Politely asking someone to do something

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rustymason
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Politely asking someone to do something

Post by rustymason »

Are these correct? Which one is more likely or more polite?

1) Māter, dentēs meōs dētergēsne? (indicative)
Mother, will you be brushing my teeth?
Mother, teeth my will you be brushing?

2) Māter, dentēs meōs dētergāsne? (subjunctive)
Mother, would/might you brush my teeth?
Mother,teeth my would/might you be brushing?

3) Māter, dentēs meōs dētergere possīs? (subjunctive)
Mother, could you brush my teeth?
Mother,teeth my to brush might you be able?

Gratias.

adrianus
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Re: Politely asking someone to do something

Post by adrianus »

Salve caementari robiginose [cuius litteras rectiùs quam ego scribisti, amice]

The second and third are equally more polite than the first, I think.
Aequè comius primo secundum et tertium, meâ sententiâ.

"Amabò te ..." with the indicative is informally polite.
Familiari cum verbo indicativo tempore, come est "amabò te...".

"dentes mihi" or "dentes meos", and "dentesne mihi purges/frices/detergeas?" or "dentesne meos purges/frices/detergeas?" or "purgesne/fricesne/detergeasne mihi dentes?", I think, but maybe it doesn't really matter // ut ego praefero, sed forsitan id non firmiter refert..
Last edited by adrianus on Fri Sep 11, 2009 1:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

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rustymason
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Re: Politely asking someone to do something

Post by rustymason »

Gratias, Adriane,
Quoque gratias tibi ago for getting my name correct.

So what is the proper way for family members to make requests of one another Latine? Are the second and third ways equally common, or is one more so, or is there another "best" way?

Vale,
Caementarius Robiginosus

adrianus
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Re: Politely asking someone to do something

Post by adrianus »

I don't know a best way. I see the hortatory subjunctive and imperative (with or without polite formulas) as equally common or similar, but that's just an amateur impression.
Optimum modum ignoro. Aequè communes vel pares has duas formas seu genera censeo, illam subjunctivi hortati modi, illam imperativi (cum et sine comibus clausulis ut "amabo te...", ut "obsecro", ut "rogo te..." et caetera), at indocta sententia mea.

Oh, for family members, "amabo te..." is best with imperative, I reckon.
En, familiaribus appellandis, usus per "amabo te..." optimus est, puto.
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

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rustymason
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Re: Politely asking someone to do something

Post by rustymason »

The imperative with "amabo te"? Wow, that's a fourth way now. Anyone know of any other way of making requests domi Latine?

adrianus
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Re: Politely asking someone to do something

Post by adrianus »

"Rogo te", "Peto te", "Imploro te" et caetera cum infinitivo, cum clausulâ per "ut" et subjunctivo, parentheticè cum imperativo.
Such as these with infinitives, or with an ut clause + subjunctive, or as asides with imperatives:
"Dentes meos purgare te imploro" seu "Rogo te, dentes mihi purga" seu "Peto te ut dentes mihi purgas".
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

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rustymason
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Re: Politely asking someone to do something

Post by rustymason »

Gratias.

I'm beginning to think that the reason I am unable to write or speak any common, daily Latin is because there are too many ways to say the same thing, and I have no idea which one to use when or with whom; everyone seems to have a different set of ideas and rules. I have been intensively studying Latin for over six years, yet I still cannot string together much of a "normal" sentence in Latin, or understand Latin posts from others without great difficulty; it is practically impossible for me to communicate in Latin forums or letters. By contrast, with less than one year of formal German grammar and the help of a few phrase books, I can converse in German fairly well. I know Latin is harder, but it can't be that much harder. I'm obviously doing something wrong. [sigh]

adrianus
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Re: Politely asking someone to do something

Post by adrianus »

Hunc librum emas, quem tibi commendo: John C. Traupman, Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

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rustymason
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Re: Politely asking someone to do something

Post by rustymason »

Illud iam habeo.

adrianus
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Re: Politely asking someone to do something

Post by adrianus »

Then use it more practically and you yourself will start to listen and understand better. You cannot speak because there are too many ways of saying anything. That is like the paradox of Buridan's mule, that dies of hunger, not so much because there isn't enough food but because there is too much to know where to start. Start anywhere because a little is enough, and you know that you only learn by making mistakes. That's what I do anyway, and I think it's working. No, it definitely is, because I now understand others' Latin much better, 'though I still make lots of mistakes. And only someone crazy, in order to speak it, would study German through the writings of so many ages.

Tunc eundem utiliùs adhibeas and tu ipse alios meliùs audies intellegesque. Loqui non potes, dicis, quod tàm multi modi exprimendi exstant. Hoc simile est paradoxi de asino Buridani qui fame exit, nihilò minùs satis faenum sed tantò talem abundantiam habente ut diligere ubi is id edere incipiat non potest. E quocunque loco incipias, quoniam minimum nutriminis sufficiet, et in errando discas. Sic ego facio et in faciendo procedo, nisi fallor. Immò, quod prodeo certum est, quia Latinum ab aliis scriptum nunc clarius mihi est, etiamsi saepè erro. Et nemo sanus scriptis tot multorum aevorum linguam Germanicam discere velit ut eam loquarit.
Last edited by adrianus on Sat Sep 12, 2009 3:20 am, edited 2 times in total.
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

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rustymason
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Re: Politely asking someone to do something

Post by rustymason »

OK, I'll try harder to work what I know into everything. Gratias et vale.

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