Background
A direct question is a sentence which seeks to gain information. In English a direct question is indicated by:
1 A question word How are you doing? What did you buy? Where did you go?
Note that the verb and subject invert their normal position
• additionally, when the verb is not a form of the verb to be or a modal verb (i.e. can, could, will, would, must, shall, should, may, might) then a form of the verb to do must be inserted after the question word
• linguists term this do-support and it is an interesting peculiarity of English • neither inversion nor do-support occur when the question word itself is
the subject: Who spoke?
2 Subject-verb inversion alone (with do-support if necessary) • This type occurs when there is no question word
• Since such questions expect a yes-no answer, they are also termed yes-no questions:
Are you going? Did he speak? 3 Rising intonation alone
• This also expects a yes-no answer: You are going to the park?
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Latin structure
Latin has correspondences of all three types of English sentences, only the fi rst two of which are discussed here. See Exercise 3 for examples of questions dependent on intonation.
Latin question words
The adverbial question words of Latin are:
cūr why quō modō how*
quam how* ubi where
quam ob rem why unde from where, whence
quandō when ut how
quō to where, whither utrum . . . an [double question] quō how*
* There is no difference in meaning between the various forms of how
utrum . . . an introduces a question which gives choices for the answer Utrum in bellō pugnābis an in agrō labōrābis?
Will you fi ght in the battle or work in the fi eld?
Instead of utrum, the particle -ne or no word/particle at all can be used.
-ne attaches to the end of the fi rst word of the sentence Līberne es an nōn?
Are you free or not?
Pugnābis an labōrābis?
Will you fi ght or will you work? • Further examples:
Quam ob rem id fēcit?
Why did s/he do that?
Quandō mē vīdistis?
When did you (pl.) see me?
Unde venīs et quō īs?
Where are you coming from and where are you going? The pronominal question words of Latin are:
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Since these are pronouns, they – like all pronouns – can be declined: Masc./Fem. Neuter
Nom. quis quid
Gen. cuius cuius
Dat. cui cui
Acc. quem quid
Abl. quō quō
Though the singular forms account for most occurrences of this pronoun, plural forms exist as well.
The plural forms are identical to those of the relative pronoun, and thus make a three-way gender distinction in the accusative plural (Unit 25). Note that there is no distinction between masculine and feminine in the interrogative pronoun. This makes some sense since more often than not when we use who or whom in English we do not know the gender of the person we’re asking about. The same is true, for example, of French, German, Russian, and Spanish, four languages which have vibrant gender contrasts.
A second interrogative pronoun is uter, utra, utrum which (of two). This pronoun was introduced in Unit 24 along with the other pronominal adjectives which take -īus in the genitive sg. and -ī in the dative sg.
Examples:
Cuius fīliam in mātrimōnium dūcis?
Whose daughter are you (sg.) marrying?
Quō inimīcōs interfēcistī?
With what did you (sg.) kill the enemies?
Utrī crēdiderātis
Which one had you believed?
The adjectival question words of Latin are:
quālis, quāle what kind
quantus, -a, -um how much, how great quī, quae, quod which
quot how many
• quī, quae, quod is declined identically to the relative pronoun
it most clearly differs from the interrogative pronoun quis, quid in that, being an adjective, quī, quae, quod must modify a noun
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Examples:
Quālis homō es?
What kind of man are you?
Cuius poētae carmina hodiē legēmus?
The poems of which poet will we read today?
Quibus līberīs dōna dābis?
To which children will you give the gifts?
Quot librōs scrīpsit?
How many books did s/he write?
Latin yes/no-questions
Unlike English these questions are introduced by some question word or par- ticle. The basic yes/no-question particle is -ne. It attaches to the end of the fi rst word of the sentence regardless of what part of speech it is.
Vēnistīne? Did you (sg.) come?
Fēminamne vidēs? Do you see (sg.) the woman?
Two additional words which introduce yes/no-questions are nōnne and num. They differ as to whether they anticipate the answer yes or no.
• nōnne anticipates the answer yes • num anticipates the answer no
The best way to translate these into English is as tag questions.
Tag questions consist of forms of be, modal verbs, or do which are ‘tagged’ onto the end of a sentence, turning it into a question.
Note that num can also be conveyed by really.
Nōnne translates as a negative tag: Nōnne mīlitēs rēgīnam interfēcērunt?
Did the soldiers not kill the queen?
The soldiers killed the queen, didn’t they? [yes]
Nōnne venīre potestis?
Are you (pl.) not able to come?
You (pl.) can come, can’t you? [yes]
Nōnne cōgitābātis eum advenīre?
Were you (pl.) not thinking that he would arrive?
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Num translates as a positive tag, which in English requires the main verb to be
negated.
Observe the inserted negative in the translations:
Num mīlitēs rēgīnam interfēcērunt?
Did the soldiers really kill the queen?
The soldiers didn’t kill the queen, did they? [no]
Num venīre potestis?
Are you (pl.) really able to come?
You (pl.) can’t come, can you? [no]
Num cōgitābātis eum advenīre?
Were you (pl.) really thinking that he would arrive?
You (pl.) weren’t thinking that he would arrive, were you? [no] To answer yes or no:
• either the main word of the question is repeated (and negated in the case of no) • or certē certainly, etiam even so, ita so, or vērō truly is used for yes, and
minimē by no means, nōn or nōn ita for no
Exercise 1
Translate the following. 1 Cui vīnum est? 2 Vēnistisne cum eō? 3 Quālia arma inventa erant?
4 Quot mīlitēs nōlunt pugnāre contrā barbarōs? 5 Unde cucurrērunt tristēs puerī? Ubi nunc sunt? 6 Cūr dās praemium laudemque parentibus? 7 Quō amnis it?
8 Quam ob rem bibunt sanguinem ovis illīus? 9 Quandō claudentur portae ingentēs urbis?
10 Nōnne sapiēns est poēta, quī multās epistulās scrīpserat? 11 Quis verba deōrum sacrōrum audīre nōn potest?
12 Quō modō moenia nova is aedifi cābit?
13 In quō somniō vīderat locum, in cuius templō erant aurum et pecūnia? 14 Quantōs librōs scrīpserit miser auctor?
15 Quam ob rem nōn potuī vulgō canere? 16 Cuius mātrem scītis?
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18 Cūr dēfessī estis? Quandō dormiētis?
19 Utrum in oppidō cum aliīs manēbis an in urbem cum aliīs ībis? 20 Quō agrum lātum vendidit?
Exercise 2
Translate the following.
1 What frightens the small children?
2 When will you (sg.) give our money to the sailor? 3 Who divided the fi eld?
4 By whom were the gates of the wall broken? 5 Will the soldiers fortify their town?
6 Why are you (pl.) not present? You (pl.) are absent! 7 How does the sun shine through the dark clouds? 8 How many stories will the poet read to the crowd?
9 In whose memory was a kingdom of peace being built here? 10 To where was the sailor setting sail?
Exercise 3
Each of the following unedited Latin passages contains a question. Match each passage with the English translation which follows. To assist you, try to think of English derivatives which stem from some of the Latin words.
1 Tuom parasītum nōn nōvistī? (Plautus Men.)
2 linguam vīs meam praeclūdere? (Phaedrus) 3 Hunc tū vītae splendōrem maculīs adspergis istīs? (Cicero Planc.) 4 Omnisne pecūnia dissolūta est? (Cicero Ver.) 5 Utrum nescīs quam altē ascenderis, an prō nihilō
id putās? (Cicero Fam.)
6 utrum is clēmēns ac misericors an inhūmānissimus et
crūdēlissimus esse videātur? (Cicero Catil.)
7 quot vultis esse in ūnō fūrtō peccātōrum gradūs (Cicero Ver.) 8 Quot bella māiōrēs nostrōs et quanta suscēpisse
arbitrāminī (Cicero Ver.)
9 quālēs et quot et quotiēns lēgātī ad eōs exiērunt (Cicero Font.) 10 Num iūs cīvīle vestrum ex librīs cōgnōscī potest? (Cicero Fam.) 11 Num tibi cum faucēs ūrit sitis, aurea quaeris pōcula? (Horace S.)
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(a) What kind and how many and how often did the delegates come out to them?
(b) Do you really seek golden cups when thirst burns your throat? (c) Is all the money paid up?
(d) Can your civil law really be learnt from books? (e) Do you really dare deny (it)?
(f ) You sprinkle this lustre of a life with those spots? (g) Do you not know how high you rose, or do you think
it for nothing?
(h) How many and how great the wars do you think that our ancestors undertook?
(i) How many steps of sins do you wish there to be in a single theft?
( j) You wish to shut my mouth? (k) You do not know your own parasite?
(l) May he seem to be merciful and sympathetic or most savage and most cruel?
Reading: The Man-Eating Horses of Diomedes (Labor VIII), part 2
Herculēs rēgem convēnerat, sed Herculēs verbīs suāvibus eī persuādēre nōn potuit. Tum vir fortis īrā commōtus est. Rēgem interfēcit eumque equīs obiēcit. Sīc rēx crūdēlis eōdem modō, quō multōs hominēs innocentēs ipse occīderat,
mortuus est. Herculēs nōn diū in Thrāciā manēbat. Quī illam regiōnem
incolēbant, eum rēgem creāre voluērunt. At Herculēs rēgnum suscipere nōn poterat, nam equōs Eurystheō trādere dēbēbat. Sine morā ē portū solvit et paulō post equōs incolumēs in lītus Argolicum exposuit.
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