Avia saepe memorat se, cum iuvenis esset, has historias legere solitam esse; ego autem recordor me illam fabulam iam audivisse.

Because both clauses use indirect statement.

In Latin, the subject of an indirect statement is normally put in the accusative, and the verb goes into an infinitive.

So:

• se ... solitam esse = that she ... was accustomed
• me ... audivisse = that I ... had heard

Also, se is reflexive: it refers back to the subject of the main clause, avia. So avia memorat se... means Grandmother recalls that she..., where she means the grandmother herself.

Because Latin often expresses that-clauses after verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, perceiving, and remembering by using the accusative-and-infinitive construction instead of a separate word meaning that.

So instead of something like:

• Grandmother recalls that she used to read...
• I remember that I had already heard...

Latin says:

• avia memorat se ... legere solitam esse
• ego recordor me ... audivisse

This is one of the most important Latin sentence patterns to get comfortable with.

It is a cum-clause giving the circumstances in the past: when she was young.

Here cum means something like when, and esset is the imperfect subjunctive of sum.

So the clause gives background information:

• cum iuvenis esset = when she was young

Latin very often uses cum + subjunctive for this kind of past background circumstance.

Because after this kind of cum, Latin normally uses the subjunctive, not the indicative.

So:

• erat would simply be she was
• esset is she were / was in the subjunctive, used here after cum

The imperfect tense also fits the background setting in past time: it describes her state during that earlier period of life.

Iuvenis is nominative singular here.

It is being used with esset as a predicate noun/adjective: with forms of to be, Latin normally puts the predicate in the nominative.

So the idea is:

• she was young
• not she was a young person in the accusative

A second point: iuvenis has the same form for masculine and feminine in the nominative singular, so it can describe a grandmother without any problem.

Solitam esse is from soleo, solere, solitus sum, which means to be accustomed or to be in the habit of.

So:

• legere solitam esse = to have been accustomed to read
• more naturally in English: to have used to read or simply to have used to read / to have been in the habit of reading

A very important detail: although solitam looks like a participle, soleo is one of those verbs whose perfect system is built with solitus sum but has an active meaning.

So solitam esse does not mean to have been accustomed by someone. It means to have been accustomed / to have had the habit.

Because solitam agrees with se, the subject of the indirect statement.

Here se refers to avia, so it is:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

Therefore the agreeing form is:

• solitam

If the subject were masculine, you would expect solitum in the accusative singular masculine.

Because the sentence is talking about a habit, not a single completed act of reading.

• legisse would mean to have read
• legere solitam esse means to have been accustomed to read / to have used to read

That is a very different idea.

Also, the infinitive legere stays in the present because it depends on solitam esse: it tells us what she used to do. The past reference is mainly carried by solitam esse, which places that habit before the present memorat.

This is another indirect statement.

• me = the subject of the indirect statement
• illam fabulam = the object of audivisse
• audivisse = perfect infinitive, to have heard

The perfect infinitive is used because the hearing happened before the remembering:

• recordor = I remember now
• audivisse = that I had heard earlier

So the time relationship is important: the hearing is already completed by the time the speaker remembers it.

Iam means already.

It emphasizes that, by the time being referred to, the speaker had already heard that story.

So me illam fabulam iam audivisse is stronger than just me illam fabulam audivisse. It adds the sense of prior completion:

• I remember that I had already heard that story

No. Recordor is a deponent verb.

That means it has passive-looking forms but an active meaning.

So:

• recordor looks passive in form
• but it means I remember, not I am remembered

This is why a learner has to memorize recordor as a deponent verb and translate it actively.

Autem means something like however, but, or on the other hand.

Latin often puts autem in second position in its clause, not necessarily at the very beginning as English would.

So:

• ego autem recordor... = I, however, remember...

That word order is very normal in Latin.

Both are accusative, because they are the direct objects of the infinitives:

• has historias goes with legere
• illam fabulam goes with audivisse

Their forms show agreement:

• has historias = feminine accusative plural, these stories
• illam fabulam = feminine accusative singular, that story

So the demonstratives and nouns match in case, number, and gender, just as they should.

Saepe most naturally modifies memorat.

So the sense is:

• Grandmother often recalls...

not:

• Grandmother recalls that she often used to read...

If Latin wanted to stress that the reading itself was frequent, it would usually place saepe more clearly with that part of the sentence. Here its position near memorat strongly suggests that it belongs to the main verb.