Breakdown of Mater sperat amicum suum intra novem dies e carcere liberari posse.
amicus
the friend
mater
the mother
posse
to be able
dies
the day
Questions & Answers about Mater sperat amicum suum intra novem dies e carcere liberari posse.
What is the basic grammar of the whole sentence?
The sentence has two parts:
- the main clause: Mater sperat = The mother hopes
- an indirect statement after sperat: amicum suum intra novem dies e carcere liberari posse
A very common Latin pattern is:
- a verb of thinking, saying, knowing, hoping, etc.
- followed by an accusative + infinitive construction
So here the mother hopes that her friend can be freed from prison within nine days.
Why is amicum in the accusative, not the nominative?
Because in an accusative-and-infinitive construction, the subject of the infinitive goes into the accusative.
So although amicum suum is the person who is being freed, it is not the subject of the main verb sperat. The subject of sperat is mater.
You can think of it like this:
- Mater = subject of sperat
- amicum suum = subject of liberari posse, so it appears in the accusative
This is very normal Latin syntax.
Is amicum suum the direct object of sperat?
Not really. It may look that way at first, because it is accusative, but its real job is different.