Learn Hardcore Latin: Lucia dicit se scripturam aviae melius intellegere quam scripturam scribae celeris. - Lucia says that she understands her grandmother’s handwriting better than the writing of the quick scribe.

Word

Lucia dicit se scripturam aviae melius intellegere quam scripturam scribae celeris.

Meaning

Lucia says that she understands her grandmother’s handwriting better than the writing of the quick scribe.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of Lucia dicit se scripturam aviae melius intellegere quam scripturam scribae celeris.

Why is se used instead of ego or eam?

Because this sentence uses indirect statement after dicit.

In a direct statement, Lucia would say something like:

Ego scripturam aviae melius intellego quam scripturam scribae celeris.

But after dicit (says), Latin normally changes the subject of the reported statement into the accusative. So ego becomes se.

Here se refers back to Lucia, the subject of dicit. It is not especially emphatic herself here; it simply means that she.

Why is intellegere an infinitive instead of a normal finite verb like intellegit?

For the same reason: Latin commonly reports what someone says, thinks, knows, etc. with an accusative + infinitive construction.

So:

This is one of the most important Latin patterns to learn. English often uses that, but Latin often uses an infinitive instead.

What would the direct version of this sentence look like?

A direct version would be:

Ego scripturam aviae melius intellego quam scripturam scribae celeris.