Latin C1: Reported speech: oratio obliqua · Grammar

In reported speech, main clauses become accusative and infinitive, commands and questions take the subjunctive, and every subordinate clause takes the subjunctive too: Caesar dixit se, si posset, venturum esse. The speaker is se and suus (himself, his own); someone else is eum, eius. Tenses follow the main verb, so after dixit the subjunctives are imperfect or pluperfect.

• se — himself, herself (reflexive)
• suus — his own, her own
• eius — his, her (someone else’s)
• respondit — he replied
• negavit — he said… not
• affirmavit — he declared
• nuntiavit — he reported
• oratio obliqua — reported speech

• Dixit se aegrotare. — She said she was ill.
• Respondit se nihil scire. — He replied that he knew nothing.
• Nuntiavit hostes adesse. — He reported that the enemy was at hand.
• Affirmavit se verum dixisse. — He declared he had told the truth.