Page:Latin for beginners (1911).djvu/202

178 INDIRECT STATEMENTS

Indirect statements after a verb in the present tense	He says that the Gauls are brave He says that the Gauls were brave He says that the Gauls will be brave
Indirect statements after a verb in a past tense	He said that the Gauls were brave He said that the Gauls had been brave He said that the Gauls would be brave

We see that in English

a. The indirect statement forms a clause introduced by the conjunction that.

b. The verb is finite (cf. § 173) and its subject is in the nominative.

c. The tenses of the verbs originally used are changed after the past tense, He said.

415. Indirect Statements in Latin. In Latin the direct and indirect statements above would be as follows:

Direct Statements	Gallī sunt fortēs Gallī erant fortēs Gallī erunt fortēs
Indirect Statements	Dīcit or Dīxit Gallōs esse fortīs (He says or He said the Gauls to be brave)[1] Dīcit or Dīxit Gallōs fuisse fortīs (He says or He said the Gauls to have been brave)[1] Dīcit or Dīxit Gallōs futūrōs esse fortīs (He says or He said the Gauls to be about to be brave)[1]

Comparing these Latin indirect statements with the English in the preceding section, we observe three marked differences:

a. There is no conjunction corresponding to that.

b. The verb is in the infinitive and its subject is in the accusative.

c. The tenses of the infinitive are not changed after a past tense of the principal verb.

416. Rule. Indirect Statements. When a direct statement becomes indirect, the principal verb is changed to the infinitive and its subject nominative becomes subject accusative of the infinitive.

1. These parenthetical renderings are not inserted as translations, but merely to show the literal meaning of the Latin.