Breakdown of Pater dicit diem natalem filiae omnibus annis gratiorem fieri.
Questions & Answers about Pater dicit diem natalem filiae omnibus annis gratiorem fieri.
After dicit, Latin uses an indirect statement.
So the sentence is structured like this:
- Pater dicit = Father says
- diem natalem filiae omnibus annis gratiorem fieri = that the daughter's birthday is becoming more pleasing every year
In Latin, an indirect statement normally uses:
- an accusative noun for the subject of the reported statement
- an infinitive for the verb
So here:
- diem natalem is the subject of the reported statement
- fieri is the infinitive verb
Because in an indirect statement, the subject is put in the accusative.
If this were a direct statement, you would expect something like:
- dies natalis ... fit or dies natalis ... est
But after dicit, Latin changes the subject into the accusative:
- dies natalis → diem natalem
So diem natalem is not the direct object of dicit in the ordinary English sense; it is the subject of the infinitive fieri inside the indirect statement.