Learn Hardcore Latin: Uxor dicit aliquem ante portam stare; maritus autem dicit neminem intrare posse. - The wife says that someone is standing before the gate; the husband, however, says that no one can enter.

Word

Uxor dicit aliquem ante portam stare; maritus autem dicit neminem intrare posse.

Meaning

The wife says that someone is standing before the gate; the husband, however, says that no one can enter.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Latin

Lesson

Lesson 14

Breakdown of Uxor dicit aliquem ante portam stare; maritus autem dicit neminem intrare posse.

Questions & Answers about Uxor dicit aliquem ante portam stare; maritus autem dicit neminem intrare posse.

Why are aliquem and neminem in the accusative, even though they seem to be the ones doing the actions?

Because after dicit in this sentence, Latin is using indirect statement (also called the accusative-and-infinitive construction).

So instead of saying:

The wife says: "Someone is standing..."

Latin says:

Uxor dicit aliquem ... stare

Literally, that is something like:

The wife says someone to be standing...

In this construction:

the subject of the reported statement goes into the accusative
the verb of the reported statement goes into the infinitive

So:

aliquem = the person said to be standing
neminem = the person said to be able to enter

Even though they are the logical subjects of stare and intrare posse, grammatically they appear in the accusative because of the indirect statement construction.

Is dicit aliquem ante portam stare a special grammar construction?

Yes. It is the very common Latin construction called indirect statement.

Its usual pattern is:

verb of saying/thinking/perceiving
- accusative subject
  - infinitive

Here: