Breakdown of Puella dicit se codicem suum in schola reliquisse.
Questions & Answers about Puella dicit se codicem suum in schola reliquisse.
Because after a verb like dicit (“says”), Latin very often uses an indirect statement construction rather than a clause with that.
So instead of saying something like “The girl says that she left her book,” Latin says:
- Puella dicit
- se reliquisse
Here se is the subject of the infinitive reliquisse. In indirect statement, the subject goes into the accusative case, so se means “herself / she” as the understood subject of reliquisse.
In other words:
- English: “The girl says that she left …”
- Latin: Puella dicit se … reliquisse
The se refers back to puella.
Because this sentence uses indirect statement (also called the accusative-and-infinitive construction).
After verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, hearing, and perceiving, Latin often uses:
- a main verb
- plus an accusative subject
- plus an infinitive
So:
- dicit = “she says”
- se reliquisse = “that she left”
The infinitive reliquisse is the perfect active infinitive of relinquere.