Avus dicit doctrinam sine veritate minus utilem esse.

to be

Breakdown of Avus dicit doctrinam sine veritate minus utilem esse.

• utilis: useful
• dicere: to say
• sine: without

Questions & Answers about Avus dicit doctrinam sine veritate minus utilem esse.

Why is dicit followed by doctrinam ... utilem esse instead of a clause with that?

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.

Why is doctrinam in the accusative?

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.