Coquus dicit cepam et allium in olla bene olere.

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Breakdown of Coquus dicit cepam et allium in olla bene olere.

• et: and
• dicere: to say
• bene: well

Questions & Answers about Coquus dicit cepam et allium in olla bene olere.

Why is dicit followed by olere instead of a clause with that?

Because Latin normally uses indirect statement after verbs like dicit (he says).

In English, we say:

• The cook says that the onion and garlic smell good in the pot.

In Latin, instead of using a separate word for that, Latin usually uses:

• an accusative noun
  • an infinitive

So here:

• dicit = says
• cepam et allium ... olere = the onion and garlic to smell ...

That whole infinitive phrase is what the cook says.

This construction is often called the accusative-and-infinitive construction, or indirect statement.

Why are cepam and allium not in the nominative case?

Because in a Latin indirect statement, the subject of the infinitive goes into the accusative.

So although the onion and garlic are the things doing the smelling, Latin does not put them in the nominative here. Instead it uses the accusative because they are the subject of olere inside indirect statement.

• cepa = nominative, onion
• cepam = accusative

For allium, the form allium can be both nominative and accusative singular, because it is a neuter second-declension noun. So even though the form looks unchanged in English-style terms, it is functioning here as an accusative.