MS: Lesson - Indirect Statements - Introduction and Translation

Indirect Statements - Introduction and Translation

Before we explore the Latin indirect statement, let's take a moment to talk about direct and indirect speech. When reporting the words spoken by a person, a speaker or writer has two options:

1. Direct statement - a form of reporting in which the exact words of the speaker are recorded. In English, a direct statement is marked with quotation marks.
   • The general said, "We will attack at dawn."
2. Indirect statement - a form of reporting in which the words of the speaker are paraphrased. In English, an indirect statement is never marked with quotation marks and is usually introduced with the word that.
   • The general said that we would attack at dawn.

In the Latin that we are reading, a direct statement will be marked with quotation marks, just as in English. However, an indirect statement is handled in a very specific manner, using a special construction called the Accusative and Infinitive Construction.

Indirect Statements in Latin - The Accusative and Infinitive Construction

The word statement can be a bit misleading. There are many ways to express things indirectly, but they all involve the use of mental or sensory capacities: saying, thinking, feeling, seeing, hearing. Because a large majority of these actions revolve around the head, we refer to this set of sensory verbs as head verbs. To have an indirect statement in Latin, there has to be a head verb to introduce it.

The reported statement in an indirect statement is structured by using an accusative case noun or pronoun as subject followed by an infinitive in the place of the verb. Every sentence containing an indirect sentence will have the following:

• A head verb introducing the indirect statement, which is composed of:
  • An accusative noun or pronoun as the subject of the indirect statement
  • An infinitive being used as the verb in the indirect statement 

In English, the word that connects the head verb to the indirect statement. Latin does not use a word to connect the head verb to the indirect statement. Instead, the accusative noun marks the beginning of the statement, and the infinitive verb marks the end of the statement. 

Translating Latin Indirect Statements

Latin	Explanation	English
Dico Pseduolum esse sapientem magistrum.	Head Verb: dico Accusative Subject: Pseudolum Infinitive Verb: esse	I say that Pseudolus is a wise teacher.
Arbitrarisne Marcellum a Livia necatum esse?	Head Verb: arbitraris Accusative Subject: Marcellum Infinitive Verb: necatum esse	Do you think that Marcellus was killed by Livia?
Sentimus te fore utilem nobis.	Head Verb: sentimus Accusative Subject: te Infinitive Verb: fore (contraction of futurum esse)	We feel that you will be useful to us.
Maecenas vidit Liviam a Pseudolo inquiri.	Head Verb: vidit Accusative Subject: Liviam Infinitive Verb: inquiri	Maecenas saw that Livia was being investigated by Pseudolus.