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, - ē re, vidi, visus  Sentio, sentire, sensi, sensus

How it looks in Latin…  Verb of speech, mental activity, or sense perception +  Subject accusative  Infinitive  Domitianus dicit pueros bene discere. Domitian says that the boys learn well.  Ego puto Romanos vincere. I think that the Romans are winning.  Polla audit Helvidium necatum esse Polla hears that Helvidius has been killed.

Types of Infinitives  You average verb has SIX infinitive forms:  Present Active  putareten ē reagereaud ī re  Present Passive  putar ī ten ē reag ī aud ī r ī  Perfect Active  Putavissetenuisseegisseaudivisse  Perfect Passive  Putatum essetentum esseactum esseauditum esse  Future Active  Putaturum esse tenturum esseacturum esseauditurum esse  Future Passive  Putatum iritentum iriactum iriauditum iri

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 (3 rd principal part) + isse  ONE WORD  Perfect passive  Perfect passive stem (4 th 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.  nuntius dicit Romanos vincere. The messenger says that the Romans are winning.  Perfect infinitives express an action that happened BEFORE the main verb  nuntius dicit Romanos vicisse. The messenger says that the Romans have won.  Future infinitives express action that WILL HAPPEN AFTER the action of the main verb.  nuntius dicit Romanos victuros esse. 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…  Nuntius dixit Romanos vincere. The messenger said that the Romans were winning.  Nuntius dixit Romanos vicisse The messenger said that the Romans had won.  Nuntius dixit Romanos victuros esse 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:  nuntius dicit Romanos vincere. The messenger says that the Romans are winning.  Nuntius dixit Romanos vincere. The messenger said that the Romans were winning.  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.” Nuntius dixit Romanos vincereNuntius dicit Romanos vincere 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 they are…or the messenger said that they were…

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…  Milites dixerunt hostes recessisse.  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.