Nautae navem exonerant.

Because nautae is the nominative plural form of nauta, meaning sailor.

• nauta = sailor
• nautae = sailors

In this sentence, nautae is the subject, so it is in the nominative case.

In Latin, grammatical declension and natural gender do not always match in the way an English speaker might expect.

Nauta belongs to the first declension, which often contains feminine nouns, but some first-declension nouns referring to male professions or roles are masculine. Nauta is one of these.

So:

• nauta = a sailor
• it is first declension
• but it is usually masculine in meaning

Other similar nouns include agricola (farmer) and poēta (poet).

Because navem is the accusative singular form, and the direct object of the verb must be in the accusative case.

• navis = ship, in the nominative singular
• navem = ship, in the accusative singular

Since the sailors are unloading the ship, ship is receiving the action, so Latin uses navem.

Exonerant is:

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

So it means they unload or they are unloading.

It comes from the verb exonerō, exonerāre, meaning to unload, to relieve of a burden, or to unburden.

We know from both case and verb agreement.

1. Nautae is in the nominative plural, which is the normal case for the subject.
2. Exonerant is third person plural, so it needs a plural subject.
3. Navem is accusative, so it is the object, not the subject.

So the grammar clearly shows:

• nautae = the ones doing the action
• navem = the thing being unloaded

Because Latin verbs already show the subject in their endings.

The ending -ant in exonerant tells you the subject is they.

So Latin often does not need a separate pronoun:

• exonerant = they unload

If you added eī or illī for they, it would usually be for emphasis or contrast, not because it is grammatically necessary.

Yes. Latin word order is more flexible than English because the case endings show each word’s role.

So all of these could mean roughly the same thing:

• Nautae navem exonerant.
• Navem nautae exonerant.
• Exonerant nautae navem.

The basic meaning stays the same because:

• nautae is nominative
• navem is accusative
• exonerant is the verb

However, changing the order can change the emphasis or style.

Yes. Exonerant is present tense, so the sentence means the sailors unload the ship or the sailors are unloading the ship.

Latin present tense can often be translated into English in more than one way depending on context:

• simple present: the sailors unload the ship
• progressive present: the sailors are unloading the ship

Yes, they are related.

The Latin verb exonerāre originally means to unload or to remove a burden from. English exonerate comes from the same root, but its meaning has shifted to free from blame.

So the original Latin idea is more physical:

• exonerāre navem = to unload a ship

A simple classroom pronunciation would be roughly:

NOW-tie NAW-wem eks-oh-NAY-rant

A few helpful points:

• au in nautae sounds like ow in now
• ae is often pronounced like eye in many traditional classroom systems
• v in restored classical pronunciation sounds like w
• c is always hard in Latin, though there is no c in this sentence

Pronunciation can vary depending on whether you are using classical or ecclesiastical Latin, but the grammar remains the same.