Indirect Statement
Terminology
 Direct vs. Indirect Statements
o A DIRECT statement is made by some (perhaps unstated) speaker, directly.
 In dialogue, direct statements are offset by quotations. EXAMPLE: We
say, “You are evil.”
 Every sentence you have worked on up until this point in your Latin
studies is an example of a direct statement.
o An INDIRECT statement is a statement contained within a larger, over-arching
sentence. If the indirect statement were removed from its context, it too would be
a direct statement.
 In dialogue, indirect statements are NOT offset by quotations.
EXAMPLE: We say that you are evil. We say you are evil.
 Often, the subject of the sentence containing an indirect statement is either
commenting on or reporting what has been stated elsewhere.
 An indirect statement will always come after a verb that involves either
one of the senses (seeing, hearing, etc.), intellectual or emotional
perception (understanding, perceiving, believing, feeling, etc.), or
communication (saying, shouting, reporting, whispering, writing, reading,
etc.).
 These may be conceived of as either “sensory + communication”
verbs, or “Adam’s apple” verbs (meaning every organ that does
one of these actions is located above the Adam’s apple: mouth,
ears, eyes, brain)
 See textbook p. 224 for a vocabulary list, of which the majority are
verbs that would fall under this “Adam’s apple” designation.
 Also note “classic” Latin I verbs
o clāmō (1), “to shout, yell”
o dīcō, dīcere, dīxī, dīctum, “to say, speak, tell”
o narrō (1), “to tell”
o nūntiō (1), “to announce, report”
 Also, note there are some important new verbs that do the same:
o arbitror, arbitrārī, arbitrātus sum (deponent), “to think,
judge, decide”
o loquor, loquī, locūtus sum, (deponent), “to say, speak”
o for, fārī, fātus sum (deponent), “to say, speak”
o ferō, ferre, tulī, lātus (irregular), “to bring, bear, report”
 Also, a few phrases that are less obvious but would also introduce
indirect statement, such as:
o erat fābula, “There was a story (that)….”
o fama est, “The rumor/report is (that)….”
1
Indirect Statement


In English, the indirect statement can be identified as a subordinate clause;
it often but does not have to follow an introductory “that.”
Ōrātiō Oblīqua (Latin for “Indirect Speech”)
o Indirect speech is sometimes referred to by its Latin name in grammar books.
o Three types of indirect speech exist:
 Indirect Statements – acc. vs. nom. + infinitive vs. indicative
 Indirect Commands – subjunctive vs. imperative/indicative
 Indirect Questions – subjunctive vs. indicative
Rules for Indirect Statement in Latin
 (1) Anything that would be expressed as nominative case in a direct statement becomes
ACCUSATIVE in indirect statement
o Nominative Subject >> Accusative Subject (of an indirect statement)
o Nominative Predicate >> Accusative Predicate
 (2) The main verb of a direct statement becomes an INFINITIVE mood verb in indirect
statement
o Be sure to note the tense and voice of the infinitive
o Infinitives that have the participial portion ending in –us, -a, -um will have to
AGREE WITH THEIR (now accusative) SUBJECT
 Places where you will have to think of this:
 perfect passive infinitive: laudātus, -a, -um esse
 future active infinitive: laudātūrus, -a, -um esse
 Examples:
 I did not know that the (female) teachers had been praised
yesterday. Nescīvī magistrās herī laudātās esse.
 Do you think that you (m.) will praise this very good student soon?
putāsne tē hunc discipulum optimum mox laudātūrum esse?
o Infinitives are translated into Latin based on their tense RELATIVE TO THE TIME of
the main verb introducing the indirect statement.
 Main verb in the present tense:
I see (that) you are happy
videō tē esse fēlicem
I see (that) you have been/were happy.
videō tē fuisse fēlicem
I see that you will be happy
video tē fūtūrum esse fēlicem
 Main verb in a past tense:
vidēbam tē esse fēlicem
vidī tē fuisse fēlicem
vīdī tē fūtūrum esse fēlicem
I saw (that) you were (being) happy
I saw (that) you had been happy
I saw that you would be happy
2
Indirect Statement
 Main verb in a future tense:
vidēbō tē esse fēlicem
vīderō tē fuisse fēlicem
vīdēbō tē fūtūrum esse fēlicem


I will see (that) you will be happy.
I will have seen (that) you
are/were/have/had been happy.
????
(3) EVERYTHING ELSE STAYS THE SAME (ceterīs paribus, “all else being the same”)
o Adverbs are just adverbs in indirect statement
o prepositional phrases are just prepositional phrases in indirect statement
o genitives, datives, ablatives all work the same in indirect statement
o yes, even:
 accusatives of direct object, place to which, duration of time/extent of
space, and object complement are all going to be the same in indirect
statement
 Tū semper humillima in ludō erās et bene tuīs cum amīcīs
cognōscēbās, mea discipula. You were always very humble in
school and learned well with your friends, my student.
 Aliī magistrī, mea discipula, mihi tē semper humillimam in
ludō fuisse et bene tuīs cum amīcīs cognōvisse dīcunt. The other
teachers tell me that you were always very humble in school and
learned well with your friends, my student.
 verbs that would be infinitive in a direct statement (e.g., complementary
infinitive to possum or some other verb) would still be the same kind of an
infinitive in the indirect statement
 temptō vōs omnēs docēre. I am trying to teach you all.
 nōnne crēditis mē quam optimē vōs omnēs docēre temptāre.
Don’t you believe that I am trying to teach you all as well as I can?
o EXCEPTION: a subordinate clause within an indirect statement has its verb in the
subjunctive (we’ll practice this later)
 Example: I thought that this soldier, who had killed so many enemies, was
the most worthy of praise.
 arbitrātus sum hunc mīlitem, quī tot hostēs interfēcisset, esse
laude dignissimum.
o The subordinate clause quī…interfēcisset resides within an
indirect statement, “(that) this solder was the most worthy
of praise”
o Its verb, “had killed,” is in the pluperfect subjunctive:
interfēcisset
SUMMARY OF RULES: ACCUSATIVE + (more Latin, probably) + INFINITIVE =
INDIRECT STATEMENT
3
Indirect Statement

Rules of Thumb: (Regulae Pollicis)
o Word order:
 The “Adam’s apple” verb that introduces an indirect statement can either
precede or follow the actual indirect statement.
 Indirect statements are subordinate clauses
 In Latin word order is highly flexible. Subordinate clauses can be
put at the beginning, end, or middle of any sentence.
 The accusative subject of an indirect statement will be the first word or at
least the first accusative noun of the indirect statement.
 The infinitive verb of the indirect statement often closes out the indirect
statement, coming at the end.
o Translating the infinitive verb of the indirect statement accurately based on tense:
 Present tense infinitive = “make the verb in the indirect statement sound
like it’s happening at the same as the main verb”
 Perfect infinitive = “make the verb in the indirect statement sound like it’s
happened prior to the main verb”
 Future infinitive = “make the verb in the indirect statement sound like it’s
happens or is going to happen after the main verb”
Examples of Sentences
 Direct Statements:
o Marcus is bad. Mārcus malus est.
o “Marcus is bad,” says the consul. “Mārcus malus est,” inquit consul.
o You are happy. Tū es laeta.
o The girls play at home (“locative”). Puellae domī lūdunt.
o Those towns were big. Illa oppida magna sunt.
o I love Latin. Ego amō Latīnam linguam.
 Indirect Statements:
o Do you think that Marcus is bad?
Putāsne Mārcum malum esse.
o The consul says that Marcus is bad.
Consul dīcit Mārcum malum esse.
o I refuse to believe that you are happy.
Negō crēdere tē laetum esse.
o The big, bad wolf heard that the girls would be playing at home.
Magnus lūpus malus audīvit [puellās domī lusūrās esse].
o Throughout the long journey, many soldiers noticed those towns were big.
o Everyone will know that today I loved Latin. Omnēs scient mē (hōc
tempore/hōdiē) Latīnam linguam amāvisse.
o He knew that I had been happy.
Scīvit mē fuisse laetum.
4