Mater dicit facultatem bene scribendi usu et patientia paulatim crescere.

Because this sentence uses indirect statement after dicit.

After verbs like dicit (says), Latin often does accusative + infinitive instead of using a separate word for that. In that construction, the subject of the infinitive is put in the accusative.

So:

• Mater dicit = Mother says
• facultatem ... crescere = that the ability ... grows / is growing

If this were a normal direct statement, you would expect facultas crescit. But after dicit, it becomes facultatem crescere.

For the same reason: indirect statement.

In English, we usually say Mother says that the ability grows. Latin often expresses that idea with:

• a verb of saying/thinking
• an accusative subject
• an infinitive

So dicit ... crescere means says that ... grows.

Latin does not say Mater dicit facultas crescit for this meaning. The expected pattern is Mater dicit facultatem crescere.

Yes. English usually needs that in a sentence like this, but Latin does not use a separate word here.

Instead, the structure itself shows the meaning:

• dicit
• plus accusative + infinitive

That whole pattern means says that ...

So Mater dicit facultatem ... crescere naturally means Mother says that the ability ... grows.

Scribendi is the genitive singular gerund of scribere (to write).

A gerund is a verbal noun. Here it means something like of writing. So:

• facultas scribendi = the ability of writing
• more natural English: the ability to write

With bene, the phrase becomes:

• facultatem bene scribendi = the ability to write well

Because facultas commonly takes a genitive to show what the ability or capacity is connected with.

So Latin naturally says:

• facultas bene scribendi = ability of writing well

In English, we usually prefer the ability to write well, but Latin often expresses that idea with a noun plus a gerund in the genitive.

So the Latin wording is more literally ability of writing well, even though the best English is ability to write well.

Because bene is an adverb, and it modifies the verbal idea writing.

Latin uses:

• bene = well
• bonus, bona, bonum = good

Since the meaning is to write well, you need the adverb bene, not an adjective.

So bene scribendi means of writing well, not of good writing in an adjectival sense.

Usu is the ablative singular of usus, a fourth-declension noun.

Here it is an ablative of means (or instrument), meaning by, through, or with. So:

• usu = by use, through practice, or simply through practice

In this sentence, usu et patientia means through practice and patience.

A learner may not recognize usu immediately because it comes from usus, not from a second-declension noun.

Because Latin often uses the ablative case by itself to express means or instrument.

English often needs words like:

• by
• with
• through

But Latin can simply use the ablative:

• usu = by/through practice
• patientia = by/through patience

So usu et patientia does not need a preposition. The case ending is doing that job.

Because in the first declension, the ablative singular often ends in -a, which looks the same as the nominative singular.

So patientia can be either nominative or ablative depending on context.

Here it must be ablative because it is joined to usu and has the same function:

• usu et patientia = by/through practice and patience

So even though the form looks familiar, its role in the sentence shows its case.

Paulatim is an adverb meaning gradually or little by little.

Here it modifies crescere:

• paulatim crescere = to grow gradually

So the idea is that the ability does not develop all at once. It increases step by step.

Because Latin word order is more flexible than English word order.

English usually prefers to keep an adverb close to the word it modifies. Latin can do that too, but it does not have to. The endings already show the grammatical relationships, so the author has more freedom in placement.

Even though paulatim is not immediately next to crescere, it still clearly goes with it in meaning.

Not usually in this sentence.

Here facultas means ability, capacity, or skill. So facultatem bene scribendi means the ability to write well.

English faculty can sometimes be related historically, but if you translate it that way here, it may sound unnatural or misleading. Ability is the better choice.

The sentence is talking about the growth of the ability itself, not directly about a specific person doing the writing.

Grammatically, the subject of crescere is facultatem in the accusative because of indirect statement. Latin does not have to say whose ability it is if that is already understood from context or if the statement is meant generally.

So the sentence focuses on the idea that the ability to write well grows gradually through practice and patience, without naming the person who has that ability.