Mater filio nuntiat cenam iam paratam esse.

to be

Breakdown of Mater filio nuntiat cenam iam paratam esse.

• mater: the mother
• filius: the son
• iam: already

Questions & Answers about Mater filio nuntiat cenam iam paratam esse.

Why is filio in the dative case?

Because filio means to the son or for the son, and nuntiare commonly takes the person informed in the dative.

So in this sentence:

• mater = the mother
• filio = to her son
• nuntiat = announces / reports

A very literal skeleton is:

The mother announces to her son ...

This is a common Latin pattern with verbs of telling, reporting, announcing, and showing.

Why is cenam accusative?

Because it is the subject of an indirect statement, and in Latin the subject of an indirect statement goes into the accusative.

English says:

• The mother announces that dinner is already ready.

Latin often says this with an accusative + infinitive construction:

• cenam ... esse

Here:

• cenam = the subject of the indirect statement
• esse = to be

So although dinner is logically the thing that is ready, Latin puts it in the accusative because it belongs to indirect statement syntax.

What is an indirect statement, exactly?

An indirect statement is a way of reporting what someone says, thinks, knows, hears, announces, and so on.