The first image
shows that a statement – regardless of when it was made – can refer to:
[i] on ongoing or
general situation [I work every day]
[ii] a situation
that is now over [I worked yesterday]
[iii] a situation
that will or is going to happen [I shall work tomorrow]
We now focus on
[ii] i.e. the speaker refers to something which (has) happened
An example was
first given here:
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/03/020625-level-3-sonnenschein-pro-patria.html
Tacitus ¦ eum nōn
magnam victōriam reportāvisse … affirmat │ Tacitus asserts ¦ that he (referring
to Caesar) did not bring back a great victory.
Tacitus’ statement
was “Caesar did not bring back a great victory” i.e. he refers to an event that
was already over when he wrote about it.
To convey this,
Latin uses a different infinitive i.e. the perfect active infinitive =
to have done something
To form it:
[i] the third
principal part of the verb is used: reportō, reportāre, reportāvī
[ii] the personal
ending -ī is removed: reportāv-
[iii] -isse
is added: reportāv¦isse = to have brought back
Therefore,
literally:
Tacitus ¦ eum
¦ nōn magnam victōriam reportāvisse … affirmat │ Tacitus asserts
¦ him ¦ not to have brought back a great victory
> Tacitus
asserts ¦ that he ¦ did not bring back a great victory.
The perfect active
infinitive is formed in the same way for all verbs:
laudō, laudāre, ¦
laudāvī > laudāv- > laudāvisse │ to have praised
videō, vidēre, ¦
vīdī > vīd- > vīdisse │ to have seen
dīcō, dīcere, ¦
dīxī > dīx- > dīxisse │ to have said
faciō, facere, ¦
fēcī > fēc- > fēcisse │ to have done
audiō, audīre, ¦
audīvī > audīv- > audīvisse │ to have heard
sum, esse, ¦ fuī
> fu- > fuisse │ to have been
How does this
work? Marcus looked at the body of the deceased father and said to himself: “He
loved his daughters” i.e. he is thinking about something which is now
over.
[i] What does he
believe?
Crēdit ¦ [1] patrem
[2] amāvisse fīliās.
[Literally: He
believes the father to have loved the daughters.]
> He believes
that the father loved the daughters.
[ii] What did
he believe?
Crēdidit ¦ patrem
amāvisse fīliās.
[Literally: He
believed the father to have loved the daughters.]
> He
believed that the father had loved the daughters.
I am sticking
rigidly to English structures of the indirect statement (but English can be
flexible in this) in order to show that, while English often changes the tense
of the indirect statement based on the tense of the verb which introduces it,
Latin does not change the infinitive. In simple terms, whatever the person is
talking about in Latin, if that is finished then the perfect infinitive
is used.
[1] [i] Frāter
sciēbat ¦ [ii] mē epistulam [iii] scrīpsisse.
[Literally: [i] my
brother knew [ii] me [iii] to have written the letter.]
> [i] My
brother knew ¦ that [ii] I [iii] had written the letter.
i.e. What the
brother knew had already happened.
[2] [i] Ego sēdulō
[ii] hunc [iii] dīxisse [i] crēdō (Terentius)
[Literally: [i] I
believe [ii] him (this man) [iii] to have spoken carefully.]
> [i] I believe
¦ that [ii] he [iii] has spoken carefully.
[3] [i] Putāvērunt
[ii] sē fortēs [iii] fuisse.
[Literally: [i]
They thought [ii] themselves [iii] to have been brave.]
> [i] They
thought ¦ that [ii] they [iii] had been brave.
We’ll look at
examples from one author, namely Plautus, since they are all Latin spoken on a
stage:
Quis homōst* quī
dīcat ¦ mē dīxisse istuc? │ Who is the man who says ¦ that I
said that?
*contraction: homō
+ est
Ulixem audīvī, ut ego sum, fuisse et
audācem et malum │ I have heard ¦ that Ulysses was a bold, bad
man, just as I am now.
Ulixem audīvī fuisse aerumnōsissimum │ I have heard ¦ that Ulysses was very
miserable.
Cēnsēbam ¦ mē
effūgisse ¦ ā vītā maritumā │ I thought ¦ that I had escaped from a
sea-faring life.
Ego ¦ illum periisse
dīcō │ I say ¦ that he has perished.
Stultē fēcisse
fateor │ I admit ¦ that I acted foolishly [literally: I admit to have
acted …]
Spērāvī miser ex
servitūte ¦ mē exēmisse ¦ fīlium │ I hoped, poor fool, ¦ that I
had ransomed my son from slavery.
At ego tuom*
tibi advēnisse fīlium respondeō. │ And I reply to you ¦ that your
son has arrived.
*tuom = tuum
Crēdō ego hāc
noctū ¦ Nocturnum obdormīvisse ēbrium. │ I do believe ¦ that Nocturnus
went to bed drunk that night.
Hic gnātum meum
tuō patrī ait ¦ sē vēndidisse │ This man says (said) ¦ that he
sold / has sold / had sold my son to your father.
You can see from
this final example the way in which there are a number of possible English
translations of the indirect statement, but Latin only uses the perfect active
infinitive since the original direct statement refers to something that has
already happened.
Note: other verbs
which introduce an indirect statement
ait: (s)he says /
said
fateor: I admit
respondeō: I reply
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