Pater dicit se amicitiam divitiis praeferre.

Because in Latin, after a verb like dicit (he says), reported statements are often expressed with an accusative + infinitive construction.

So instead of saying Father says that he prefers friendship to riches, Latin says, more literally:

• Father says himself to prefer friendship to riches.

Here:

• se = the subject of the infinitive praeferre
• praeferre = to prefer

Without se, the infinitive would not have an expressed subject, and the sentence would be incomplete or at least much less clear.

Because in an indirect statement after dicit, the subject of the infinitive goes into the accusative case.

That is one of the most important Latin patterns to learn:

• verb of saying/thinking/perceiving
• then accusative subject + infinitive

So in this sentence:

• pater = subject of dicit
• se = subject of praeferre

Even though se is logically the one doing the preferring, grammar requires it to be accusative because it is the subject of an infinitive in indirect statement.

Because se is the reflexive pronoun. It refers back to the subject of the main clause, here pater.

So:

• Pater dicit se amicitiam divitiis praeferre
  = Father says that he himself prefers friendship to riches

If you said eum instead, that would normally mean some other man, not the father:

• Pater dicit eum amicitiam divitiis praeferre
  = Father says that he / that man prefers friendship to riches

So se is used because the speaker is reporting what the father says about himself.

Because after dicit, Latin usually uses indirect statement, and the verb of the reported statement appears as an infinitive.

Compare:

• direct statement: Amicitiam divitiis praefero
  = I prefer friendship to riches

• indirect statement: Pater dicit se amicitiam divitiis praeferre
  = Father says that he prefers friendship to riches

So praeferre is not random: it is exactly what Latin expects in this construction.

Because with praeferre, the thing that is being preferred is put in the accusative.

So here:

• amicitiam = friendship = the thing preferred

This is similar to English:

• to prefer friendship to riches

In Latin, the structure is:

• something in the accusative
• something in the dative
• with praeferre

So amicitiam is accusative because it is the direct object of praeferre.

Because praeferre often takes the thing you prefer something to in the dative case.

So:

• amicitiam = friendship
• divitiis = to riches / over riches

A very literal way to understand it is:

• to carry friendship before riches

That helps explain why the second noun is dative.

So the pattern is:

• aliquid alicui praeferre
  = to prefer something to something

Here:

• amicitiam = accusative
• divitiis = dative

Because divitiae (riches, wealth) is a noun that is normally used only in the plural in Latin.

This is like some English nouns that are often plural in form, even when they refer to a general idea.

Its basic forms are:

• nominative plural: divitiae
• genitive plural: divitiarum
• dative/ablative plural: divitiis

So divitiis is not plural by accident; the word itself is normally plural.

Praeferre means to prefer.

It is made from:

• prae- = before, in front
• ferre = to carry, bear

So its original literal sense is something like:

• to carry one thing before another

From that comes the meaning to value one thing more highly than another, that is, to prefer.

It is also worth noticing that ferre is an irregular verb, so compounds like praeferre are irregular too.

Its principal parts are:

• praefero
• praeferre
• praetuli
• praelatum

Yes. That is a good literal way to see the Latin structure.

Latin indirect statement often feels unnatural if translated word-for-word into English. A very literal breakdown would be:

• Pater = Father
• dicit = says
• se = himself
• amicitiam = friendship
• divitiis = to riches
• praeferre = to prefer

So literally:

• Father says himself friendship to riches to prefer

A more natural English translation is:

• Father says that he prefers friendship to riches.

Seeing both the literal structure and the natural English meaning is very helpful when learning Latin syntax.

Yes. Latin word order is much freer than English word order because the cases show the grammatical relationships.

So the following would still be understandable Latin:

• Pater se amicitiam divitiis praeferre dicit
• Amicitiam pater dicit se divitiis praeferre
• Pater dicit amicitiam se divitiis praeferre

However, the original order is very natural:

• Pater dicit se amicitiam divitiis praeferre

It introduces:

1. the main subject (pater)
2. the main verb (dicit)
3. the accusative-and-infinitive clause (se ... praeferre)

So yes, the order can vary, but the given order is clear and standard.

In this sentence, amicitiam most naturally means friendship as a general value or quality, not necessarily one particular friendship.

Latin often uses a singular abstract noun this way:

• amicitia = friendship
• virtus = virtue
• sapientia = wisdom

So the idea is not necessarily one friendship, but rather the value of friendship.

Because Latin usually does not need a separate word corresponding to English that in indirect statement.

English says:

• Father says that he prefers friendship to riches.

Latin says:

• Father says him/self to prefer friendship to riches.

So instead of using a conjunction like that, Latin changes the structure of the whole reported clause into an accusative + infinitive construction.

That is why there is no separate Latin word here for that.