Pater dicit se ad Brundisium navigare velle, antequam Romam redeat.

Se is the reflexive pronoun. In this sentence it refers back to the subject of dicit, namely pater.

So pater dicit se... velle means the father says that he wants..., where he = the father himself.

Latin uses se in this kind of situation instead of a normal third-person pronoun like eum, when the person inside the reported statement is the same as the subject of the main verb.

• se = himself / herself / themselves, referring back to the main subject
• eum = him, referring to some other male person

So here se shows that the father is talking about his own intention.

Because Latin is using indirect statement here, also called the accusative-and-infinitive construction.

After verbs like dicit (says), Latin often does not use a word like that followed by a normal finite verb. Instead, it puts:

• the subject of the reported statement in the accusative
• the verb of the reported statement in the infinitive

So in pater dicit se ad Brundisium navigare velle:

• se = subject of the reported statement, so it is accusative
• velle = infinitive
• navigare = infinitive depending on velle

English says Father says that he wants to sail...
Latin says, more literally, Father says himself to want to sail...

Because each infinitive is doing a different job.

• Velle means to want
• Navigare means to sail / travel by ship

And velle often takes another infinitive with it, just as English to want can be followed by to sail, to go, to return, and so on.

So:

• velle = the main verb inside the indirect statement
• navigare = the action that is wanted

Structure:

• se ... velle = that he wants
• navigare = to sail

So the whole thing means: he wants to sail to Brundisium.

Because Latin usually handles reported statements differently from English.

English often says:

• Father says that he wants to sail...

Latin usually prefers:

• Father says him to want to sail...
  That is, an accusative + infinitive construction.

So instead of a conjunction like that, Latin often uses:

• accusative subject: se
• infinitive verb: velle

This is one of the most important patterns in Latin syntax.

Navigare means to sail, to travel by ship, or more generally to make a voyage by sea.

In many contexts it specifically suggests movement by water, not just any kind of travel.

So ad Brundisium navigare means to sail to Brundisium or to go by sea to Brundisium.

This is a very common point of confusion.

With names of cities and small islands, Latin often expresses motion toward them with the accusative alone, with no preposition.

So:

• Romam = to Rome

However, in this sentence we get:

• ad Brundisium = to Brundisium

A learner may notice that Brundisium is also a city, so why not simply Brundisium? In practice, Latin sometimes does use ad with cities, especially when the sense is toward or when the writer prefers that wording. But the classical schoolroom rule you will most often learn is:

• Romam = to Rome
• Athenas = to Athens
• domum = homeward / home

So Romam redeat follows the very common city-name pattern.

Romam is accusative singular.

Here it is the accusative of motion toward a place. With names of cities, Latin often uses the accusative without a preposition to mean to a place.

So:

• Roma = Rome
• Romam = to Rome
• Romae = at Rome
• Roma = from Rome

In this sentence, Romam redeat means he returns to Rome.

Because it comes after antequam (before) in a clause referring to an action that is still anticipated or not yet realized from the speaker’s point of view.

Latin often uses the subjunctive after antequam when the action is viewed as future, expected, or dependent on the main idea.

So:

• antequam Romam redeat = before he returns to Rome

The subjunctive here does not necessarily make the clause vague in English; English still usually translates it with a normal present tense: before he returns.

A rough contrast is:

• indicative after antequam: more straightforward/factual
• subjunctive after antequam: often prospective, anticipated, or viewed from within the sentence as not yet completed

Because the subject of redeat is understood from the context and does not need to be repeated.

In Latin, a finite verb already contains person and number, and the subject is often left unstated when it is clear.

Here the most natural understanding is that the subject of redeat is the same person referred to by se, namely pater.

So the sense is:

• Father says that he wants to sail to Brundisium before he returns to Rome

Latin does not need to restate he explicitly.

Normally, the understood subject is the same person as in the main reported idea: the father.

So the natural reading is:

• Father says that he wants to sail to Brundisium before he returns to Rome.

Could it ever mean someone else? In a different context, possibly, but with no other noun present, readers will naturally take redeat to refer to pater.

Velle is the present active infinitive of volo, which means I want.

This verb is irregular:

• volo = I want
• vis = you want
• vult = he/she wants
• velle = to want

In this sentence, velle is used because the clause after dicit is an indirect statement, and Latin normally uses an infinitive there.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin relies heavily on endings to show grammatical relationships.

So:

• pater is clearly the subject because of its form and meaning
• se is clearly accusative
• redeat is clearly the verb of the subordinate clause

That means Latin can arrange words for emphasis or style without becoming unclear.

This sentence is fairly natural Latin word order:

• Pater dicit = the main statement first
• se ... velle = the indirect statement
• antequam Romam redeat = the time clause at the end

English needs stricter order to show who is doing what, but Latin does not.

A good way is to break it into layers.

Main clause:

• Pater dicit = Father says

Indirect statement:

• se ad Brundisium navigare velle = that he wants to sail to Brundisium

Subordinate time clause:

• antequam Romam redeat = before he returns to Rome

So the sentence has three parts:

1. a main verb of saying
2. an indirect statement after it
3. a time clause attached to that reported idea

Recognizing those layers makes the grammar much easier to follow.