Pater dicit se porcum non amare, sed gallinam libenter edere.

Because after dicit (says), Latin often uses an indirect statement construction instead of a that-clause.

In English, we say:

• Father says that he does not like pork, but gladly eats chicken.

In Latin, that idea is commonly expressed as:

• dicit se ... amare / edere

This is called the accusative-and-infinitive construction:

• the subject of the reported statement goes into the accusative
• the verbs of the reported statement go into the infinitive

So se porcum non amare, sed gallinam libenter edere means literally something like:

• himself not to like pork, but gladly to eat chicken

which is just Latin’s normal way of saying:

• that he does not like pork, but gladly eats chicken

Se is the reflexive pronoun and here it refers back to pater.

So:

• Pater dicit se ... = The father says that he ...

Latin does not repeat pater inside the indirect statement. Instead, it uses se to show that the subject of the reported statement is the same as the subject of dicit.

So se here means:

• himself
• or more naturally in English, just he

In an indirect statement after a verb like dicit, the subject of the reported statement is put in the accusative.

That is why we get:

• se = accusative subject of amare and edere

This may feel strange to an English speaker, because in English the subject stays a normal subject:

• he does not like pork

But in Latin indirect statement, it becomes:

• se porcum non amare

So se is not the direct object of dicit in the ordinary sense; it is the subject of the infinitives inside the reported statement.

They are accusative because they are the direct objects of the infinitives:

• porcum goes with amare
• gallinam goes with edere

So the structure is:

• se porcum non amare = that he does not like pork
• sed gallinam libenter edere = but that he gladly eats chicken

This means the sentence contains several accusatives, but they do different jobs:

• se = accusative subject of the indirect statement
• porcum = object of amare
• gallinam = object of edere

Yes. Se is understood with both infinitives.

So the full sense is:

• Pater dicit se porcum non amare, sed se gallinam libenter edere.

Latin often leaves out a repeated word when it is clear. So the second se is omitted because it would be unnecessary.

That is very common in Latin.

Here non negates the verb amare:

• non amare = not to like / not to love

So the sense is that the father says he does not like pork.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order, but placing non near the word it negates is common and helpful. Here it most naturally goes with amare, not with porcum.

Sed means but and introduces a contrast.

The contrast is:

• porcum non amare = not like pork
• gallinam libenter edere = but gladly eat chicken

So sed connects two parts of the same indirect statement:

• one negative idea
• one contrasting positive idea

Libenter is an adverb meaning gladly, willingly, or with pleasure.

It modifies edere:

• gallinam libenter edere = to gladly eat chicken

So it tells us how he eats the chicken.

Latin adverbs often stand near the word they modify, but word order can vary. Here libenter is placed right before edere, which makes its connection especially clear.

Because after verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, and perceiving, Latin usually prefers the accusative-and-infinitive construction instead of a clause introduced by that.

English:

• Father says that he does not like pork.

Latin:

• Pater dicit se porcum non amare.

So what English expresses with that, Latin often expresses with:

• an accusative subject
• plus an infinitive verb

Normally, no. In this kind of sentence, se naturally refers back to the subject of the main verb, here pater.

So:

• Pater dicit se ... almost certainly means The father says that he himself ...

If Latin wanted to refer to some other person, it would usually use another pronoun or noun instead of se.

That is one of the key functions of se: it points back to the subject of its own clause or governing statement.

Not in the same way it is in English. Latin relies much more on endings than on word order.

So the relationships are clear from the forms:

• pater = nominative subject of dicit
• se = accusative subject of the infinitives
• porcum, gallinam = objects
• amare, edere = infinitives

The chosen order is natural and readable, but Latin could rearrange parts of this sentence without changing the basic meaning.

For example, the following would still be understandable Latin:

• Pater se porcum non amare, sed gallinam libenter edere dicit.

The original order is simply a straightforward, beginner-friendly way to present it.

Because the whole rest of the sentence depends on dicit as reported speech.

The father is not directly doing two separate actions in the main clause. He is doing one main action:

• he says

What he says is then expressed by the infinitive phrases:

• se porcum non amare
• sed gallinam libenter edere

So dicit is the only main verb, and the other verbal ideas are subordinate to it inside the indirect statement.