Breakdown of Avus dicit doctrinam sine veritate minus utilem esse.
Questions & Answers about Avus dicit doctrinam sine veritate minus utilem esse.
Latin often uses indirect statement after verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, and perceiving.
So instead of saying:
- Grandfather says that doctrine is less useful without truth
Latin says, literally:
- Grandfather says doctrine to be less useful without truth
This construction is called the accusative-and-infinitive construction:
- doctrinam = the subject of the reported statement, put in the accusative
- esse = to be, the infinitive
- utilem = the predicate adjective agreeing with doctrinam
So dicit doctrinam ... utilem esse means he says that doctrine is less useful.
Because in an indirect statement, the subject of the reported statement goes into the accusative.
If this were a direct statement, it would be:
- doctrina minus utilis est = doctrine is less useful
But after dicit, Latin changes it to indirect statement:
- dicit doctrinam minus utilem esse = he says that doctrine is less useful
So doctrinam is not the direct object in the ordinary English sense. It is the accusative subject of esse.