Ch 30 PR #12

[RubyJewell]

this is a prose comp question

the english is: Tell me in what land liberty is found.

Bennissimus's : "Dic mihi in quibus terris libertas inveniatur"

My translation : "Diceas mihi in quo patria libertas inveniat"

What did I do wrong?

[spiphany]

You need the imperative, not the second person of dico here. (Also, check your endings -- I think this would be 2nd person subj. if dico were 2nd (-eo) conjugation, but it is 3rd)

inveniat -- you need the passive here, not the active.

in quo patria / in quibus terris -- grammatically these are both correct. "Patria" tends to mean "fatherland" specifically, not "land/country" in general. Also, notice that Benissimus used the plural here, which is not technically what the English asks for.

[Damoetas]

Note also that patria is feminine, so if you want to use that word, the phrase should be in quā patriā. I think, however, that terra is better here, because patria has more the idea of one's "birthplace" or "native land." Terra is often used in the plural; see, for instance, Lewis & Short online:
http://artfl.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philo ... 2.lewshort

[spiphany]

Terra is often used in the plural

Ah, I had a suspicion that might be the case (I know there are a number of other words where Latin uses the plural when English would use the singular), but didn't want to say anything along those lines without evidence.

[Einhard]

this is a prose comp question

the english is: Tell me in what land liberty is found.

Bennissimus's : "Dic mihi in quibus terris libertas inveniatur"

My translation : "Diceas mihi in quo patria libertas inveniat"

What did I do wrong?

I don't know whether you meant to use "Diceas" as the present subjunctive, or if you just got mixed up, but if it's the former, then I think both you and Benissimus are correct. "Diceas" can be looked at as a jussive subjunctive, and thus "Let you tell me..."

[Einhard]

Ooops, I'm wrong. The 2.per.sing.pres.subj.act of "dicere" is actually "dicas", not "diceas". So your trnaslation wouldn't make sense as a jussive subjunctive.