Direct and indirect statements

Direct statements are sentences that use the normal subject-verb-object order.
In Latin, a direct statement could look like ‘Marcus dormit’, meaning ‘Marcus sleeps’.
The subject of the sentence (in this example, ‘Marcus’) is in the nominative case.
The verb typically agrees with the subject in both number and person.

Indirect statements (oratio obliqua) are reported speech. Instead of quoting a speaker directly, they rephrase the speaker’s words.
In English, an indirect statement might look like ‘I said that Marcus was sleeping’, versus the direct ‘I said: Marcus is sleeping.’
In Latin, an indirect statement typically follows this structure: subject + verb of the head + accusative subject of the indirect statement + infinitive. For the example above, this would be ‘Dico Marcum dormire’, literally ‘I say Marcus to be sleeping’.
The verb of the head is often a verb of saying, thinking, knowing, or perceiving.
The subject of the indirect statement (here, ‘Marcum’) should be in the accusative case.
The infinitive verb matches the tense (present, past, or future) and voice (active or passive) of the original statement in indirect speech.

Direct statements use the normal order of words in a sentence and reflect exactly what someone is quoted to say.
Indirect statements rearranges the sentence and report what was said without using an exact quote. Instead, they employ an infinitive structure to convey the information indirectly.
The use of indirect speech alters the cases used in a sentence. Instead of nominative, the subject of an indirect statement is in the accusative case, and the main verb is turned into an infinitive.
Understanding both direct and indirect statements is key to translating and comprehending Latin literature accurately.