Stipulatio debitorem obligat.

In Latin, the endings usually tell you that.

• stipulatio is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject
• debitorem is in the accusative singular, which is the case normally used for the direct object

So:

• stipulatio = the thing doing the action
• debitorem = the person receiving the action

That is why the sentence means that stipulatio binds the debtor, not the other way around.

Because debitorem is the accusative singular form of debitor.

A native English speaker often expects word order to show the object, but Latin often shows it by the case ending instead.

Here is the pattern:

• nominative singular: debitor
• accusative singular: debitorem

So the -em ending tells you that debitor is being used as the direct object in this sentence.

Because dictionary entries for nouns are usually given in the nominative singular, and here the noun is being used as the subject, so it stays in that form.

For this noun:

• nominative singular: stipulatio
• genitive singular: stipulationis

Since it is the subject of obligat, the nominative stipulatio is exactly what you would expect.

obligat is:

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

So it means he/she/it binds or binds.

Because the subject is stipulatio, which is singular, the verb is also singular: obligat.

If the subject were plural, the verb would also have to change.

Latin normally has no articles.

English says:

• the debtor
• a debtor

Latin often just says debitor or debitorem, and the context tells you whether English should use the, a, or sometimes no article at all.

So in this sentence, Latin does not need a separate word for the before either noun.

Yes, you could.

Because the endings already show the grammatical roles, Latin word order is more flexible than English word order.

These would mean the same basic thing:

• Stipulatio debitorem obligat
• Debitorem stipulatio obligat
• Stipulatio obligat debitorem

The difference is usually one of emphasis or style, not basic meaning.

English depends heavily on word order:

• The stipulation binds the debtor is not the same as The debtor binds the stipulation

Latin depends much more on case endings.

stipulatio is a third-declension noun.

A learner may guess from the -o ending that it belongs to the second declension, but it does not. Its genitive form shows the declension:

• stipulatio, stipulationis

That -onis / -ionis pattern is a strong clue that it belongs to the third declension.

debitor is a third-declension noun too.

Its dictionary forms are:

• debitor, debitoris

That is why its accusative singular is debitorem.

So even though stipulatio and debitor look quite different, they are both third-declension nouns.

Yes, stipulatio is feminine.

That matters for things like:

• adjectives agreeing with it
• pronouns referring back to it

But in this sentence by itself, the gender does not change the form of the verb. Latin verbs do not change for grammatical gender, only for things like person and number.

So the verb is obligat simply because the subject is third person singular, not because it is feminine.

That is a very common Latin pattern.

Latin often places the verb:

• at the end of the sentence, or
• near the end

This is not an absolute rule, but it is a very normal style, especially in straightforward prose.

So Stipulatio debitorem obligat feels very natural as a Latin sentence.

A common classroom pronunciation would be something like:

• sti-pu-LA-ti-o de-bi-TO-rem O-bli-gat

If using a more classical pronunciation:

• ti before a vowel is usually pronounced like tee, not like English sh
• g in obligat is always a hard g
• c and g in Latin do not soften before front vowels the way they often do in English

A rough classical approximation could be:

• stee-poo-LAH-tee-oh deh-bih-TOH-rem OH-blee-gaht

Yes.

Latin obligare means to bind or to oblige, and from it English gets words such as:

• oblige
• obligate
• obligation

So this sentence is a nice example of how many English legal and formal words come directly from Latin.

You would need to make the subject plural, and then the verb would also become plural.

For example:

• Stipulationes debitorem obligant

Changes:

• stipulatio → stipulationes to make the subject plural
• obligat → obligant so the verb agrees with the plural subject

The object debitorem stays singular if you still mean the debtor.