Breakdown of Medica dicit digitum bene sanari posse.
Questions & Answers about Medica dicit digitum bene sanari posse.
Medica is a feminine noun meaning female doctor or woman physician. It is in the nominative singular, so it is the subject of dicit.
A learner might expect medicus, which is the masculine form meaning male doctor. So this sentence specifically has a female doctor as the speaker.
Digitum is the accusative singular of digitus (finger or toe, depending on context).
After verbs like dicit, Latin often uses an accusative-and-infinitive construction for reported statements. In English we say something like:
- The doctor says that the finger can heal well.
In Latin, the subject of the reported statement becomes accusative, so digitum is the logical subject of sanari posse, even though it is accusative in form.
So:
- medica = the doctor says
- digitum ... posse = that the finger is able ...
This is one of the most common features of Latin syntax.
After verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, perceiving, and similar verbs, Latin often does use a separate word meaning . Instead, it uses: