How do you say "that" in Latin? Not as a demonstrative, but as in "I think that she is smart," or "He showed me that he was capable." I don't even know where to begin, since I don't really know what's going on grammatically in the English. Thanks!
What’s going on grammatically is called an indirect statement. Your sentence starts with a direct statement – a clause that describes what’s really happening in the sentence. In your examples, “I think” and “He showed me” are the direct statements. The verb of the direct clause is usually a verb of saying, knowing, thinking, or feeling – like dico, scio, credo, etc. The clause that is said, known, thought, felt, etc. is the indirect statement.
In Latin, we usually represent the indirect statement using a construction called accusativus cum infinitivo (abbreviated ACI). Look back to your first example sentence:
“I think that she is smart.”
Couldn’t you also express that as this?
“I think her to be smart.”
It’s awkward in English, sure, but not illegal. If you change “think” to “believe,” you get “I believe her to be smart,” which is a little less awkward.
While it’s not a fan favorite in English, it’s how indirect statements are constructed in Latin.
The thing that we are saying, knowing, thinking, feeling, etc. to be or do something is treated like a direct object, and is thus rendered in the accusative case. The action that we say/know/think/feel/etc. our subject is doing is rendered as an infinitive. Hence, from your first example, we get:
“I think that she is smart.”“Credo eam callidam esse.”
One thing that used to trip me up was that when you use esse, the bit “on the other side” of the esse is also accusative. Hence, callidam and not callida.
We’re used to using the dative of person believed when we use credo, but the indirect statement is still ACI when used with credo.
The tense of the infinitive is relative to the verb of saying/knowing/etc. Here are some scenarios to keep in mind.
The action expressed by the infinitive is happening at the same time as the verb of saying/knowing/etc.: use the present infinitive.– > “Dico eum venire” – “I say he is coming.” ‘He’ is coming at the same time as the speaker says he is.– > “Dixi eum venire” – “I said he’s coming.” ‘He’ was coming at the same time as the speaker said he was.
The action expressed by the infinitive happened before the verb of saying/knowing/etc.: use the perfect infinitive.– > “Dico eum venisse.” – “I say he has come.” ‘He’ came before the speaker says he did.– > “Dixi eum venisse.” – “I said he has come.” ‘He’ came before the speaker said he did.
The action expressed by the infinitive happens/will happen after the verb of saying/knowing/etc.: use the future infinitive.– > “Dico eum venturum esse.” – “I say he will come.” ‘He’ will come after the speaker says he will.– > “Dixi eum venturum esse.” – “I said he will come.” ‘He’ will come after the speaker said he will.– > “Dicam eum venturum esse.” – “I will say he will come.” The speaker will say ‘he’ will come. He will come after the speaker says he will.
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