Iudex dicit poenam nimis duram esse.

to be

Breakdown of Iudex dicit poenam nimis duram esse.

• dicere: to say
• iudex: the judge
• poena: the punishment

Questions & Answers about Iudex dicit poenam nimis duram esse.

Why is poenam in the accusative instead of the nominative?

Because dicit introduces an indirect statement. In Latin, after verbs like say, think, know, and hear, the reported statement is often expressed with:

• an accusative subject
• an infinitive verb

So in poenam nimis duram esse, poenam is the subject of the reported idea, but it appears in the accusative because of this construction.

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Why do we get esse instead of est?

For the same reason: this is an indirect statement.

In a direct statement, Latin would say something like:

• Poena nimis dura est = The punishment is too harsh

But after dicit, Latin changes the verb of that statement into an infinitive:

• poenam nimis duram esse = the punishment to be too harsh

That is why est becomes esse.

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Why is duram also in the accusative?

Because duram agrees with poenam.

Since poenam is:

• accusative