Centum milites veniunt.

Milites is the nominative plural of miles, militis, meaning soldier.

It is:

• plural because the sentence refers to many soldiers
• nominative because it is the subject of veniunt

Also, miles belongs to the 3rd declension, so its plural is not formed like a 1st- or 2nd-declension noun.

A useful point: milites can also be accusative plural, but not here. Since venire means to come, and come does not take a direct object, milites must be the subject.

Because centum is an indeclinable numeral. That means it keeps the same form instead of changing for case, number, or gender.

So you get:

• centum milites = one hundred soldiers
• cum centum militibus = with one hundred soldiers

The noun changes when necessary, but centum stays centum.

Because the subject is plural: centum milites = one hundred soldiers.

Even though centum is a single word, the people being talked about are many soldiers, so Latin uses a plural verb.

Veniunt is:

• 3rd person plural
• present tense
• from venio, venire = to come

So veniunt means they come or they are coming.

Latin often leaves subject pronouns unstated because the verb ending already tells you the person and number.

Here, veniunt already means they come / they are coming.

So Latin does not need a separate word for they, though it could add one for emphasis if needed.

Because Latin usually expresses that idea with the simple present tense.

So veniunt can mean:

• they come
• they are coming

English often uses the progressive form are coming, but Latin normally does not need a separate helper verb for that.

Not as much as in English. Latin word order is fairly flexible because the endings show how the words function.

Centum milites veniunt is a perfectly natural sentence. In fact, putting the verb at the end is very common in Latin.

Other orders are possible, for example:

• Veniunt centum milites
• Milites centum veniunt

These can shift emphasis, but the basic meaning stays the same.

Because Latin has no articles.

So milites can mean:

• soldiers
• the soldiers
• sometimes, depending on context, some soldiers

In this sentence, English has to choose what sounds natural, but Latin itself does not include a word for the or a.

They are:

• centum = one hundred
• miles, militis = soldier
• venio, venire, veni, ventum = come

So when you look them up, those are the forms you would usually search for, not milites or veniunt.

Normally, centum means the actual number 100.

In some literary or rhetorical contexts, numbers can be used more loosely, but the ordinary meaning is the exact number. So a learner should first understand centum milites veniunt as one hundred soldiers are coming.