Puer queritur se stilum iterum perdidisse, sed soror eum sub eadem capsa invenit.

the boy

Breakdown of Puer queritur se stilum iterum perdidisse, sed soror eum sub eadem capsa invenit.

• soror: the sister
• sed: but
• iterum: again

Questions & Answers about Puer queritur se stilum iterum perdidisse, sed soror eum sub eadem capsa invenit.

Why does queritur mean complains if it looks passive?

Because queror, queri, questus sum is a deponent verb.

Deponent verbs:

• have passive-looking forms
• but an active meaning

So:

• queritur is grammatically a passive-looking form
• but it means he complains, not he is complained

This is very common in Latin, and it is something English speakers often have to get used to.

Why is se used here?

Se is the reflexive pronoun. It refers back to the subject of the main clause, which is puer.

So in:

• Puer queritur se stilum iterum perdidisse

the se means:

• himself
• or, in smoother English, simply that he

Latin uses se because the subject inside the indirect statement is the same person as the subject of queritur.

So the structure is:

• Puer queritur = the boy complains
• se perdidisse = that he has lost

If it referred to some other male person, Latin would not use se.

Why is perdidisse an infinitive instead of a normal verb like ?