Simple indirect statement recognition

An indirect statement reports what someone says, thinks, or knows: "I think that Marcus is here", "she knows that the boys are sleeping". Latin builds this very differently from English, and recognizing the pattern early prevents a lot of misreading. At A1 you only need to spot it, not produce it.

The recipe has two parts. After a verb of saying or thinking (such as dico "I say", puto "I think", scio "I know"), Latin puts:

• the subject of the reported clause in the accusative (the object case), and
• its verb in the infinitive (the "to ..." form).

Examples:

• Puto Marcum adesse. = literally "I think Marcus to be present" = I think that Marcus is present.
• Dicit puellam dormire. = literally "he says the girl to sleep" = He says that the girl is sleeping.
• Scio Romam magnam esse. = literally "I know Rome to be great" = I know that Rome is great.

For English speakers: your instinct is to look for the word "that" and then a normal subject-verb clause. Latin gives you neither. There is no word for "that" here, and the reported subject wears an accusative ending (Marcum, puellam, Romam) that makes it look like a direct object. The trick is: when a verb of thinking or saying is followed by an accusative noun plus an infinitive, translate the pair as "that [noun] [verbs]". So puellam dormire becomes "that the girl is sleeping", not "the girl to sleep".