Indirect statement

Indirect statement Understanding the SEQUENCE of TENSES

Indirect Statement review • Reports in an indirect way (i.e. no quotes) what someone has said, thought, felt, etc. • Often used after verbs of: • Speech • Dico, dicere, dixi, dictus • Inquit • Affirmo, are, avi, atus • Refero, referre, retuli, relatus • Mental activity • Puto, are, avi, atus • Cognosco, ere, cognovi, cognitus • Sense perception • Audio, ire, ivi, itus • Video, -ēre, vidi, visus • Sentio, sentire, sensi, sensus

How it looks in Latin… • Verb of speech, mental activity, or sense perception + • Subject accusative • Infinitive • Domitianusdicitpuerosbenediscere. • Domitian says that the boys learn well. • Ego putoRomanosvincere. • I think that the Romans are winning. • PollaauditHelvidiumnecatumesse • Polla hears that Helvidius has been killed.

Types of Infinitives • You average verb has SIX infinitive forms: • Present Active • putaretenēreagereaudīre • Present Passive • putarītenēreagīaudīrī • Perfect Active • Putavissetenuisseegisseaudivisse • Perfect Passive • Putatumessetentumesseactumesseauditumesse • Future Active • Putaturumessetenturumesseacturumesseauditurumesse • Future Passive • Putatumiritentumiriactumiriauditumiri

Cont. • The present and perfect active and passive are the most common, followed by the future active. • The future passive infinitive is VERY rare. • We won’t talk about it much more than that.

Infinitive patterns • Present active • End in -re • Present passive • End in -ī • Perfect active • Perfect active stem (3rd principal part) + isse • ONE WORD • Perfect passive • Perfect passive stem (4th principal part) + esse • TWO WORDS • Future active • Perfect passive stem + urus, a, um + esse • TWO WORDS

Tense of Infinitives • This is the tricky part: • Present infinitives express an action that happens AT THE SAME TIME as the MAIN verb. • nuntiusdicitRomanosvincere. • The messenger says that the Romans are winning. • Perfect infinitives express an action that happened BEFORE the main verb • nuntiusdicitRomanosvicisse. • The messenger says that the Romans have won. • Future infinitives express action that WILL HAPPEN AFTER the action of the main verb. • nuntiusdicitRomanosvicturosesse. • The messenger says that the Romans will win.

Cont. • That’s not too bad. • But there’s more… • We have only been looking at the MAIN VERB in the present tense, but it could also be in other tenses, too… • NuntiusdixitRomanosvincere. • The messenger said that the Romans werewinning. • NuntiusdixitRomanosvicisse • The messenger said that the Romans had won. • NuntiusdixitRomanosvicturosesse • The messenger said that the Romans would win.

Sequence of tenses • Notice that the RELATIONSHIP between the verb and infinitive in both sets of sentences is the same: • nuntiusdicitRomanosvincere. • The messenger says that the Romans are winning. • NuntiusdixitRomanosvincere. • The messenger said that the Romans werewinning. • In each example the winning is occurring at the same time that the messenger is speaking. • This is because the infinitive used preserves the original, direct statement.

Meet Steve and the messenger • Hic est Steve. “Romani vincunt.” Notice that the original statement, “The Romans are winning (at the moment I am saying this) is the same…whether it is the messenger says that theyare…or the messenger said that they were… NuntiusdicitRomanosvincere Nuntius dixit Romanosvincere

Tips • This takes practice to get straight • Luckily, there are TONS of examples in your packet to help you get the hang of it :) • Let’s try some now… • Militesdixerunthostesrecessisse. • The soldiers say that the enemy has withdrawn. • The soldiers said that the enemy was withdrawing • The soldiers said that the enemy had withdrawn. • The soldiers say that the enemy withdrew.

How to Translate an Indirect Statement Memorize the chart below to assist you in translating an indirect statement.

Indirect statement