11.05.24: Iōsēphus et Titus servī sunt; notes on the video [2]

[5] conjunctions i.e. words that join two parts of a sentence

[i] sed: but

[ii] neque: and .. not …

Neque tua est familia!│And it’s not (even) your family!

[iii] Two ways of saying ‘and’:

[a] et: and

[b] -que which is added to the end of the word

Centum servī ancillaeque │ a hundred slaves and maidservants

Decem servī decemque ancillae │ ten slaves and ten maidservants

[6] Asking questions

[i] -ne: can be attached to the first word of a sentence to form a question

Estne magna familia Iuliī? │ Is Julius’ family large?

[ii] question words (in grammar known as interrogatives)

quis?: Who?

quot?: How many?

[iii] Num cēterī servī Cornēliī tuī servī sunt?

In the subtitles, they translate it as: “So, are the rest of Cornelius’ slaves your slaves as well?” That’s a very neat translation but we need to take it apart a bit:

Two words: [a] nōnne and [b] num; both can be used to ask a question and, in English, the best way to remember these two is with 2 possible translations of each

[a] nōnne expects a ‘yes’ answer

Nōnne intellegis? │ [i] Surely you understand? [ii] You understand, don’t you?

[b] num expects a ‘no’ answer

Num Gallia īnsula est? │ [i] Surely Gaul isn’t an island? [ii] Gaul isn’t an island, is it?

So, by rephrasing the subtitle, you can see how that word num is working:

Num cēterī servī Cornēliī tuī servī sunt?

[i] Surely the rest of Cornelius’ slaves aren’t your slaves?

[ii] The rest of Cornelius’ slaves aren’t your slaves, are they?

Of course, they’re not his slaves i.e. he expects a ‘no’ answer.