Breakdown of Pater dicit iniuriam amicitiae nocere.
Questions & Answers about Pater dicit iniuriam amicitiae nocere.
Because this sentence uses indirect statement after dicit.
Latin often expresses X says that Y does Z with:
- a main verb of saying/thinking, like dicit
- an accusative subject
- an infinitive
So:
- Pater dicit = Father says
- iniuriam ... nocere = that injustice/wrong harms ...
If this were a direct statement, you might have:
- Iniuria amicitiae nocet = Injustice harms friendship
But after dicit, Latin changes that into indirect statement:
- Pater dicit iniuriam amicitiae nocere
Normally, yes: the subject of a normal finite verb is in the nominative.
But in an indirect statement, the subject of the infinitive goes into the accusative. That is exactly what is happening here.
So in the underlying direct statement:
- Iniuria amicitiae nocet
the subject is nominative iniuria.
But in indirect statement after dicit, it becomes:
- iniuriam ... nocere
So iniuriam is the subject of the infinitive , even though it is accusative.