Pater dicit bonam voluntatem meliorem esse quam vim.

This is a very common Latin pattern called an indirect statement.

After a verb of saying, thinking, knowing, hearing, and so on, Latin often uses:

• accusative subject
• infinitive verb

So here:

• dicit = the main verb
• bonam voluntatem ... esse = the content of what is being said

In other words, instead of English Father says that ... is ..., Latin says, more literally, Father says good will to be better than force.

That sounds strange in English, but it is normal Latin.

Because it is the subject of the infinitive esse inside an indirect statement.

In English, the subject of a clause is usually nominative: good will is better.

But in Latin indirect statement, the subject changes to the accusative:

• nominative: bona voluntas
• accusative: bonam voluntatem

So bonam voluntatem is not the direct object of dicit by itself. Rather, it is the accusative subject of the infinitive esse.

Not exactly.

The thing that pater dicit is really the whole indirect statement:

bonam voluntatem meliorem esse quam vim

Within that indirect statement, bonam voluntatem is the subject of esse, but Latin puts that subject into the accusative.

So it can look like a direct object at first, but grammatically it is doing a different job.

Because that is how Latin normally forms indirect statement.

After dicit, Latin does not usually use a separate word for that plus a finite verb. Instead, it uses:

• accusative subject + infinitive

So where English says:

• Father says that good will is better than force

Latin says:

• Pater dicit bonam voluntatem meliorem esse quam vim

Here esse is the infinitive to be, and it corresponds to English is inside the reported statement.

Because meliorem is a predicate adjective describing bonam voluntatem, and it must agree with it.

Since bonam voluntatem is:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

meliorem must also be:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

So:

• bonam voluntatem = the thing being described
• meliorem = the description attached to it

If the subject were nominative, you would get bona voluntas melior. But inside indirect statement, both appear in the accusative: bonam voluntatem meliorem.

Quam means than in a comparison.

The comparative adjective is meliorem = better.
So quam vim gives the second part of the comparison:

• better than force

This is the standard way Latin expresses comparison with a comparative adjective.

Because after quam, the compared word is usually put in the same case as the word it is being compared with.

Here vim is being compared with bonam voluntatem:

• bonam voluntatem = accusative
• therefore vim = accusative

So Latin is effectively saying:

• good will is better than force

Both compared things appear in the same case.

You may later learn another construction called the ablative of comparison, but that is not what this sentence uses.

Because vis is an irregular noun.

Its nominative singular is:

• vis = force

But its accusative singular is:

• vim

Since the sentence needs the accusative form after quam, it uses vim.

This is one of those forms that simply has to be learned as part of the noun’s irregular declension.

Because bonam agrees with voluntatem in:

• gender
• number
• case

Voluntas is feminine, singular, and here accusative: voluntatem.
So the adjective bonus, bona, bonum must also appear in the feminine singular accusative form:

• bonam

That agreement tells you the two words belong together: bonam voluntatem.

A learner will usually want to identify each form back to its dictionary entry:

• pater → pater, patris = father
• dicit → dico, dicere, dixi, dictum = say
• bonam → bonus, bona, bonum = good
• voluntatem → voluntas, voluntatis = will, good will, willingness
• meliorem → melior, melius = better
• esse → sum, esse, fui = be
• quam = than
• vim → vis = force

Recognizing these dictionary forms makes the sentence much easier to parse.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because the endings show each word’s role.

So this sentence could be arranged differently and still mean the same thing, as long as the forms stay clear.

The given order is fairly natural:

• Pater first: the main subject
• dicit next: the main verb
• then the whole indirect statement

Also, Latin often keeps related words reasonably close together:

• bonam voluntatem
• meliorem esse
• quam vim

So the order is meaningful and natural, but not as rigid as English.

Because Latin has no articles.

Latin does not have separate words for the, a, or an. Whether you understand a noun as definite or indefinite depends on context.

So:

• pater can mean the father or a father
• bonam voluntatem can be understood as good will without any article

English has to add an article, but Latin does not.