Puella dicit se codicem suum in schola reliquisse.

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Breakdown of Puella dicit se codicem suum in schola reliquisse.

• puella: the girl
• dicere: to say
• schola: the school

Questions & Answers about Puella dicit se codicem suum in schola reliquisse.

Why is se used instead of a normal finite subject like ea or illa?

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.

Why is reliquisse an infinitive instead of a normal verb form?

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.