Direct Speech in Latin

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testsuda
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Direct Speech in Latin

Post by testsuda »

Dear all,

Cause all people talks much about Indirect Speech of Latin but not Direct Speech which seems far easier than the former, so I was a little bit puzzled when facing this sentence from Fabulae Faciles:

Illī autem cum bene intellegerent dolōrem eius falsum esse, nesciō quam fābulam dē morte puerī fīnxērunt.

Here, nescio is 1st person verb, present indicative, right?

So the English translation will be: Then, when these men quickly regconized that his pain was false, they have pretended that "I do not know any story about the boy's death"

Sincerely your,

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bedwere
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Re: Direct Speech in Latin

Post by bedwere »

Yes, it's first person, present indicative, but the whole expression is a saying.
Consider nescio quam as a sort adjective acting on fabulam. You may want give it another try.

testsuda
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Re: Direct Speech in Latin

Post by testsuda »

Thanks bro

The law you provided is quite new for me

So, maybe the sentence will be something like this: Then, when these men quickly regconized that his pain was false, they have made up unknown story about the boy's death

Sincerely yours,

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bedwere
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Re: Direct Speech in Latin

Post by bedwere »

That's much better. Even in English and other languages we use "I don't know what" as a sort of adjective. For example, the doctor prescribed I don't know what medicine to the patient.

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