Puer dicit se famem sentire et matrem rogare ut sibi panem det.

The main finite verb is dicit.

Everything else is built around it:

• Puer = subject
• dicit = main verb
• se famem sentire et matrem rogare = what the boy says
• ut sibi panem det = what he asks his mother to do

So the sentence is centered on dicit, and much of the rest depends on that verb.

Because after a verb of saying like dicit, Latin very often uses indirect statement, also called the accusative-and-infinitive construction.

So instead of saying something like:

• he says that he feels hunger
• he says that he asks his mother

Latin puts:

• se ... sentire
• se ... rogare

In this construction:

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

That is exactly what you see here.

Se is accusative singular, and here it is the subject of the infinitives sentire and rogare.

That may feel strange to an English speaker, because in English the subject of a verb is normally in the nominative. But in Latin indirect statement, the subject is regularly put in the accusative.

So in:

• se famem sentire
• (se) matrem rogare

se means himself, referring back to puer.

Because se is a reflexive pronoun. It refers back to the subject of the governing clause, here puer.

So:

• puer dicit se... = the boy says that he...

If Latin used eum instead, it would normally mean some other male person, not the boy himself.

So se is used because the person who is speaking and the person spoken about are the same.

Yes. Se is the subject of both infinitives.

Latin often does not repeat a word if it clearly applies to both parts of a pair. So:

• se famem sentire et matrem rogare

means:

• that he feels hunger and that he asks his mother

Latin could repeat se, but it does not need to.

Because famem is the direct object of sentire.

The phrase famem sentire literally means to feel hunger. In smoother English, we usually say to be hungry.

So the grammar is:

• sentire = to feel
• famem = hunger, as the thing felt

That is why famem is accusative.

Latin certainly can say esurire for to be hungry, but famem sentire is also a perfectly normal way to express the idea.

It is a more literal expression:

• famem = hunger
• sentire = feel

So an English learner should recognize that Latin often uses expressions that sound more concrete than the most natural English translation.

Because with rogare, the person asked is commonly put in the accusative.

So:

• matrem rogare = to ask his mother

That differs from English, where learners may expect something like to ask to/for the mother or a dative-like idea. But in Latin, the person asked is usually the direct object.

Then the thing requested is expressed separately, here by:

• ut sibi panem det

Because Latin commonly uses rogare ut + subjunctive to express asking someone to do something.

So:

• matrem rogare ut sibi panem det

means:

• to ask his mother to give him bread

Literally, it is more like:

• to ask his mother that she give him bread

This is a very common pattern after verbs of asking, urging, persuading, commanding, and similar ideas.

Because it is inside an ut clause after rogare.

After this kind of verb, Latin normally uses:

• ut
  • subjunctive

So det is not indicative she gives, but subjunctive that she give / to give in English sense.

This is one of the standard uses of the subjunctive in subordinate clauses.

There are two main reasons:

• not dat: because after rogare ut, Latin uses the subjunctive, not the indicative
• not daret: because the main verb dicit is present, so Latin normally uses primary sequence, which favors the present subjunctive here

So det fits the grammar of a present-tense request reported under a present main verb.

Sibi is the reflexive dative, meaning to himself, referring back to the same person as se, namely the boy.

So the meaning is that the boy asks his mother to give bread to him.

If Latin used ei, that would more naturally suggest to him/her, referring to someone else, not back to the subject in the same reflexive way.

Because panem is the direct object of det.

In other words, it is the thing being given:

• det = may give / give
• panem = bread

So panem is in the accusative as the direct object.

Strictly speaking, the Latin grammar puts rogare under dicit, just like sentire.

So the sentence literally means:

• The boy says that he feels hunger and asks his mother to give him bread
• more literally still: The boy says that he feels hunger and that he asks his mother to give him bread

If Latin wanted to say two separate main actions more clearly, it could use a finite verb such as rogat instead of rogare.

So yes: grammatically, rogare is part of what he says.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show grammatical function.

For example:

• puer is clearly the subject
• famem, matrem, and panem are clearly accusatives
• sibi is clearly dative
• det is clearly the verb of the ut clause

Because those relationships are marked by endings, Latin does not need a fixed English-style order to show who is doing what.

Also, Latin often likes to place a verb, especially in a subordinate clause, near the end, which is why det comes last.