Modo lusores gloriantur, modo iocantur.

Here modo ... modo means at one moment ... at another, or more naturally sometimes ... sometimes.

So the sentence contrasts two repeated actions:

• modo lusores gloriantur = sometimes the players boast
• modo iocantur = sometimes they joke

This is a common Latin pattern for alternating actions or states.

No. Modo has several uses in Latin, so learners often get confused by it.

Some common meanings are:

• just now
• only
• provided that
• in the pattern modo ... modo: sometimes ... sometimes / now ... now

In this sentence, because modo appears twice, the repeated pattern tells you it means sometimes ... sometimes.

It does not need to be repeated because the same subject applies to both verbs.

Latin often leaves out repeated words when they are easy to understand from context. So:

• modo lusores gloriantur
• modo iocantur

means:

• sometimes the players boast
• sometimes the players joke

English can do this too: Sometimes the players boast, sometimes joke, though English more often repeats they.

Lusores is:

• nominative plural
• from lusor, lusoris
• meaning player or players

Because it is nominative plural, it is the subject of the plural verbs gloriantur and iocantur.

The ending -ntur is a present-tense third person plural passive-looking ending. But here the verbs are deponent, so they have passive forms with active meanings.

So:

• gloriantur = they boast
• iocantur = they joke

If these were ordinary active verbs, you might expect -nt, but deponent verbs use endings like:

• -or
• -ris
• -tur
• -mur
• -mini
• -ntur

while still being translated actively.

A deponent verb is a verb that looks passive in form but has an active meaning.

In this sentence:

• glorior, gloriari, gloriatus sum = boast
• iocor, iocari, iocatus sum = joke

So even though gloriantur and iocantur look passive, they are not translated as are boasted or are joked. They mean they boast and they joke.

This is one of the most important things to notice in the sentence.

They are both present tense.

More specifically, each one is:

• third person plural
• present
• indicative
• deponent

So they mean they are boasting / they boast and they are joking / they joke, depending on how you want to express the present in English.

Because neither verb needs a direct object here.

• gloriari often means to boast and can stand on its own
• iocari means to joke, to jest, or to play around, and can also stand on its own

The sentence is simply describing what the players do, not what they boast about or joke about.

Yes, in sense, though not by direct form.

The Latin root ioc- or joc- is connected with joking, play, and wit. It is the source of words behind English forms like jocular and older spellings with j, since Latin i and j are historically connected in spelling traditions.

So seeing iocantur and thinking of joke or jocular is a useful memory aid.

Yes. Latin word order is more flexible than English because endings show grammatical function.

For example, Latin could rearrange this sentence in several ways while keeping basically the same meaning. But the given order is clear and natural:

• Modo lusores gloriantur, modo iocantur.

The repeated modo neatly sets up the alternation, and placing lusores early makes the subject clear.

Very roughly, the structure is:

• modo = now / at one time / sometimes
• lusores = the players
• gloriantur = boast
• modo = now / at another time / sometimes
• iocantur = joke

A very literal English rendering would be something like:

• At one moment the players boast, at another they joke.

A more natural English rendering is:

• Sometimes the players boast, sometimes they joke.

A classroom pronunciation close to restored classical Latin would be something like:

MO-do loo-SO-rays glo-ri-AN-toor, MO-do yo-KAN-toor

A few points:

• lusores: the u sounds like oo
• gloriantur: the i before a helps form -ian-
• iocantur: initial i before a vowel sounds like English y, so yo-
• -tur is pronounced with a clear t, not like English ch or sh

Yes. Both are first-conjugation deponent verbs:

• glorior, gloriari
• iocor, iocari

That is why their present infinitives end in -ari, and their present third plural forms are:

• gloriantur
• iocantur

So this sentence is also a nice example of two similar deponent forms used side by side.