Si veritatem dicis, nihil metuere debes.

Because dicis means you say or you speak, and the thing being said is its direct object. In Latin, a direct object normally goes in the accusative case.

So:

• veritas = truth
• veritatem = truth, as the object of the verb

In this sentence, veritatem dicis literally means you speak the truth or more naturally you tell the truth.

Latin often expresses tell the truth with veritatem dicere, literally to say the truth. This is a normal Latin idiom.

English uses tell in many places where Latin prefers say plus an object. So a learner should get used to the idea that Latin and English do not always package actions the same way.

Dicis is:

• 2nd person singular
• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood

from the verb dico, dicere, dixi, dictum = say, speak, tell

So dicis means you say or you are saying, depending on context.

Nihil means nothing. In this sentence it is the direct object of metuere, so it means nothing in the sense of nothing to fear.

Traditional grammar discussions often connect nihil with the accusative, since it functions as the object. In practice, nihil is a fixed form and does not change here the way a regular noun would.

So:

• nihil metuere = to fear nothing

Because it depends on debes.

Debeo means I ought, I must, or I should, and verbs like this are commonly followed by an infinitive in Latin. The infinitive tells you what someone ought to do.

So:

• debes = you ought
• metuere = to fear
• nihil metuere debes = you ought to fear nothing / you need fear nothing

This is very similar to English you ought to fear nothing.

Debes is:

• 2nd person singular
• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood

from debeo, debere, debui, debitum = owe, ought, must, should

In this sentence, debes does not mean you owe in a money sense. It means you ought or you should.

This is a simple or more vivid conditional with present indicative verbs:

• Si veritatem dicis = If you tell the truth
• nihil metuere debes = you should fear nothing

It presents the condition as real, general, or straightforward. It is not contrary-to-fact.

A learner can think of it as the ordinary kind of if sentence used for real situations.

Because the sentence expresses a general present idea:

• If you tell the truth, you need fear nothing.

Latin often uses the present tense in both parts of this kind of conditional when the meaning is general, habitual, or immediately relevant.

English can do the same:

• If you tell the truth, you have nothing to fear.

So the Latin tense choice is very natural.

Because Latin usually does not need a separate subject pronoun. The verb ending already shows the subject.

Here:

• dicis = you say
• debes = you ought

The ending -s tells us the subject is you singular.

Latin can add tu for emphasis, but it is not necessary:

• Si tu veritatem dicis, nihil metuere debes.

That would be more emphatic, something like If you are telling the truth...

No. Latin word order is more flexible than English because the endings show grammatical roles.

This sentence could appear in other orders, for example:

• Si dicis veritatem, nihil metuere debes.
• Nihil debes metuere, si veritatem dicis.

The original order is perfectly normal. It places the if clause first, then the main clause. Also, putting nihil before metuere debes gives it a little prominence: nothing is what you need fear.

Yes. That is often the most natural English rendering.

Literally, the Latin is closer to:

• you ought to fear nothing
• you should fear nothing

But in idiomatic English, you have nothing to fear often sounds better and expresses the same idea.

This is a good example of how a literal translation and a natural translation can differ.

A common classroom pronunciation would be roughly:

• Si = see
• veritatem = weh-ree-TAH-tem or veh-ri-TAH-tem
• dicis = DEE-kis in restored classical pronunciation
• nihil = NEE-hil or sometimes NIH-il, depending on the system taught
• metuere = meh-TOO-eh-reh
• debes = DEH-bes

In classical pronunciation, c in dicis is always hard, like k.