Indirect statement very frequently involves the perfect passive e.g. reporting that somebody has been killed or that a city has been captured.
The same principle applies: we need an infinitive to convey this idea but all we do is take the fourth principal part of the verb, the perfect passive participle:
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/10/130125-level-2-passive-voice-20-perfect.html
amō, amāre, amāvī, amātus
amātus, -a, -um: perfect passive participle │ having been loved
to this we add esse: amātus, -a, -um esse │ to have been loved
The ‘formula’ for creating the indirect statement remains the same i.e. [1] the subject of the indirect statement is in the accusative case [2] the verb becomes a perfect passive infinitive agreeing with the noun in the accusative case:
[1] Urbs dēlēta est │ The city was / has been destroyed.
> Cōnsul dīcit ¦ [i] urbem [ii] dēlētam esse.
[literally: the consul says [i] the city [ii] to have been destroyed.
> The consul says ¦ that [i] the city [ii] was / has been destroyed.
[2] Omnēs nāvēs tempestāte dēlētae sunt. │ All the ships have been destroyed by the storm.
> Nautae audīvērunt ¦ [i] omnēs nāvēs [accusative plural feminine] tempestāte [ii] dēlētās [accusative plural feminine] esse.
> The sailors heard ¦ that [i] all the ships [ii] had been destroyed by the storm.
[3] Epistula optimē scrīpta est. │ The letter was / has been very well written.
Quid dīcit pater tuus dē illā epistulā? │ What does your father say about that letter?
> Ait [i] eam optimē [ii] scrīptam esse.
> He says ¦ that [i] it [ii] was / has been very well written.
[4] Liber tuus surreptus est. │ Your book was / has been stolen.
> Scīsne [i] librum tuum [ii] surreptum esse?
> Do you know ¦ that [i] your book [ii] has been stolen?
[5] Capti sunt. │ They have been captured.
> Putāmus [i] eōs [ii] captōs esse.
> We think ¦ that [i] they [ii] have been captured.
[6] Hostēs superātī sunt. │ The enemy have been overcome.
> Dīcit [i] hostēs [ii] superātōs esse.
> He says ¦ [i] the enemy [ii] have been overcome.
[7] Note, as always, that the English translation may use different tenses in the indirect statement depending upon the tense of the verb used to introduce it:
Dīcit [i] librum [ii] missum esse. │ He says ¦ that [i] the book [ii] has been sent.
Dīxit [i] librum [ii] missum esse. │ He said ¦ that [i] the book [ii] had been sent.
Crēdit [i] filiās [ii] amātās esse ā patre. │ He believes ¦ that [i] the daughters [ii] were loved by their father.
Crēdidit [i] filiās [ii] amātās esse ā patre. │ He believed ¦ that [i] the daughters [ii] had been loved by their father.
Here is a tremendous example from the work of Adler:
Cum maiōre meā calamitāte ego nunc [ii] patruum meum, virum optimum ā mē tantopere amātum, apoplēxiā [iii] correptum esse [i] cognōscō.
And to my still greater ill-luck [i] I hear ¦ that [ii] my uncle, a very good man, whom I love so much, [iii] has been struck with apoplexy.
To avoid being struck by apoplexy, it’s a good plan to deal with indirect statements slowly!
Examples:
[1] [i] Tē ex conchā [ii] nātam esse autumant* (Plautus) │ they state ¦ that [i] you [ii] were born from a shell
*autumō
[2] Ipsus* illī dīxit ¦ [ii] conductam esse [i] eam (Plautus) │ he himself told her ¦ that [i] she [ii] had been hired
* = ipse
[3] [i] Omnīs rēs [ii] gestās esse Athēnīs autumant (Plautus) │ they say ¦ that [i] all these things [ii] were done in Athens
[4] Ex hominum mīlibus LX vix ad D … [i] sēsē [ii] redāctōs esse ¦ dīxērunt (Caesar) │ they said ¦ that from 60,000 men [i] they [ii] had been reduced to scarcely 500 (Caesar)
If you did anything wrong in Ancient Rome, you would have hoped that Cicero wasn’t prosecuting you …
[5] Et audēs, Sex. Naevī, negāre ¦ absentem [ii] dēfēnsum esse [i] Quīnctium? (Cicero) │ And do you, Sextus Naevius, dare to deny that [i] Quinctius [ii] was defended in his absence?
[6] illud dīcō, [i] dominum [ii] expulsum esse dē praediō, dominō ā familiā suā [i] manūs [ii] adlātās esse ante suōs Larēs familiārīs (Cicero) │ I say this, ¦ that [i] the owner [ii] was expelled from his farm; [i] that hands [ii] were laid on their master by his own slaves, before his own household gods
[7] [i] īnsidiās [i] factās esse cōnstat (Cicero) │ It is agreed (cōnstat) ¦ that [i] an ambush (pl. in Latin) [ii] was made
[8] Note the use of two different infinitives in indirect statements:
Ego ad forum illum conveniam atque illī hunc ānulum dabō, atque praedicābō ā tuā uxōre mihi [1] datum esse ¦ [2] eamque illum dēperīre. (Plautus)
I'll meet him at the Forum, and give him this ring, and will tell him ¦ that it [1] has been delivered to me from your wife, and ¦ that [2] she is dying for him.
