science

Latin indirect speech

Latin indirect speech is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Latin indirect speech rather than just read about it. In short: Indirect speech, also known as reported speech, indirect discourse (US), or ōrātiō oblīqua ( or ), is the practice, common in all Latin historical writers, of reporting spoken or written words indirectly, using different grammatical forms. Passages of indirect speech can extend from a single phrase to an entire paragraph, and this style was generally preferred by Roman historians to the direct speech commonly found…

Key takeaways

Latin indirect speech belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Latin indirect speech to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Latin indirect speech from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Indirect speech, also known as reported speech, indirect discourse (US), or ōrātiō oblīqua ( or ), is the practice, common in all Latin historical writers, of reporting spoken or written words indirectly, using different grammatical forms. Passages of indirect speech can extend from a single phrase to an entire paragraph, and this style was generally preferred by Roman historians to the direct speech commonly found in Greek authors. The main types of indirect speech in Latin are indirect statements, indirect commands, and indirect questions. Indirect statements in classical Latin usually use the accusative and infinitive construction. In this the main verb of the quoted sentence is changed to an infinitive, and its subject to the accusative case; this construction is also sometimes used for commands and rhetorical questions. Indirect questions, most indirect commands, and most subordinate verbs in indirect statements use the subjunctive mood. Subjunctive mood tenses are divided into two groups, primary (present and perfect) and historic (imperfect and pluperfect). The historic tenses are used when the context is past time, although it is also possible sometimes to use a primary tense in a past context, a practice referred to as repraesentātiō tempōrum. Although the term ōrātiō oblīqua strictly speaking refers to the reporting of spoken or written words, the same grammatical constructions are also used in sentences introduced by other verbs such as those of perceiving, showing, remembering, and thinking. These are also included in this article. In some cases, especially in longer passages of ōrātiō oblīqua, the verb of speaking is omitted, and the grammatical form alone shows that the words are indirect.

Main types of indirect speech

Indirect statement The most common type of indirect speech is indirect statement, for which in classical Latin (although not in medieval Latin) the usual grammatical form is the accusative and infinitive construction. In this the subject of the quoted sentence is put into the accusative case, and the verb is changed to an infinitive. Four main tenses of the infinitive are used: the present, the perfect, the future participle with esse (which is often omitted), and the future participle with fuisse. The present infinitive is used when the actions expressed by the subordinate sentence are contemporary to the actions expressed by the main sentence – the latter can have a past, a present or a future tense:

nūntiātum est adesse Scīpiōnem (Caesar) 'it was reported that Scipio was nearby' The perfect infinitive is used when the actions expressed by the subordinate sentence precede the actions expressed by the main sentence – the latter can have a past, a present or a future tense:

mihī nūntiāvit M. Mārcellum ... duo vulnera accēpisse (Servius Sulpicius Rufus) 'he reported to me that Marcus Marcellus had received two wounds' The future infinitive (with esse often omitted) is used when the actions expressed by the subordinate sentence follow the actions expressed by the main sentence – the latter can have a past, a present or a future tense:

Valerium hodiē audiēbam esse ventūrum (Cicero) 'I heard that Valerius was due to arrive today' One verb, sum 'I am' has its own future infinitive fore, which may be used instead of futūrum esse. The verb possum 'I am able' on the other hand has no future infinitive or future participle. The future participle combined with fuisse, which expresses a past or present potential ('would be doing' or 'would have done'):

nisī dē viā fessus esset, continuō ad nōs ventūrum fuisse (Cicero) '(he said that) if he had not been tired from the journey, he would have come to us straightaway' Three other tenses are found in indirect statements: the supine with īrī, the perfect participle with fore, and the perfect participle with fuisse. However, these are rare. The main verb introducing indirect statements does not have to be a verb of speaking; it can also be any of a range of other verbs, such as sēnsit 'he realised', simulāvit 'he pretended', cōnstat 'it is well known', spērō 'I hope', scrīpsit 'he wrote' and so on, which use the same construction. The infinitive is used only for the main verb in an indirect statement; any other verbs are changed into the subjunctive mood, using one of the past tenses if the context is past:

locum ubi esset facile inventūrōs (Nepos) '(he told them that) they would easily find the place where he was'

Indirect question Another kind of indirect speech is the indirect question, in which the verb is usually changed into the subjunctive mood:

quārē id faciam fortasse requīris? (Catullus) 'do you ask why I do this, perhaps?' When the context is past, one of the past tenses of the subjunctive is used (imperfect or pluperfect). (There are some exceptions to this rule, however.)

quid eā nocte ēgisset ... ēdocuī (Cicero) 'I told them what he had done that night'

Indirect command The third main type of indirect speech is the indirect command, for which two constructions are possible. Some verbs, principally the verb iubeō 'I order' and its opposite vetō 'I forbid', use the accusative and infinitive construction, often with a passive infinitive:

signum darī iubet (Caesar) 'he ordered the signal to be given' Most other verbs use a clause introduced by the conjunction ut/utī or (if negative) nē followed by a subjunctive verb. As with indirect questions, the tense of the subjunctive depends on whether the context is present or past. A present context requires the present subjunctive:

hortātur mē ut senātū scrībam (Cicero) 'he is encouraging me to write to the Senate' A past context usually (but not always) has the imperfect subjunctive:

exercituī imperāvit nē iniussū suō concurrerent (Caesar) 'he ordered the army not to start fighting without his permission'

Change of person Another of the characteristics of indirect speech is that the pronouns and persons of the verb change in accordance to the viewpoint of the new speaker. Thus in the following example, the original thought was 'he is very grateful to you'. In indirect speech this becomes:

ad mē scrīpsit tē mihī maximās grātiās agere (Cicero) 'he wrote to me that you were very grateful to me' Very often the viewpoint changes to the 3rd person, in which case the reflexive pronoun sē (or sēsē) 'himself, herself, themselves' and its various derivatives suī, sibī, sēcum, suus etc. are used in order to refer to the speaker of the reported words:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Latin indirect speech

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Latin indirect speech claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Latin indirect speech before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Latin indirect speech ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Latin indirect speech

In research: Latin indirect speech appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Latin indirect speech in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Latin indirect speech is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Latin grammar, Syntax, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Latin indirect speech outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Latin indirect speech in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Latin indirect speech means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Latin indirect speech out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Latin indirect speech in simple terms?

Why does Latin indirect speech matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Latin indirect speech?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Latin indirect speech.