Pater dicit gloriam sine labore brevem esse.

Because after dicit Latin often uses indirect statement instead of a that-clause.

In English, we say:

• Father says that glory is brief.

In Latin, that becomes:

• Pater dicit gloriam brevem esse.

In this construction, the subject of the reported statement is put in the accusative. So gloriam is the subject of esse, but because it is inside indirect statement, it appears in the accusative.

This is often called the accusative-and-infinitive construction.

Esse is the present infinitive of sum, meaning to be.

After a verb like dicit (says), Latin commonly expresses reported speech with:

• accusative subject
  • infinitive verb

So instead of saying Father says that glory is brief, Latin says, more literally:

• Father says glory to be brief.

That is why esse appears.

Because brevem describes gloriam, and adjectives must agree with the nouns they modify in gender, number, and case.

Here:

• gloriam = accusative singular feminine
• brevem = accusative singular feminine

So brevem agrees with gloriam.

Even though in English we might think of brief as a predicate adjective after to be, in Latin it still agrees with the accusative subject of the indirect statement.

There is no separate word for that here.

English uses a that-clause:

• Father says that glory is brief.

Latin usually does this with an accusative + infinitive construction instead:

• dicit gloriam brevem esse

So the idea of that is built into the structure, not expressed by a separate word.

Because the preposition sine always takes the ablative case.

So:

• sine labore = without labor

You can think of this as a vocabulary rule:

• sine + ablative

That is why it is labore, not laborem or labor.

Literally, it means without labor or without effort.

Depending on context, English might translate it as:

• without hard work
• without effort
• without toil

All of those are possible ways to bring out the sense. Grammatically, it is a prepositional phrase modifying the statement about glory.

The sentence breaks down like this:

• Pater = the main subject
• dicit = the main verb
• gloriam sine labore brevem esse = the indirect statement

Inside the indirect statement:

• gloriam = accusative subject
• brevem = predicate adjective agreeing with gloriam
• esse = infinitive verb
• sine labore = prepositional phrase

So the overall pattern is:

• subject + verb of saying + accusative subject + predicate + infinitive

Not exactly.

A beginner might first think gloriam is the direct object of dicit, but more precisely it is the subject of the infinitive esse inside the indirect statement.

So in:

• Pater dicit gloriam brevem esse

gloriam is not simply what father says in the same way a normal direct object would be. It is the thing being talked about inside the reported statement: glory is brief.

That is a very normal Latin word order in indirect statement.

Latin often places the predicate adjective or noun before esse, so:

• gloriam brevem esse

is entirely natural.

Word order in Latin is more flexible than in English because the endings show the grammar. The sentence could be rearranged in other ways and still mean the same basic thing, though some orders sound more natural or emphasize different words.

Yes. Latin word order is flexible because case endings show the roles of the words.

For example, the following would still mean essentially the same thing:

• Pater gloriam sine labore brevem esse dicit.
• Gloriam sine labore brevem esse pater dicit.

The original order is perfectly good, but Latin often moves words around for emphasis, rhythm, or style.

Latin has no definite or indefinite article. There is no separate word for the or a/an.

So:

• pater can mean father, the father, or sometimes a father
• gloriam can mean glory or the glory, depending on context

English has to choose an article when translating, but Latin does not mark that distinction directly.

Dicit is present tense, third person singular, from dico.

It can be translated as:

• says
• is saying

Usually says is the most natural translation here.

Here it most naturally means brief in time, so short-lived or lasting only a short time.

Since the sentence is about glory, the idea is not physical length but duration. So the sense is that glory gained without effort does not last long.

The endings tell you.

• gloriam is accusative singular feminine
• brevem is accusative singular feminine

But:

• labore is ablative singular masculine

Since adjectives agree with the nouns they describe, brevem must go with gloriam, not labore.

Also, sine labore is a fixed prepositional phrase, so labore already belongs with sine.

Yes, very common.

After verbs of:

• saying
• thinking
• knowing
• perceiving

Latin often uses the accusative + infinitive construction.

So if you learn this sentence well, you are also learning a major Latin grammar pattern that appears constantly in prose.