Pater dicit cuculum saepe audiri ante imbrem.

Because dicit often introduces an indirect statement in Latin.

After verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, hearing, and so on, Latin commonly uses:

• an accusative for the subject of the reported statement
• an infinitive for the verb of that statement

So:

• Pater dicit = Father says
• cuculum ... audiri = that the cuckoo is heard

This is called the accusative-and-infinitive construction.

In an indirect statement, the subject of the subordinate idea goes into the accusative.

So even though the cuckoo is logically the thing being talked about in the reported statement, Latin puts it in the accusative because it depends on dicit.

Compare:

• direct idea: Cuculus saepe auditur = The cuckoo is often heard
• after dicit: Pater dicit cuculum saepe audiri = Father says that the cuckoo is often heard

So cuculum is accusative because it is the subject of the infinitive audiri.

Audiri is the present passive infinitive of audio, audire.

Its basic meaning is:

• to be heard

Formally:

• audire = to hear
• audiri = to be heard

So in this sentence, the reported statement is not the cuckoo hears, but the cuckoo is heard.

Because the meaning is about the cuckoo being something people hear, not something doing the hearing.

So:

• cuculum audire would mean the cuckoo to hear
• cuculum audiri means the cuckoo to be heard

English often says something like the cuckoo is often heard before rain, and Latin expresses that directly with the passive infinitive.

Saepe is an adverb meaning often.

It modifies audiri, so the sense is:

• to be often heard

In other words, it tells us how frequently the cuckoo is heard.

Latin adverbs are fairly flexible in position, so saepe can stand between cuculum and audiri without any problem.

Because ante is a preposition that takes the accusative.

So:

• ante = before
• imber, imbris = rainstorm, shower, rain
• imbrem = accusative singular

Therefore ante imbrem means before rain or before a rainstorm.

Imber is a third-declension masculine noun.

Its dictionary form is:

• imber, imbris

In the accusative singular, third-declension masculine nouns like this often end in -em, so:

• nominative: imber
• accusative: imbrem

Since ante requires the accusative, we get ante imbrem.

Yes.

Pater is nominative singular and is the subject of dicit:

• Pater dicit = Father says

Then everything after that—cuculum saepe audiri ante imbrem—is the content of what he says.

So the sentence is structured like this:

• main clause: Pater dicit
• indirect statement: cuculum saepe audiri ante imbrem

Because in this construction Latin usually does not use a conjunction like English that.

English says:

• Father says that the cuckoo is often heard before rain

Latin instead says literally:

• Father says the cuckoo often to-be-heard before rain

That sounds odd in English, but it is completely normal Latin. The accusative + infinitive does the job that that-clause does in English.

Latin word order is more flexible than English word order because the endings show the grammar.

Here the order is:

• Pater = subject
• dicit = main verb
• cuculum = accusative subject of the infinitive
• saepe = adverb
• audiri = infinitive
• ante imbrem = prepositional phrase

A very literal unpacking would be:

• Father says [the cuckoo often to be heard before rain].

More natural English rearranges it, but the Latin order is perfectly normal.

In practice, it goes with the reported statement, especially with audiri.

So the sense is:

• the cuckoo is often heard before rain

not:

• Father says, before rain, ...

Latin does not always force one single interpretation by word order alone, but here the natural meaning is clearly that before rain tells us when the cuckoo is heard.

Cuculum is the accusative singular of cuculus, a second-declension masculine noun.

So:

• nominative singular: cuculus
• accusative singular: cuculum

It is accusative here because it is the subject of the infinitive in indirect statement.

Not exactly in the same way English tense does.

In indirect statement, the tense of the infinitive is usually relative to the main verb, not an absolute tense by itself.

The present infinitive typically shows action happening at the same time as the main verb.

So dicit ... audiri suggests:

• Father says that the cuckoo is often heard

If Latin wanted to show prior time or later time, it would use different infinitive forms.

No. The passive just says that the cuckoo is heard; it does not say by whom.

If Latin wanted to express the agent, it could add it, but here it is left general. The idea is simply that people hear the cuckoo before rain.

So the sentence is making a general observation, not naming a specific hearer.