Lusor pignus ponit.

• Lusor is a noun and the subject.
• Pignus is a noun and the direct object.
• Ponit is a verb.

So the structure is basically subject + object + verb, which is a very common Latin pattern.

Lusor is nominative singular.

That tells you it is the subject, the person doing the action. In this sentence, lusor is the one who ponit.

Its dictionary form is lusor, lusoris, so it is a third-declension noun.

Pignus is accusative singular, because it is the direct object of ponit.

It is not pignum because pignus is not a second-declension noun. It is a third-declension neuter noun: pignus, pignoris.

A very important rule is that third-declension neuter nouns have the same form in the nominative and accusative singular. So both subject-form and object-form can be pignus.

You know from syntax and meaning.

• Ponit is a verb that normally takes an object.
• Lusor is nominative and works naturally as the subject.
• That leaves pignus as the thing being placed.

This is common in Latin: sometimes you identify a word’s role not just from its ending, but from the whole sentence.

Ponit is the third-person singular present active indicative of pono, ponere, posui, positum.

That means:

• present tense: the action is happening now or generally
• active voice: the subject is doing the action
• third person singular: he/she/it does the action

So the -it ending here tells you he/she places or puts.

Because Latin usually does not need one.

The ending of the verb already tells you the person and number:

• ponit = he/she/it places

So Latin can leave the subject pronoun unstated unless it is needed for emphasis or clarity. In this sentence, lusor is named explicitly, so there is no need for a separate he.

Latin has no articles.

So lusor can mean:

• the player
• a player

And pignus can mean:

• the stake
• a stake

You decide from the context which English article sounds right.

Yes, Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order.

Lusor pignus ponit uses a very normal Latin arrangement, especially in simple textbook sentences: subject + object + verb.

Latin often puts the verb near the end, but other orders are possible, such as:

• Pignus lusor ponit
• Ponit lusor pignus

The basic meaning can stay the same, but the emphasis may change.

Yes, if the subject were already understood from context.

Since ponit already means he/she/it places, Latin can omit an expressed subject when it is obvious. Adding lusor makes the sentence clearer and explicitly tells you who is doing the action.

You would usually learn:

• lusor, lusoris = player
• pignus, pignoris = pledge, stake, wager
• pono, ponere, posui, positum = put, place, set

Learning the full dictionary form is important in Latin, because it tells you how a noun declines or how a verb is conjugated.

In a classroom-style classical pronunciation, roughly:

LOO-sor PIG-noos POH-nit

A few helpful points:

• u sounds like oo
• g is always hard, as in go
• each word is pronounced clearly; Latin spelling is fairly regular

If your course uses an ecclesiastical pronunciation, the sound may differ a little.