12.07.26; Level 3+; Subjunctive [69] dependent uses [6] indirect questions (6); utrum … an …

25.07.25: Level 3; pronominal adjectives [6](2); utrum … an …; double questions

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/04/250725-level-3-pronominal-adjectives-62.html

[1] The construction utrum … an … is used in direct questions to create an alternative or double question:

Utrum ēsūrīs an sītīs? │ Are you hungry or thirsty?

Utrum [i] nescīs, … an [ii] prō nihilō id putās (Cicero) │ Is it that [i] you don’t know or [ii] do you think nothing of it?

[2] an may be repeated if more than two points are being questioned:

Utrum [i] hostem an [ii] vōs an [iii] fortūnam utrīusque populī īgnōrātis (Livy) │ Is it the [i] enemy, [ii] or yourselves, [iii] or the fortune of the two peoples, that you do not know?

[3] a combination of -ne attached to the first word being questioned together with an:

Ēsūrīsne an sītīs? │ Are you hungry or thirsty?

[4] an without utrum may occur:

Dīcam huic, an nōn dīcam? │ Shall I tell him, or not tell him?

[5] These same constructions can be used in indirect questions and, again, the verb of the indirect question is in the subjunctive.

Quaerō, ¦ … [i] utrum is clēmēns ac misericors [ii] an inhūmānissimus et crūdēlissimus esse videātur (Cicero) │ I ask, ¦ [i] whether he might appear to be clement and merciful [ii] or most inhuman and cruel? 

[6] Look out for: necne and an nōn (annōn), both of which mean ‘or not’ and can be used to form the second part of the double question:

Nesciō, ¦ utrum domī sit, annōn. │ I don’t know ¦ whether he’s [ = he might be] at home or not.

[7] Examples

The first two examples below show both an indirect question introduced by an interrogative word and a double question:

(1) Are you as confused as Plautus?

Nunc mī incertumst ¦ abeam an maneam, an adeam an fugiam, ¦ quid agam edepol nesciō (Plautus)

Now I’m uncertain ¦ whether I should go away or I should stay, whether I should approach or whether I should flee—by Pollux, I don’t know ¦ what I should do.

In the first part of the quotation, there is no interrogative word, but simply alternative courses of action being debated:

Nunc mī incertumst ¦ [i] abeam an [ii] maneam …│ I’m uncertain ¦ whether [i] I should go away [ii] or stay …

In the second part of the quotation, an interrogative is used:

quid agam ¦ edepol nesciō │ by Pollux, I don’t know ¦ what I should do.

(2) Similarly, two quotations from Cicero:

Nesciō [1] quid intersit, ¦ [2] utrum nunc veniam, an ad decem annōs (Cicero)

I don’t know [1] what difference it might make, ¦ [2] whether I should come now,  or after ten years.

Mihi mehercule nihil vidēbātur esse, ¦ [1] in quō tantulum interesset ¦ [2] utrum per prōcūrātōrēs agerēs ¦ an per tē ipsum (Cicero)

For the life of me I cannot see any reason ¦ why it should make the least little bit of difference ¦ [2] whether you act by proxy ¦ or in person.

(1)    Here we have two groups of alternative questions:

Mīrāminī satis habuisse eōs quī hoc iūdicium dedērunt id quaerī, ¦ [1] utrum haec tam acerba, tam indigna, tam atrocia facta essent necne, nōn [2] utrum iūre facta an iniūriā? (Cicero)

And do you wonder that those who assigned this trial thought it sufficient that it should be inquired ¦ [1] whether these cruel, and scandalous, and atrocious actions had been done or not; not [2] whether they had been done rightly or wrongfully?

(2)   In this final example, necne appears alone:

Quaesīvī ā Catilīnā in conventū apud M. Laecam fuisset necne (Cicero)│ I asked Catiline whether he had been at the meeting at Marcus Laeca's or not.

In other words, alternative indirect questions can be expressed in different ways, but look for the signal words: utrum / an / annōn / necne.

[8] Note: English can use ‘if’ in indirect questions such as this:

Do you know if he speaks English?

I don’t know if he’s English or not.

It would be possible to translate constructions with utrum etc. using ‘if’:

Nesciō, ¦ utrum domī sit, annōn. │ I don’t know if he’s at home or not.

However, the English conjunction if is also used to construct a completely different clause, namely a conditional clause e.g. “If it rains, we won’t go out.” That is not an indirect question, and Latin does not use utrum, an, or necne (annōn) to form clauses of that type.