In this the main verb of the quoted sentence is changed to an infinitive, and its subject to the accusative case; this construction is also sometimes used for commands and rhetorical questions.
Subjunctive mood tenses are divided into two groups, primary (present and perfect) and historic (imperfect and pluperfect).
Although the term ōrātiō oblīqua strictly speaking refers to the reporting of spoken or written words, the same grammatical constructions are also used in sentences introduced by other verbs such as those of perceiving, showing, remembering, and thinking.
In some cases, especially in longer passages of ōrātiō oblīqua, the verb of speaking is omitted, and the grammatical form alone shows that the words are indirect.
The present infinitive is used when the original verb was a present indicative tense: The perfect infinitive is used when the original verb was a perfect, imperfect, or pluperfect indicative tense: If the original sentence had a future indicative or potential subjunctive ('would do'), the indirect statement has a future participle combined with esse (esse is however often omitted): One verb, sum 'I am' has its own future infinitive fore, which may be used instead of futūrum esse.
In indirect speech this becomes: Very often the viewpoint changes to the 3rd person, in which case the reflexive pronoun sē (or sēsē) 'himself, herself, themselves' and its various derivatives suī, sibī, sēcum, suus etc.
However, in some cases, when the pronoun is easily understood from the context, it can be dropped:[27] When the verb is impersonal, such as vidērī 'it seems' or oportēre 'it is fitting', there is no subject: When the infinitive esse is combined with a future or perfect participle, a gerundive, or an adjective, esse is sometimes omitted: The accusative and infinitive is also used for expressing what someone shows or pretends to be the case: An accusative and infinitive can also be used to express a piece of information which someone has been told, or by extension which someone has learnt about, noticed, realised, seen, dreamed of, perceived or simply knows:[31] Verbs of perception such as videō 'I see' and inveniō 'I find' can also be followed by a present participle (without esse).
[31] The accusative and present participle construction can also sometimes be found after verbs such as cognōscō 'I learn':[36] Another reason to use the accusative and infinitive is to express someone's thoughts, such as the reasons for undertaking a certain course of action: It can similarly be used with verbs such as cōnfīdō 'I am sure', meminī 'I remember', and oblīvīscor 'I forget': Occasionally verbs of emotion such as 'I am glad' or 'I am sorry' can take an accusative and infinitive; although the more usual construction is a quod-clause:[41] When the reported sentence is negative, it is common to use the verb negō rather than dīcō ... nōn:[43] Similarly nōn putō is used in preference to putō ... nōn: In the same way vetō 'I forbid' is used in place of iubeō ... nōn.
This is found whenever the meaning is 'the fact that...'; for example: Quod is also used after verbs of adding or omitting:[58] It is also found after verbs of emotion such as 'I am glad that', 'I am sorry that', 'it turned out well that' and so on:[60] In later Latin, quod with the subjunctive could substitute for the accusative and infinitive in indirect statement, though this did not become common until the second century AD:[62] This type of clause with quod (which became que in modern French, Portuguese, and Spanish and che in Italian, and că in Romanian) gradually took over from the accusative and infinitive construction and became the usual way of expressing indirect speech in modern Romance languages which are descended from Latin.
This construction is found even in the classical period in Petronius, who satirises the bad grammar and incorrect speech of lower-class people.
However, these are generally classified in grammar books as a type of consecutive clause, rather than ōrātiō oblīqua.
)[82] When the context is past, as in the second example below, the tense of the quoted verb is usually changed to past in according with the sequence of tenses rule: A question in ōrātiō oblīqua does not always have an introductory verb, but can be indicated as being indirect by the use of the subjunctive mood.
[87] The phrase nesciō an 'I don't know whether' means simply 'perhaps': Sometimes an indirect question can begin with sī 'if'.
A rhetorical question (provided it is not directly dependent on a verb of speaking, and provided that it is not derived from an originally 2nd person verb) is put in the accusative and infinitive construction:[96] A rhetorical question can also have the accusative and infinitive if it is equivalent to a statement.
In the following example, the meaning is 'there is none of us who doesn't know these things': In an indirect command, there are two possible forms.
This construction is common after verbs such as imperō 'I order', rogō 'I ask', petō 'I request', moneō 'I advise', persuādeō 'I persuade', hortor 'I exhort' and others.
In the following example vīxisse is equivalent to the imperfect tense vīvēbat in direct speech: In the following example, to emphasise the idea of habitual action, a frequentative verb factitō 'I do often' is used: If the infinitive is passive (e.g. interfectum esse), the auxiliary verb esse can sometimes be omitted: Occasionally a perfect passive infinitive is found formed with fuisse instead of the usual esse.
This usually refers to a situation that existed at a certain time in the past resulting from an earlier event: In other examples the participle refers to a situation that existed up until a certain time in the past, but which changed later: For further examples see Latin tenses#Perfect infinitive with fuisse.
[175] The following examples illustrate a present unreal (contrary to fact) situation: As illustrated above, in an unreal conditional, the imperfect or pluperfect tense of the subjunctive in the protasis '(if' clause) remains unchanged, even after a primary tense verb.
[179] Exactly the same construction with the future participle plus fuisse can also refer to a past situation contrary to fact: Just as fore ut is used to make a future passive infinitive, so futūrum fuisse ut can occasionally be used to make a potential passive infinitive.
[179] However, this is very rare, and only two instances have been noted:[182] The perfect infinitive of possum can also be used in the main clause of an unreal past conditional, that is, to write 'could have done' instead of 'would have done', since the two are close in meaning:[184] Indirect questions in Latin use the subjunctive mood.
[186] The periphrastic tenses with the future participle are used only in indirect questions and after nōn dubitō quīn 'I do not doubt that'.
[187] In other kinds of indirect sentences (e.g. after verbs of command or fearing) the present or imperfect subjunctive are used with a future meaning.
The following example is quoted by Woodcock as describing a hypothetical present or future situation:[184] However, the following statement based on an unreal present condition uses the simple imperfect subjunctive to refer to a hypothetical future situation:[217] As illustrated above, in an unreal conditional, the imperfect or pluperfect tense of the subjunctive in the protasis '(if' clause) remains unchanged, even after a primary tense verb.
An example is the following, which is from a letter by an ex-consul Servius Sulpicius Rufus to Cicero: The whole passage above, which mainly consists of indirect statements, is dependent on the verb nūntiāvit 'he reported'.
[244] Quite often they mark dramatic moments, including several speeches made just before a battle, such as Caesar's own speech before the battle of Pharsalia,[245] or the eagle-bearer's encouragement to his comrades before leaping into the sea when Caesar's invading force reached the coast of Britain.