Mater dicit magistram honestam et prudentem esse.

Mother says that the teacher is honest and prudent.

Breakdown of Mater dicit magistram honestam et prudentem esse.

• esse: to be
• et: and
• mater: the mother
• magistra: the female teacher

Questions & Answers about Mater dicit magistram honestam et prudentem esse.

Why is magistram in the accusative instead of magistra?

Because after dicit in this kind of sentence, Latin uses an accusative + infinitive construction for reported speech or thought.

So instead of saying:

• Mother says that the teacher is honest and prudent

Latin says, more literally:

• Mother says the teacher to be honest and prudent

In that construction, the subject of the infinitive (esse) goes into the accusative. So magistra becomes magistram.

What is this construction called?

It is called the accusative and infinitive construction, often shortened to AcI.

In this sentence:

• Mater = the subject of dicit
• dicit = the main verb
• magistram honestam et prudentem esse = the indirect statement

So the whole indirect statement is built like this:

• magistram = accusative subject of the infinitive
• esse = infinitive
• honestam et prudentem = words describing magistram

This is one of the most important Latin sentence patterns.

Where is the word that?

There is no separate word for that here.