Spes pacis cives fortiores facit.

Because pacis depends on spes and means of peace.

• spes = hope
• pacis = of peace (genitive singular of pax)

So spes pacis literally means hope of peace. Latin often uses the genitive where English uses of.

A learner might first guess that cives is the subject because it comes near the middle of the sentence, but the verb shows otherwise.

The verb is facit, which is third person singular: he/she/it makes.
So the subject must be singular, not plural.

• spes is singular, so it matches facit
• cives is plural, so it cannot be the subject of facit

That is how we know spes is the subject: hope makes.

Cives can be either nominative plural or accusative plural, so the form by itself is ambiguous.

You figure it out from the rest of the sentence:

• facit needs a subject and usually can take an object
• spes is a good nominative singular subject
• cives therefore fits naturally as the accusative plural direct object

So here cives means the citizens as the people being affected by the action.

Fortiores is describing cives, not spes.

It is the comparative form of fortis, meaning braver, stronger, or more courageous, depending on context. Here it is accusative plural, agreeing with cives.

So the pattern is:

• cives = the direct object
• fortiores = what the object is made to be

This is a common Latin construction after facere:

• aliquem fortem facere = to make someone brave
• cives fortiores facit = it makes the citizens braver/stronger

Latin, like English, can use a comparative without stating the second side explicitly.

So fortiores can mean:

• stronger
• braver
• more courageous

without saying exactly than before or than others. The comparison is understood from context.

English does this too:

• This training makes soldiers stronger.

We do not need to add than they were before, even though that is implied.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because case endings show the grammatical roles.

In Spes pacis cives fortiores facit:

• Spes pacis comes first as the topic: the hope of peace
• cives fortiores stays together as a meaningful unit: the citizens stronger
• facit comes last, which is very common in Latin prose

So the order is natural and emphatic, not random. Latin often puts the verb at or near the end.

Yes. Because the endings carry so much information, Latin can rearrange the words for emphasis.

Possible alternatives include:

• Spes pacis fortiores cives facit
• Cives spes pacis fortiores facit
• Fortiores cives spes pacis facit

These all basically mean the same thing, though the emphasis changes. The original order is a straightforward and elegant one.

Classical Latin has no articles like English the and a/an.

So spes can mean:

• hope
• the hope
• sometimes even a hope

and cives can mean:

• citizens
• the citizens

You determine which English article to use from context and natural translation.

Spes is a nominative singular noun meaning hope.

It belongs to the fifth declension, which many beginners see less often than the first and second declensions. Its basic forms are:

• nominative singular: spes
• genitive singular: spei

In this sentence it is nominative singular because it is the subject of facit.

Facit is from the verb facere, meaning to make or to do.

Here it is:

• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood
• third person singular

So it means makes.

That singular ending is one of the main clues that spes is the subject.

Yes. This is a standard Latin pattern in which a verb like facere takes:

1. a direct object
2. a second accusative describing what that object becomes

So:

• cives = direct object
• fortiores = predicate accusative

In other words, the hope of peace makes the citizens stronger.

English uses a similar idea:

• The news made them happy.
• The teacher made the students quiet.

Latin does this very naturally with facere.

Because pacis is not an adjective. It is a noun in the genitive case.

Agreement happens between nouns and adjectives, or between nouns and participles, not between two separate nouns used in different functions.

Here:

• spes = the main noun
• pacis = a dependent genitive noun, of peace

So pacis does not need to match spes in case. Its job is simply to show possession or relationship: hope of peace.

Yes. The adjective fortis can suggest several related ideas, including:

• brave
• strong
• courageous

So fortiores could be translated as:

• braver
• stronger
• more courageous

Which English word is best depends on context. If the sentence is about morale or character, braver or more courageous may fit better. If it is broader, stronger may be a natural choice.