Magister dicit ordinem in schola servandum esse.

to be

Breakdown of Magister dicit ordinem in schola servandum esse.

• in: in
• magister: the teacher
• dicere: to say

Questions & Answers about Magister dicit ordinem in schola servandum esse.

Why is ordinem in the accusative?

Because dicit often introduces an indirect statement in Latin. In an indirect statement, the subject of the embedded idea goes into the accusative, and the verb appears as an infinitive.

So in:

Magister dicit ordinem in schola servandum esse

the core indirect statement is:

ordinem ... servandum esse
= that order must be preserved

Here ordinem is the thing being talked about in the reported statement, so it appears in the accusative.

What is servandum esse doing here?

Servandum esse is the verb part of the indirect statement.

It is made up of:

• servandum = the gerundive of servare
• esse = to be

Together they form a passive periphrastic, which usually expresses necessity, obligation, or what must be done.

So:

• servandum est = it must be preserved / must be kept
• servandum esse = to have to be preserved / that it must be preserved in indirect statement form

Because the whole clause depends on dicit, Latin uses esse instead of est.

Why is it and not some other form like or ?