*Ablative of price: for what in the sense of for how much?
In this exercise, note [a] interrogative pronouns, and [b] interrogative adjectives being compared:
[1]
[a] Quis
hoc scrīpsit?
[b] Quī poēta
hoc scrīpsit?
[2]
[a]
Quis in culīnā labōrat?
[b]
Quae serva in culīnā labōrat?
[3]
[a] Quis in
hortō labōrat?
[b] Quī servus
in hortō labōrat?
[4]
[a] Quid
accidit?
[b] Quod oppidum
oppugnātur?
[5]
[a] Quid scrīpsit?
[b] Quod carmen
scrīpsit?
[6]
[a] Quem amās?
[b] Quam fēminam
amās?
[c] Quem
librum tibi dedit?
[7]
[a] Quōcum
labōrās?
[b] Cum quō mīlite
vēnistī?
Apart from quī, quae and quod, there are other interrogative adjectives to note:
[1] quot?: how many?; quot is indeclinable
Quot erās annōs gnātus*, quom [ = cum] tē pater ā patriā āvehit? (Plautus) │ How many years old were you when your father took you from your native country?
* archaic: nātus
Quot sunt satis? (Plautus) │ How many are sufficient?
Quotiēns et quot nōminibus ā Syrācūsānīs statuās auferēs? (Cicero) │ How often and for how many individuals will you take statues from the Syracusans?
[2] quotus, -a, -um? is a 1st / 2nd declension adjective. It is unusual as it has no specific equivalent in English. The question asks which or what number when referring to a numerical sequence. In English we convey this in different ways, for example:
Which US president was Ronald Reagan? He was the fortieth president.
Similary, we may say “Where did he come in the race?” “He finished third.”
In Latin, it is quotus which expresses this idea:
Quotus imperātor Nerō fuit? Quīntus. │ Which emperor was Nero [i.e. was he the first, second etc.]? The fifth.
The word is used when asking the time since clock time is expressed in Latin using ordinal numbers:
Quota hōra est? Tertia. │ Which hour is it? The third.
Quotā hōrā? │ At what time?
[3] quantus, -a, -um?: how big / large?
Quantus est exercitus Caesaris? │ How large is Caesar’s army?
Quantī eam emit? (Plautus) │ For how much did he buy her?
[4] Both quot and quantus can be used as exclamations:
Quot quantāsque virtūtēs ... collēgit et miscuit! (Pliny the Elder) │ How many and how great virtues he acquired and mixed!
[5] quālis, -e?: what kind / sort of?; a 3rd declension adjective:
Quālis est tibi liber? │ What sort of book do you have?
Quālēs sunt eī librī? │ What sort of books does he have?
[6] uter, utra, utrum?: Which (of two)?
This interrogative adjective was discussed in detail here together with many examples and exercises.
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/04/250725-level-3-pronominal-adjectives-6.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/latinforstarters/posts/907899478487988
Uter igitur est divitior? (Cicero) │ Which (of the two) is wealthier?
Utra lex antiquior? (Quintilianus) │ Which law (of the two laws) (is)
Utrum librum vīs? │ Which book [i.e. which of the two books] do you want?
Translation practice:
The interrogative adjective translates as which? what? what kind of?
In general, adjectives have the function of narrowing the field of reference, for example:
I really like that car? > Which car? > The blue one.
Therefore, interrogative adjectives refer to known nouns but ask to specify which noun:
Which car did you buy? What kind of music do you like?
There is very little distinction between the interrogative adjectives and the interrogative pronouns in the previous post except that:
[i] the interrogative adjective has all three genders in the singular which is logical because the adjective has to be able to agree with nouns of all three genders.
[ii] the neuter singular (nominative and accusative) is quod and not quid.
In the plural, the interrogative adjectives and pronouns are identical.
NOMINATIVE
Quī vir mē vocat? │ Which / what kind of man is calling me?
Quae bella gerunt? │ What sort of wars do they wage?
GENITIVE
Cuius fēminae domus est? │ Literally: Of which woman is the house? [ = Which woman does the house belong to?]
Dē factīs quōrum hominum fābulam nārrās? │ Which / whose men’s deeds [ = the deeds of which men] are you telling a story about?
DATIVE
Cui puerō / puellae dōnum dedistī? │ To which boy / girl did you give a gift?
Quibus magistrīs librum lēgit? │ To which teachers did s/he read a book?
ACCUSATIVE
Quod oppidum vidēs? │ What town do you see?
Quōs mīlitēs vocat rēx? │ Which / what soldiers is the king calling?
ABLATIVE
Interrogative pronouns ask the question ‘who?’ or ‘what?’ They refer to a person or thing previously unknown:
Who did that?; What did you say?
Image: declension of quis / quid (who? what?); note that, in the singular, there is no distinction between masculine and feminine i.e. quis? (who?) and quem (whom?) are always masculine by default in Classical Latin, although the answer to the question could be a woman.
NOMINATIVE
Quis mē vocāvit?│ Who called me?
Quis es? │ Who are you?
Quid tibi est? │ What do you have? [also: What is wrong with you?]
Quī sunt cōnsulēs hōc annō? │ Who are the consuls this year?
GENITIVE
Cuius est hic liber? │ Whose book is this? [literally: of whom is this book?]
Quōrum nōmina in librō scrīpsit? │ Whose (plural) names [literally: the names of whom] did he write in the book?
Quārum (plural; feminine) statuās Marcella ōrnat? │ Whose statues does Marcella decorate?
> Marcella statuās deārum ōrnat │ Marcella decorates the statues of the goddesses.
DATIVE
Cui vēritātem dīxit? │ To whom (singular) did he speak the truth?
Cui pecūniam dedistī? │ To whom (singular) did you give the money [ = Who did you give the money to?]
Quibus pecūniam mīsistī? │ To whom (plural) did you send the money?
ACCUSATIVE
Quem in hortō cēpērunt? │ Whom did they capture in the garden?
Quid in hortō invēnērunt? │ What did they find in the garden?
Quās iuvātis? │ Whom (feminine plural) are you (plural) helping?
ABLATIVE
Dē quō loquiminī? │ What are you (plural) talking about?
Ā quibus urbs est capta? │ By whom (plural) was the city captured?
Quōcum poēta ambulat? │ With whom is the poet walking? [ = Who is the poet walking with?]
Translation practice:
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/08/180924-adverbs-71-interrogative-adverbs.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/latinforstarters/posts/525365950074678
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/08/180924-adverbs-72-interrogative-adverbs.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/latinforstarters/posts/525367313407875
We will begin with
the interrogative adverbs since they are indeclinable because they do
not refer to nouns or pronouns, but to actions:
Ubi habitās? │ Where do you live?
Quō iērunt mīlitēs nostrī? │To where did our soldiers go? [ = Where
did our soldiers go to?]
Unde vēnistis? │From where have you come? [ = Where have you
come from?]
Quandō adveniet pater tuus? │When will your uncle arrive?
Cūr hoc fēcistī? │ Why have you done this?
Quārē hoc dīxit? │ Why did he say this?
Hoc tū quam ob
rem (or: quamobrem) nōn fēcistī? │For
what reason / why have you not done this?
Quōmodo (or: quō modo) hoc accidere potest? │How can this happen?
Quamdiū? (quam
diū?): How long ago?; For how long?
Quamdiū id factum est? (Plautus) │
How long since did that happen?
Quamdiū manēbit hic mundus, quī in malignō positus
est? │ For how long will this world
remain, which has been placed in the power of evil?
Quī respondēns
eīs, dīxit: Ō generātiō incrēdula, quamdiū apud vōs erō? quamdiū
vōs patiar? (Vugate) │ And, replying to them, he said: “You
unbelieving generation how long shall I stay with you? How long
shall I put up with you?”
Quam diū prō Gereōnī, castellī Āpūliae inopis,
tanquam prō Carthāginis moenibus sedet? (Livy) │ How
long has he been sitting before the walls of Gereonium, a poor fortress in
Apulia, as though they were the walls of Carthage?
quotiēns?: How often?; How many times?
Quotiēns lucerna impiōrum extinguētur? (Vulgate) │
How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
Quotiēns tandem ēdīxī tibi, ut cavērēs? (Plautus) │How often, I wonder, have I told
you to be cautious?
Ō quotiēns
et quae nōbīs Galatēa locūta est! (Vergil) │ O how
often and what things Galatea has said to me!
Note in the last
example the exclamatory use of the adverb i.e. rather than as a
question.
Translation
practice:
Interrogatives are words which ask content questions i.e. which require a specific piece of information. They can be subdivided into three categories:
[1] Interrogative adjectives modify a noun. They ask
a question about people or things, but seek specification as to which of two or
more are being referred to.
Which book are you reading? [i.e. books have already
been mentioned and the speaker wants a book to be specified]
Whose bag is that?
What kind of music do you like?
Which players were chosen for the team?
[2] Interrogative pronouns are used to form questions
about people or things which are generally unknown i.e. there is no
antecedent.
Who are you going with?
Whose is that?
What are you doing?
[3] Interrogative adverbs ask a question about an action,
not a person or thing.
Why did you do that?
Where did you go?
How can we get there?
disjunctive questions
Disjunctive questions give at least two alternatives: Was
Mozart from Austria or Australia? Do you prefer me or the cat? You will come
across the terms double or alternative question since very often
only two alternatives are given.
[3] utrum … an …
[i] utrum … an …:
introduces an alternative or double question e.g. Is it X or Y? Do you
have A or B? In this type of direct question utrum is not translated
into English.
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?
Utrum tū prō ancillā mē habēs an prō
fīliā? (Plautus) │ Do you regard me as your slave or
as your daughter?
Sed utrum
tū māsne an fēmina es … (Plautus) │ But are you
male or female …?
Sed utrum
nunc tū caelibem tē esse māvīs līberum an marītum (Plautus) │
But now would you prefer yourself to be single and a free man, or a
married man …?
[ii] Alternative
questions such as these may not be introduced by utrum and there are
many permutations as to how they are expressed; the main aim is to recognise the
key words:
Dīcam huic, an nōn
dīcam? │ Shall I tell him, or not tell him?
Quaerō servōsne an līberōs
(Cicero) │ I ask (you) were they slaves or free men?
Optā ōcius: rapī
tē obtortō collō māvīs an trahī? (Plautus) │ Choose quickly: Do you
prefer to be seized by your twisted neck or dragged?
[iii] annōn (an nōn);
necne: or not
Sunt haec tua
verba necne? (Cicero) │ Are these your words, or not?
Hōcine agis
annōn? (Terentius) │ Are you attending to this, or not?
Isne est
quem quaerō an nōn? (Terence) │ But is it the person I'm in search of or
not?
[iv] The example
below shows that the alternatives may not be confined to two:
Utrum [1] hostem an [2] vōs
an [3] fortūnam utrīusque populī īgnōrātis? (Livy) │ Is it [1] the
enemy, or [2] yourselves, or [3] the fortune of the
two peoples, that you do not know?
See also:
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/04/250725-level-3-pronominal-adjectives-62.html
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:sec,00002:335
Translation practice:
These posts will look at direct questions e.g. “Do you live in Rome?” “How many children do you have?” etc. Indirect questions e.g. “Can you tell me ¦ where the theatre is?” need to be discussed separately.
polar questions
A polar question
can also be expressed as a “yes – no” question, for example: ‘Do you live in
Rome?’ > Yes, I do / No, I don’t / No, I live in Naples.
There are two
common ways of expressing polar questions:
[1] the enclitic
particle -ne
Particle: a particle has no / little meaning in
itself unless it is associated with another word
Enclitic particle
refers the particle attached
to the end of a word to form a single unit i.e. it cannot stand alone and
have meaning; the English possessive marker ’s is an example of an enclitic
particle; alone, it has no meaning but added to the end of a noun, it fulfils a
grammatical function > John’s car
Two common
enclitics in Latin are:
[i] -que: and;
[ii] -ve: or
Arma virumque
canō │ I sing of arms and the man
duābus tribusve
hōrīs │ within two or three hours
The enclitic -ne
is added to the first word of Latin sentence to form a question; –ne
attaches to the focus word of the question which, as some examples show,
may not be a verb.
Lēgisne
librum bonum? │ Are you reading a good book?
Estne Gallia
in Eurōpā? │ Is Gaul in Europe?
Mēcumne
venīs? │ Are you coming with me?
Fēminamne
vidēs? │ Do you see the woman? [No, but I
see the man.]
Vidēsne fēminam? │ Do you see the woman? │ [No, but I can hear her.]
[2] nōnne; num
The best way of
translating nōnne and num is with English question tags, for
example ‘don’t you?’ ‘can’t he? ‘did they?’ ‘was she?’
[i] Nōnne
expects a positive response, but English uses a negative question tag.
Nōnne vīs īre ad lūdōs hodiē? │
Surely you want to go to the games today? / You want to go to the games
today, don’t you?’
Nōnne mīlitēs rēgīnam interfēcērunt? │
Surely the soldiers killed the queen? / The soldiers killed the queen, didn’t
they?
Nōnne venīre potestis? Surely you’re able
to come? / You’re able to come, aren’t you?
[ii] Conversely, num
expects a negative response, but English uses a positive question tag.
Num vīs īre ad lūdōs hodiē? │
Surely you don’t want to go to the games today? / You don’t
want to go to the games today, do you?’
Num mīlitēs rēgīnam interfēcērunt? │
Surely the soldiers didn’t kill the queen? / The soldiers didn’t
kill the queen, did they?
Num venīre potestis? │
Surely you’re not able to come? / You’re not able to come,
are you?
Num dubium est? (Cicero) │ There is no doubt, is there?
