help with direct/indirect questions

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littlewoy
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help with direct/indirect questions

Post by littlewoy »

1) I want to know how large the city used to be.
volo scire quanta urbs esset??

Is esset right to be imperfect? CAn you have imperfect in primary sequence?

2. I do not know where they are going to.
nescio quo eunt?

3. Paris asked where Helen was.
Paris rogavit ubi Helen esset??

4. I wondered how long the girl would remain for.
miratus sum quamdiu puella mansurus esset??

should it be mansura?? can it deline?

5. She is enquiring where he is about to go.
quaerit quo iturus sit???

6. The consul asked his audience whether they could hear him or not.
consul auditores rogavit utrum eum audire possent necne???

7. We all know how many legions were beaten.
scimus (do you think i need a worl for all??) quot legiones victi essent.

same again with using imp/perf subj in primary sequence.

8. Are you going to set out to Rome tomorrow in the morning or not?
utrum proficisceris Romam cras mane an??

word order ok??

9. How sad is that girl?
quam misera illa puella est?

10. I did not know where they had come from.
nescivi unde veni essent???

ty guys.

Turpissimus
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Post by Turpissimus »

1) I want to know how large the city used to be.
volo scire quanta urbs esset??

Is esset right to be imperfect? CAn you have imperfect in primary sequence?
Yeah, you can use the imperfect here. The direct question would be "What did the city use to be like?".
2. I do not know where they are going to.
nescio quo eunt?
Put eunt into the subjunctive.
3. Paris asked where Helen was.
Paris rogavit ubi Helen esset??
Good.
should it be mansura?? can it deline?
Yes, mansura.
5. She is enquiring where he is about to go.
quaerit quo iturus sit???
Yes.
6. The consul asked his audience whether they could hear him or not.
consul auditores rogavit utrum eum audire possent necne???
Shouldn't eum be replaced by se?
7. We all know how many legions were beaten.
scimus (do you think i need a worl for all??) quot legiones victi essent.
The Romans just used the adjective omnes, which stood in agreement (technically the word is apposition) with the subject. And legio is feminine.
8. Are you going to set out to Rome tomorrow in the morning or not?
utrum proficisceris Romam cras mane an??

word order ok??
annon instead of an.
10. I did not know where they had come from.
nescivi unde veni essent???
They had come is venerant.

Pretty good.

littlewoy
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Post by littlewoy »

ty turp. on number 10, shouldnt the had come be in the subj cos its an indirect question - veni essent.

do you think 7 should be omnes scimus quot legiones victae essent??

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benissimus
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Post by benissimus »

littlewoy wrote:ty turp. on number 10, shouldnt the had come be in the subj cos its an indirect question - veni essent.
The pluperfect subjunctive active should be venissent, veni essent doesn't actually mean anything (perhaps you are thinking of the pluperfect subjunctive passive ventae essent?). I assume Turp gave you the indicative counterpart so you could figure out the subjunctive form from there.
do you think 7 should be omnes scimus quot legiones victae essent??
That would be all right, but this is a good time to use the pronoun nos, so that omnes is not mistaken for a direct object. e.g. "nos omnes scimus quot legiones essent victae".
flebile nescio quid queritur lyra, flebile lingua murmurat exanimis, respondent flebile ripae

littlewoy
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Post by littlewoy »

ok, ty guys. dunno where i got veni essent from.

Episcopus
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Post by Episcopus »

Steven you are wrong. Turp subjunctive venissent please!

I think littlewoy you are thinking along the lines of romance languages like french and italian which go with être and éssere respectively: indeed it seems asif you are trying to say non ho saputo di dove érano venuti or je n'ai pas su d'oú ils étaient venus. You need to try and move away from this.* Latin has only her compound tenses with auxiliary esse in the perfect passive as far as you're concerned. So perfect would be venerunt / venere and the pluperfect venerant but because you have an indirect question (a subordinate dependent clause as I like to think; not necessarily the question of the author -> subjunctive) it will be venissent

*Note also that these languages use the indicative in such cases even though the subjunctive is still in use mostly with dependent clauses of emotion after che, que and not in indirect questions. I would personally in french say je ne sus pas d'oú ils vinssent but no one would understand me. You can also see the imperfect subjunctive of french venir correspond with the pluperfect of the latin vinssent - venissent; fussent - fuissent.

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