utiliora praecepta = more useful precepts

The comparative is being used because the students are comparing two sources of advice: that of the philosopher and that of the rhetorician.

Latin has no articles like English the or a/an.

So words like:

• discipuli
• philosophus
• rhetor

can mean the students / students, the philosopher / a philosopher, and so on, depending on context.

English usually needs an article, so translators add the or a where it sounds natural. Context tells you which one fits best.