Censor bonos mores laudat et nomina civium in tabulis legit.

Because censor is in the nominative singular, which is the case typically used for the subject of a Latin sentence. The verbs laudat and legit are both third-person singular, so they match a single subject: the censor.

Also, Latin does not use articles like the or a, so censor can mean either the censor or a censor, depending on context.

A censor was a specific Roman public official, not just someone who criticizes things in the modern English sense of censor. In ancient Rome, a censor had duties connected with public morality and the citizen list or census.

So in this sentence, censor is best understood as the Roman magistrate called the censor.

Because bonos mores is the direct object of laudat.

• laudat = praises
• What does he praise? bonos mores

So both words are in the accusative because they belong to the object phrase.

They are plural because:

• mores is plural
• bonos is an adjective agreeing with mores

Latin adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

So:

• mores = masculine accusative plural
• bonos = masculine accusative plural

In Latin, mos in the singular often means custom or way, while mores in the plural often means morals, character, or customs.

So bonos mores is a very natural Latin expression for good morals or good conduct. English often uses morals in the plural too, so this is not too far from English usage.

Civium is genitive plural of civis, meaning citizen.

It depends on nomina:

• nomina = names
• civium = of the citizens

So nomina civium means the names of the citizens.

This is a very common use of the genitive in Latin: showing possession or close relationship.

Because the censor is reading more than one name. The noun nomen means name, and nomina is its neuter plural form.

So:

• nomen = name
• nomina = names

It is the direct object of legit.

Tabulis is ablative plural.

After in, Latin can use:

• accusative for motion into
• ablative for location in/on

Here the idea is location, not movement:

• in tabulis = in the tablets / on the records / in the lists

So the ablative is used because the names are being read in or on the records, not carried into them.

Literally, tabulae are tables, boards, tablets, or writing tablets. In Roman contexts, they often refer to written records or official lists.

So in tabulis here probably means something like:

• on the tablets
• in the records
• in the official lists

A learner should not imagine modern paper pages too quickly; the word has a specifically Roman feel.

Without macrons, legit can look ambiguous.

It may represent:

• legit = he/she reads (present)
• lēgit = he/she read / has read (perfect)

In this sentence, because it goes naturally with laudat and the meaning has already been given, it is understood as present: reads.

So the sentence has two present-tense verbs:

• laudat = praises
• legit = reads

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show grammatical function.

English depends heavily on position:

• The censor praises good morals

Latin can show the same relationships through endings:

• censor = subject
• bonos mores = object
• nomina civium = object
• in tabulis = prepositional phrase

So the sentence puts the verbs at the end of their clauses, which is very common in Latin:

• Censor bonos mores laudat
• et nomina civium in tabulis legit

This order is normal and natural in Latin.

Because Classical Latin has no articles. It does not have separate words for the or a/an.

So Latin words like:

• censor
• nomina
• civium
• tabulis

can be translated with or without the depending on context.

That is why censor can mean:

• a censor
• the censor

and nomina civium can mean:

• names of citizens
• the names of the citizens

Because the sentence has one subject, censor, and then two actions:

• bonos mores laudat
• nomina civium in tabulis legit

So et means and, linking the two actions done by the same subject:

• The censor praises good morals
• and reads the names of the citizens in the records

This is a very common Latin pattern: one subject with two coordinated verbs.